Test Valley Borough Council is now using project management methodology to implement change across the organisation after successfully using the approach to deliver its e-Government programme from 2004 to 2007. The key to the successful implementation of any new IT environment is a well defined project.

Although a project may appear to meet the budget, without well defined controls project management costs can spiral out of control.  As the project management approach to most projects is similar it makes sense to define processes supported by standard templates and checklists, this allows you to work on known activities, so keeping the project management costs under control.

Although sometimes real-life projects make PRINCE2 (PRojects IN Controlled Environments) difficult to adhere to exactly, it is a thoroughly proficient process-based method for effective project management.  PRINCE2 is a de facto standard used extensively by the UK Government and is widely recognised and used in the private sector, both in the UK and internationally.  Test Valley Borough Council use PRINCE2 as a framework for delivery of both IT and non-IT projects from small departmental schemes to large corporate initiatives.

The key features of good project (or programme) management are:

• Its focus on business justification
• A defined organisation structure for the project
• Its emphasis on dividing the project into manageable and controllable stages
• Flexibility, applied at a level appropriate to the project
• Its focus on project review and benefits realisation.