A defence company running lots of small projects mainly for the government was struggling with its three main IT systems. Information had to be transferred between each system on a regular basis and this put constraints on the format of data. These data constraints, in turn, caused functional constraints on the IT systems rendering many of their intended benefits useless. Projects were reviewed monthly and projected costs were never accurate making it very difficult to react to problems with individual projects.

3t reviewed the position and found many project managers had developed their own reporting methods used their own project management software as they did not trust the business systems. This is a very inefficient way to operate and process is being duplicated. Also, data quality was very low and storage was also duplicated with variation in processing methods. Monthly reviews tended to focus on data accuracy rather than the real issues.

3t were engaged to make some sense of the situation and help the management team develop a clear plan to resolve the issues. It became apparent the one system was wholly inappropriate for its application and was replaced completely. Data paths were remapped as was the procurement process that had major lead time issues associated with them.

The result was that reporting and project visibility improved. Data paths were clear as they had now been mapped properly and data quality also improved. The important outcome was buy-in. 3t had involved the right people, this is tough as emotions and communications can often get in the way, but when handled properly the outcomes are sustainable.