We have an excellent reputation for working with clients to determine the most suitable PPM arrangements, drawing on our experience delivering hundreds of client projects. This means that we can share with you the expertise we have gathered from both the Public and the Private Sectors to ensure that PPM adds value, rather than becoming a bureaucratic barrier to delivery.

Our approaches to PPM are just like our approaches to everything else – non-traditional and highly tailored. WCL’s PPM approach combines and aligns the best elements of traditional PPM and change management methods, going beyond standard methodologies and encompassing a facilitative approach to managing change and interacting with people. Our belief is that the most important aspect of any programme or project is the people who deliver, contribute to, or are affected by it. 

We tailor our approaches to the specific needs of each project/programme and client, so that we add value by ensuring delivery is on time, within budget and to the required quality. We assess client need first, and use the appropriate set of tools, using light touch approaches wherever suitable to ensure we meet client requirements and make it easier to share knowledge and transfer experience.

The key areas in which we have successfully provided PPM consultancy support to clients include:

• Programme initiation and development of scoping documentation (PIDs, briefs, charters, blueprints, business cases)

• Programme design and setup

• Setup of governance structures and reporting systems

• Application of best practice light touch tools and approaches

• Programme and project healthchecks

• Planning support – team workshops, production of plans and supporting documentation, monitoring and tracking of progress against plans and reporting of progress

• Development of communications strategies and plans and reporting progress against them

• Supporting internal and external communications and consultation activity through meeting and event facilitation and hosting

• Risk and issue management support – team workshops, development of risk/issue registers, risk activity management and progress reporting to project/programme boards

• Development of reporting and monitoring systems, commissioning, creation and collation of monitoring reports and provision of summaries for project/programme boards

• Programme and project recovery strategies, where programmes are stalled or failing

• Provision of short term support resources to staff a PMO while a team gets its in-house resources in place

• Introduction of project-based working to new teams

• PPM training and coaching/mentoring support

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Our approach to delivering consultancy support in PPM is to ensure collaboration and co-working wherever possible. This not only maximises the chances of success but also enables a far higher degree of skills transfer to your internal staff. In every case we will work with the team to set up practical, pragmatic and relevant tools and techniques for planning, monitoring, reporting, governance and management. Wherever possible we try to co-develop outputs so that internal staff are led though the thinking processes that led to their creation. This reduces dependency on consultants and means internal staff are more able to do the job themselves next time. We also try to engage as many people on the team as possible through the use of workshops and other sessions both to shorten the timescales associated with iterative development by drafting and review, and so that the outputs achieve the best ‘buy-in’ possible from the widest range of stakeholders.

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To find out more about how WCL's approach to Programme and Project Management can help you and your organisation please contact us.