Case study
Client: An Emergency Service
Sector: Public Service
Benefits Experienced by the Client:
Increased Project Management Capability
- Increased understanding and adoption of project management and the emergency service’s approach and procedures.
- Increased skills in key areas such as requirements management, planning, stakeholder engagement and risk management.
- Effective use of resources through successful project delivery and having the confidence to close projects where benefit is not going to be delivered.
- Effective staff development tools that count towards Institute of Leadership & Management (ILM) qualifications.
In addition to the project management knowledge gained, the courses have lead to improved internal communications through delegates developing a better understanding of each other’s roles and departments.
Strategic Objective:
Successful Projects and Effective use of Resources
This Emergency Service is the largest of its type in the UK, working to make its city a safer place. They strive to deliver world class safety with limited resources.
To support their continued modernisation, they had already set up a programme support office and developed their own project management methodology.
The next steps were to;
- gain buy-in to the Emergency Service’s methodology and adoption across all departments ensuring consistency of language, process and documentation
- increase the level of knowledge and skills to enable successful delivery of projects that would enable sustainable change
- enable performance management of projects to ensure effective use of resources
- develop the ability to deliver larger more complex projects
The Solution Provided:
Practical Project Management and ILM Accreditation
Two half-day workshops were held for project sponsors to enable them to effectively support and challenge their project teams, and bespoke scenarios were developed for use in the level 1 and level 2 training.
Level 1 focused on understanding the principles of project management, the Emergency Service methodology and practical project management tools.
Level 2 focused on developing skills in the key areas of requirements management, planning, risk & change and stakeholder engagement.
Level 3 consisted of the accredited Managing Successful Programmes (MSP) course to support effective delivery of projects as part programmes to deliver organisational change.
Project staff from across the organisation attended training as cross departmental groups, and most stayed in the same groups throughout levels 1 and 2 which developed good cross organisational understanding and networking opportunities.
Evaluation of the courses was provided through delegates completing;
- personal action plans after the level 1 course
- pre and post course quizzes for the level 1 and 2 modules to establish baseline knowledge levels and quantify improvement
- final feedback sheets at the end of the programme
Working together:
Developing Bespoke Training to Accredited Standards
Working closely with the programme office the level 1 and 2 modules were developed around the client’s own process model and care was taken to include the key messages about the systems, processes and procedures they wanted their staff to adopt.
They also wanted the project management training to be recognised by the Institute of Leadership & Management, and to count towards a final qualification. With the years of experience developing training courses for accredited qualifications, Maven Training, were able to provide the right materials and documentation to achieve accredited status for the level 1 and 2 modules.
The Delegate Experience
“Excellent course delivery made interesting and informative.”
“Very informative – much better understanding of requirements and their usefulness.”
Things delegates intended to do differently as a result of the course included;
“Plan projects with a greater knowledge of how it all comes together.”
“Be aware of risks, check that deadlines are being met.”
“Construct a more controlled approach to issues/risks and ask for more details with others who are involved in the project process.”
“Use the defining and closing stages of the process more formally… to justify the rationale for the cost elements of it.”
The Maven Project Team
Darren Ley brings a friendly ‘non prescriptive’ style, incorporating delegates experiences as well as his own experience running a project support office, training public sector organisations (including Police Authorities, Councils and the European Patent Office) and developing and delivering accredited training such as PRINCE2®and APMP qualification courses.
Tiffany Childs’s dynamic training style and project management experience on high profile projects and working with organisations with elected councils provides an effective understanding of the culture and constraints of public service projects.
The Next Chapter:
Continuous Improvement
The success of the training provided has resulted in the original contract for one year’s training provision being extended for the last 2 years, and this Emergency Service – Maven partnership goes from strength to strength.
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