Quick Glance Higher Education Sector – Bournemouth University

The Opportunity

The University of Bournemouth is a leading university on the south coast that was investing over £30m in the future, with over 40 active strategic change projects and 30 more planned across its campuses, schools and professional service functions covering service delivery, business processes, IT systems and estates infrastructure.

Reporting to the Deputy Vice Chancellor, ChangeWise successfully supported the client in implementing, embedding and evolving a change governance framework for capital projects comprising:

• A Change Management Board to approve, align and prioritise new strategic projects.
• Four Programme Boards to strategise, monitor project progress and manage change control.
• A Change Management Office to support the portfolio, programmes and individual project delivery.
• A prioritised portfolio of change projects aligned to the strategic plan and vision.
• Improved quality, financial control and sponsor accountability for project and benefits delivery.

Photo by Ronnie Overgoor on Unsplash

Key Highlights

• A portfolio dashboard providing leadership with the status of all active and planned projects.
• A scoring method to ensure stakeholders objectively prioritise projects aligned to strategy.
• A consolidated resource plan identifying staff constraints and forecasting issues six months ahead.
• Enhanced financial reporting, bringing greater transparency, decision-making and control.
• Defined benefit types, creating business cases and costing tools to improve project justification.
• Benefits tracking and realisation tools providing enhanced delivery and ongoing business case justification.
• Standard procedures and templates to capture best practices and lessons learnt.
• Post project investment appraisals demonstrating Value-For-Money to the accountable committee.
• Training, coaching and advice on project and change management to drive confidence within project teams.
• A risk management framework which ensures individual and aggregate project risks are actively managed.
• Document reviews, health-checks and process audits to provide Quality Assurance and mitigate failure.
• A Lean review of student administration processes initiated to save >10% of cost to re-invest into academic staff, enhancing the student experience and achieving Service Excellence.

Photo by Ricardo Arce on Unsplash

The Outcome

• A shared vision for change with people and resources focussed on the top priorities.
• Greater engagement and involvement of stakeholders in project scope definition and delivery.
• Streamlined governance and procedures, improved decision-making and more delegated authority.
• Increased delivery of successful, strategic change projects in terms of time, quality and budget.

Client Reflection

‘In 2010 at the University, we were aiming for a step change in our infrastructure, processes and performance and were bringing this about through a large portfolio of projects and programmes.  We engaged ChangeWise in March 2011 at a time when we were seeking to strengthen our governance and oversight of this wide portfolio.  Mike Williams from ChangeWise brought rigour, expertise and experience to this role.  Mike’s ability to work alongside business managers and project sponsors throughout the University was a major reason why this work has proceeded with success.  He has seen the linkages between different projects which we may have missed.  He has never held back from advising us when he feels that something is going off plan or where there are risks that need managing.  But nor has he sought to impose his view; his understanding of the relationship with us as client has been excellent. 

The University has gained greatly from its engagement with ChangeWise, allowing us to drive forward a wide range of projects in a short period of time.  I would not hesitate in engaging ChangeWise again in this area of programme management and governance.’

David Willey, Deputy Vice-Chancellor, (2002-2012)

Public services are consistently under pressure to improve their amenities, processes and customer satisfaction whilst reducing costs and obtaining less funds. The intelligent application of Lean techniques can help to make this possible. Interested in learning more? Contact us at info@changewise.co.uk and let’s talk about how we can help.

ChangeWise believes employee engagement is the foundation for successful Change. Training and coaching your people to use simple continuous improvement techniques will enable your organisation to continuously adapt and stay ahead in a constantly changing and challenging environment.

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