Press Release - Delivering successful IT-enabled business
change
17 November 2006
The successful introduction of IT systems is a crucial element
in major Government programmes to deliver better services to the
public -whether through providing new services, making existing
services more efficient and responsive to citizens’ needs, or
improving organisational performance. A report published today by
the National Audit Office identifies common threads in IT-enabled
programmes and projects, to pinpoint the key factors which have
contributed to success and how they can be replicated in future by
the public sector.
The NAO report features some two dozen IT-enabled programmes and
projects, from both the public and the private sectors, within the
UK and overseas, which demonstrate how success can be achieved. The
report identifies what Government can do to enhance the chances of
bringing about IT success and represents a clear challenge to
departments to take action to reduce the risk of failure and
embrace innovation while safeguarding the taxpayer.
From analysing these examples of IT-enabled change, the NAO
identified three core principles which contribute to delivering
successful IT programmes and projects:
- Ensuring senior level engagement: clear and engaged board
leadership, keeping senior decision makers informed of progress and
risks and, for example, not creating undue pressure by making
premature and unrealistic announcements about delivery dates
- Acting as an “intelligent client”: understanding the business
process the department is aiming to change, having the right
programme management skills, training the staff and creating
effective and equal relationships with suppliers
- Realising the benefits: selling the benefits to users, winning
wider support for the change, and assessing whether the programme
or project has achieved what it set out to do
In the past, Government has not always shown itself to be an
intelligent client, with poorly defined requirements and a lack of
capacity to engage effectively with suppliers. A number of recent
initiatives have been introduced aimed at improving public sector
performance in managing IT projects, including the appointment of
Chief Information Officers in departments and further tightening of
the OGC Gateway Review process. For example, in response to
insufficient numbers of programmes and projects being subject to a
final Gateway Review to determine if they have delivered the
benefits they set out to achieve, the Office of Government Commerce
Supervisory Board has set a general rule that programmes and
projects should undergo a Gate 5 Review to assess the benefits they
have delivered within twelve months of “going live”.
Sir John Bourn, head of the National Audit Office, said
today:
“IT projects in the public sector have too often been
associated with failure – this report provides an opportunity to
change that. Learning from experience is not just a case of
appreciating what went wrong, but also encompasses understanding
what went right. Success can never be guaranteed, but it should not
be an unfathomable mystery. The common threads among these IT
programmes and projects are evidence that a favourable outcome is
not a matter of luck, but is the result of sound judgement.”
Notes for Editors:
- Details of the 24 case studies are contained in a companion
volume to this report and include the Department for Work and
Pensions’ Pension Credit, DEFRA’s programme for citizens at risk of
fuel poverty, OGCbuying.solutions’ eSourcing to allow strategic
procurement activities to be conducted online, DTI’s Consumer
Direct which provides consumers with a single access number to free
advice when problems arise when dealing with traders, Transport for
London’s Oyster® card and the New York City 3-1-1 Citizen Service
Center.
- Chief Information Officers sit at or near board level and are
responsible for championing the department’s IT projects.
- An OGC Gateway Review is a review of an acquisition programme
or procurement project carried out at a key decision point by a
team of experienced people, independent of the project team. There
are five OGC Gateway Reviews during the lifecycle of a project,
three before contract award and two looking at service
implementation and confirmation of the operational benefits. A
project is reviewed at the OGC Gateway Review appropriate to the
point reached in its lifecycle. Retrospective or combined OGC
Gateway Reviews are not supported. The process emphasises early
review for maximum added value. OGC Gateway Review 0 is a
programme-only review that is repeated throughout the programme’s
life; it can be applied to policy implementation, business change
or other types of delivery programme involving acquisition. It sets
the programme review in the wider policy or corporate context.
- The OGC Supervisory Board is chaired by the Chief Secretary to
the Treasury. Members include the Cabinet Secretary and Permanent
Secretaries.
- Press notices and reports are available from the date of
publication on the NAO website, which is at www.nao.org.uk. Hard
copies can be obtained from The Stationery Office on 0845 702
3474.
- The Comptroller and Auditor General, Sir John Bourn, is the
head of the National Audit Office which employs some 850 staff. He
and the NAO are totally independent of Government. He certifies the
accounts of all Government departments and a wide range of other
public sector bodies; and he has statutory authority to report to
Parliament on the economy, efficiency and effectiveness with which
departments and other bodies have used their resources.
Press Notice 59/06
All enquiries to Nick Morrison, NAO Press Office:
Tel: 020 7798 7934
Mobile: 07796 940 746