Taskforce lead for a shared services reform
The Client:
A long standing and leading Commonwealth department.
The Project:
We were engaged to lead a taskforce that was responsible for consolidating the common back office corporate functions and services of a number of high-profile Commonwealth institutions. We were commissioned to lead the Taskforce, project management and delivery of this major reform. This included the development of the strategy, governance and delivery model, stakeholder engagement, risk management, data collections and implementation of the program.
The Approach:
We undertook extensive research to thoroughly understand the complexity and distribution of existing processes and services, and to identify savings and support recommendations made by Fyusion for process improvements.
This approach was complemented by a detailed communication plan to report back on project progress to the Project Sponsor and stakeholders, ensuring they were engaged in each step.
The Outcome:
The Shared Services Centre realised the predicted savings of $2.5 million annually, after recovering the cost of establishing the Centre, while providing a higher level of service to those utilising the Centre. On top of this, additional savings were identified beyond the budget measure.
At several points, the project was impacted by changing organisational and government priorities, including a truncated timeline for delivery of cost savings. We were able to adapt to these changes by allocating additional resources from a flexible pool of staff as required.
Our understanding of the sensitivities of the project, our experience dealing with governance and structural reviews, as well as strong project management expertise resulted in the achievement of all project goals in the set timeframes.
In 2016, the project was acknowledged with an Australia Day Award.