Our team provided project controls expertise to Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S), including a CAM handbook for a role being introduced into the new organisational structure.
Situation
Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S) underwent a major transformation programme to reorganise its procurement organisation into a new matrix structure consisting of domain delivery teams on one axis and functional resourcing teams on the others.
The functional structure consisted of 14 functions; the main ones relating to project, programme and portfolio management (P3M) were Project management, Project Controls, Finance, Commercial, HR, Engineering and Business Process and Operation.
The Project Controls function was a new entity within the Ministry of Defence (MOD) and it required a clear definition of its role and how it would operate. In conjunction with the Managed Service Providers (tasked with facilitating the overall transformation), a set of processes and procedures were generated which covered the basic tasks for Project Controls.
The missing element was how these processes would integrate with Project Management, Commercial and Financial operations and a definition of the roles that would be carrying out these activities. Our client also required clarity on the reporting of these outputs to influence the DE&S Management Structure and the DT actions.
Task
We were asked to provide project controls subject matter expertise and bring in external experience on how these organisations operated and interfaced in other major corporations. We also had to get a fuller understanding of the documentation set that these corporations used to inform and manage their operations.
Action
A key element of the role was to act as the Project Controls functional liaison adviser and to provide feedback on the other function’s processes and the interface requirements. The key deliverable was a Control Account Manager’s Handbook designed to provide guidance and reference for this new role within DE&S.
We provided project controls expertise to DE&S including a CAM Handbook for this role within the new organisational and functional structure.
Results
The DE&S’s Project Controls Function team expressed their gratitude to us for the provision of an SME with the breadth and depth of experience in Project Controls who also had a thorough understanding of MOD’s P3M and Project Controls operations.
