Thales
Thales is a global organisation delivering innovative technical solutions to the Aerospace, Space, Ground Transportation, Defence and Security sectors.
Thales were appointed by Transport for London to upgrade the signalling system of the London Underground lines to improve throughput of trains to ultimately reduce congestion and customer waiting times.
“It was a pleasure having Blueprint supporting my team on a high profile, critical, multi-million-pound infrastructure delivery programme. The energy, professionalism and dedication provided by Blueprint has benefitted the programme, and I wouldn’t hesitate to consider using them again on future programmes.”
GRAHAM CUNNINGHAM, PROJECT CONTROLS DIRECTOR, THALES 4LM
THE CHALLENGE
Blueprint Project Solutions were engaged to support PMO improvement activities. The challenges faced by the client included:
Refocus on Earned Value Management principles
Requirement to improve forecasting accuracy
Earlier collation of monthly reporting data
Schedule progress assessments were too subjective
Reactive approach to Risk Management
Change Control process needed streamlining
Blueprints challenge was to first ensure that the Senior Management and wider teams had a shared understanding of the challenges and then agree a way forward to address these.
THE SOLUTION
To obtain a shared client understanding of the challenges, Blueprint conducted an independent review of the Programme using an industry recognised standard, the Association of Project Management, (APM) EVM Compass Toolset as a benchmark. Blueprint approached the task as follows:
Established a review team and delivered a “Pre-Job Brief”
Developed a Stakeholder Management and Communications plan
Obtained Senior Management, (SMT) approval on approach
Delivered EVM Maturity assessments across a sample of the Control Accounts
The results were benchmarked to identify common themes
A presentation was delivered to the SMT and priorities were agreed
An Interactive Planning workshop was held to develop a detailed improvement plan
Blueprint subsequently supported implementation of the improvement actions. These included:
Updated Project Controls processes and EVM training delivered
Establishment of Key Performance Indicators, (KPI’s) to drive forward continuous improvements
An “Estimate at Completion, (EAC) Heads Up process” was established which allowed early visibility of month end data
Consistent norms developed for Objective progress assessment
An updated Risk Management process, training and a standard was set for Risk workshops
Simplification of the Change Control process and team training
THE RESULT
The key benefits realised were as follows:
Through our “Inclusive” approach, all Stakeholders were bought in early on
KPI’s drove forward continuous improvement and forecasting accuracy improved
Earlier visibility of month end data allowed time to rectify errors
Objectivity was driven into schedule progress assessments which improved data quality
Risk Management became more proactive, embedded into the Control Accounts and mitigating activities were scoped into the plan. Owners were held to account for delivering against these
The Change process became slicker through a “Right first-time approach” by scrutinising changes prior to escalation to the Change Board
Thales Ground Transportation Systems, (GTS) considered adopting the Blueprint approach to their wider portfolio as “Best Practice”
Matthew Kirkbride
For more information regarding Blueprint services or to discuss how we can help your business, please contact Matt on +44 (0)1453 383211 or complete our enquiry form below.