Clear, systems-driven project management has enabled
British Transport Police (BTP) to successfully complete a
wide-ranging 18-month IT modernisation programme covering six major
projects.
BTP's IT department is using web-based management software and
has adopted project management techniques borrowed from the
construction industry to hit its deadlines and budgets for all the
projects.
Andrew Watson, BTP's head of technology, said that targets were
hit across the board and all 38 employees were put through IT
Infrastructure Library (ITIL) accreditation.
BTP's key project was to build a nationwide fast voice/data IP
network to cover the UK's railway and underground systems. Watson
said all the projects used widely available technologies that were
"leading rather than bleeding edge".
Mark Blowers, a senior analyst at Butler Group, said BTP's
success was particularly significant. "Large multi-site public
sector IT projects have very similar issues to businesses with
multiple offices. Both need to ensure visibility, a common view and
effective control of projects," he said.
Although it put some pressure on resources, Watson said the
adoption of ITIL practices over the same period was crucial to
keeping BTP's IT programme on track.
"ITIL gives us clear accountability, clear processes for dealing
with incidents and problems, and better control around all the
various hardware and software assets we have."
The department is using Microsoft Office Enterprise Project
Management (EPM) software to manage its IT projects, and Watson
said the simplicity of the web-based tool had proved a boon. "It
offers a clean web environment, and is simple and effective. I have
found some other project management tools are good, but add too
much complexity."
Watson structured his team around a group of project managers,
but retained overall governance of the projects, while remaining
"aloof from the detailed work".
Watson said his experience in the construction industry had
helped to deliver the IT projects on time and to budget. "In
construction, if you plan a project, you deliver a project. For all
the simultaneous projects that were going on, you just apply
project management principles to it and make it happen," he
said.
"Overly complex project management is the root cause of a lot of
failed projects; if it does not need to be complicated, keep it
simple. This was probably the main lesson from my 12 years in
construction."
A test of the IT team's flexibility came with the July 2005
bombings in London. BTP quickly had to modify its voice over IP
Vivista command and control system to cope with the thousands of
extra officers involved in the investigation.
During the programme, costs rose from £5.6m to £8m. This covered
increases in staff, training and consultancy, and application
support and licensing.
Read article:
Tackling complexity
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