North America, EMEA, and APAC

2022

The client, a large bank, needed to implement a critical technology transformation of key applications to a fixed deadline. Significant levels of technical debt had built up within the organization over an extended period of time.

All these applications were running partially or completely on technologies that were end of life or end of service, which created compliance and security issues for the client. They did not have the internal mechanisms or skills to meet the deadline and required PTS’s expertise to manage over 100 concurrent projects. The existing environment was siloed, governance skills were lacking, and suitable delivery resources were not available internally. Key applications needed to be brought to compliant levels in order to meet established commitments. This time bound driver meant that PTS was needed to provide robust solutions to complex problems while ensuring rigour around governance of the program to allow for predictable and reliable outcomes.

PTS addressed multiple challenges to achieve the goal.

Establishment of PMO (Project Management Office)

A program office was established to ensure that there was robust governance around the program. This ensured all objectives and success criteria were clearly stated, tracked, and reported on in a consistent and agreed manner.

Consistent Controls

The program developed controls to ensure that all projects adhered to PTS’s project management methodology allowing for a predictable and reliable approach to delivery.

Robust Processes

Robust processes and procedures for delivery were defined ensuring existing client controls were adhered to which allowed a remediation “factory” approach to be built using repeatable and reusable methods.

PTS Program Tool

At the execution level PTS leveraged its customizable program tool to track progress, measure milestone achievement data and ensure robust management of risks and issues. The tool also provided visibility of upcoming work to ensure potential conflicts were understood and dependencies were managed in a timely manner.

Issue and Risk Management and Escalation

The program cut across multiple business units, application and infrastructure technology teams, procurement, finance, multiple risk teams and therefore vigilance was critical to identifying and managing risks and issues. PTS established a transparent and consistent process for tracking and reporting risks and issues. In addition, PTS established an escalation process to ensure that issues were addressed in a timely manner and their impacts were fully understood by the teams and senior management.

Quality Audits and Evidence

Quality audits were key to ensuring consistency in the program’s deliverables and a rigorous process was established to capture evidence for the work done that provided the client the information required for both internal and external stakeholders.

Reporting and Communication

A comprehensive communications plan defined how the program was conveyed to stakeholders and senior management. This included regular presentations to inform on progress and request action on issues or decisions required. PTS managed senior management through a monthly steering committee working with C-suite members.

• Established methodology and processes to enable the client to execute lifecycle activities at pace and scale
• Governance best practices introduced to the client
• Over 1,000 milestones managed
• Real time access to progress against project plans, effective communication and ability to adopt and make changes to challenges, resolving issues in a timely manner
• The governance structure and quality control artefacts ensured the work completed was fully auditable