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STATES OF JERSEY
INTEGRATED TECHNOLOGY SOLUTION – FOLLOW UP (R.67/2023): EXECUTIVE RESPONSE
Presented to the States on 16th June 2023 by the Public Accounts Committee
STATES GREFFE
2023 R.67/2023. Res.
2 FOREWORD
In accordance with paragraphs 69-71 of the Code of Practice for engagement between Scrutiny Panels and the Public Accounts Committee' and the Executive', the Public Accounts Committee presents the Executive Response to the Comptroller and Auditor General's Report entitled: Integrated Technology Solution – Follow up (R.67/2023 - presented to the States on 28th April 2023).
The Committee intends to review the Executive Response to the recommendations and will consider whether to produce further comments in due course.
Deputy L. Feltham
Chair, Public Accounts Committee
R.67/2023 Res.
Chief Executive and Assistant Chief Executive to C&AG Review: Integrated Technology Solution – Follow Up - Executive Response to PAC by 14th June 2023.
Summary of response:
The Chief Executive welcomes the follow-up review of the operation of the Integrated Technology Solution (ITS) to November 2022 and the go-live' decision at the end of December 2022; in the context of progress made in terms of:
• the implementation of agreed recommendations from the previous review in October 2021; and
• roll out of the ITS programme.
Government of Jersey appreciate the review and recognises that the ITS programme remains an essential element to the future stability of its business operations; and has identified some elements of good practice in the way in which the ITS programme has been managed.
To note nine of the ten recommendations highlighted in the follow-up report have been accepted and several actions relating to recommendations are already in place or are underway.
Action Plan
Recommendations | Action | Target date | Responsible Officer |
R1 Finalise and publish the Technology Strategy. | Accept: The Technology Strategy is under further development and will be considered by the Digital Strategy Leadership Group before being published by the Assistant Chief Minister responsible for Modernisation and Digital. | 30/09/2023 | Interim Group Director, Modernisation & Digital |
R2 Prepare and publish six-monthly update reports on progress in implementing the Technology Strategy | Accept: The Technology Strategy, to be published by the Assistant Chief Minister, will include details regarding how updates on implementation will be provided. A link to the strategy will be provided to PAC. | 31/03/2024 | Interim Group Director, Modernisation & Digital |
R3 Ensure that the monitoring and communication of benefits realisation is a centralised responsibility that endures | Partially Accept: Under the new corporate programme and project delivery frameworks, the Senior Responsible Officer |
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beyond the closure of the ITS programme and continues to 2030. | (SRO) is now accountable for the realisation of expected benefits, to the relevant Accountable Officer. Benefit details are required in the supporting framework suite of templates, including the Change Mandate, Blueprint (programmes), Business Case, Brief, PID, SRO Sponsor assignment letter and guidelines. Once the ITS programme is complete, a closure report will be prepared. At this point benefits realisation of all elements of the programme will be formally handed to the defined Benefit Owners and Business area. Benefits management and realisation is in early stages of introduction and maturity. To ensure there is a consistent approach in place across the organisation, a training model and guidelines will be created to support the development of internal capability and to embed good practice. The Corporate Portfolio Management Office (CPMO) will commence benefit realisation reporting to the Executive Leadership Team, on major and strategic initiatives, where it is possible to do so. | In place January 2024 March 2024 Q4 2024 | Head of Corporate Portfolio Management Office Programme Director ITS Head of Corporate Portfolio Management Office Head of Corporate Portfolio Management Office |
R5 Include a 10-year cost and benefit horizon in all business cases for major programmes with long implementation timescales | Accept: Current business case guidance requires projects to provide costs over the full life of the project and requires revenue costs to be projected until they reach a recurring state. To strengthen practice in this area, the process will be revised to mandate a minimum 10 year horizon for Major Projects with implementation timescales exceeding 5 years. | Q3 2023 onwards | Head of Investment Appraisal |
R6 Ensure that the key strategic risks associated with programmes are identified, recorded and managed. | Accept: The CPMO carry out regular risk reviews, working with the Head of Risk Management to identify portfolio strategic risk themes, to support/ feed into quarterly reporting to the Executive Leadership Team (ELT). Under the new corporate programme/project delivery frameworks, the Senior Responsible Officer (SRO) is accountable, to the relevant Accountable Officer, for the effective management of project risks. To support the new approach, the CPMO have developed toolkits and guidance to support good practice in project risk and issue management. For example, project Logbooks have been introduced as part of the suite of templates supporting the programme and project delivery frameworks for 2021 and 2022. Project risk guidance and training development, to support maturity in this area, will be a focus for the CPMO from quarter 3 2023. | In place In place From Q3 2023 | Head of Corporate Portfolio Management Office Head of Corporate Portfolio Management Office Head of Corporate Portfolio Management Office |
R7 Enhance the CPMO guidance on programme performance to have greater alignment with wider best practice such as the UK's Infrastructure and Project Authority's programme review methodology. | Accept: The CPMO frameworks, templates and supporting guidelines were developed to align where possible to good practice from other bodies and jurisdictions, at the time of development. A balance has had to be maintained in setting best practice standards that are proportionate for a jurisdiction of this size. The CPMOs priority has been to introduce a common framework, with a consistent, clear language to ensure full engagement and compliance. The CPMO commits to continuing to review good practice with a view to continuing to enhance GoJ's | In place | Head of Corporate Portfolio Management Office |
| internal governance and control health check processes, guidance and training. As the organisation continue to mature, further enhancements will be appropriate at that time. | Development ongoing through to Q4 2024 | Head of Corporate Portfolio Management Office |
R8 Ensure business readiness checklists for future releases include a service-related dimension which provides evidence that each significant service area across the States of Jersey is satisfied that the functionality has been tested and signed off as meeting business needs. | Accept: This is already in place for projects that are delivered through the Project Delivery Framework and under the scope of the CPMO. It is a mandatory requirement for projects to complete an Approval to Proceed to Stage 4' document which must be signed off by the Senior Responsible Officer for the project. This document includes a readiness checklist which contains a section to confirm that the Senior Users have signed off the project's products/services acceptance criteria. | In place | Head of Corporate Portfolio Management Office |
R9 Review the lessons learned documents to ensure they have captured all lessons learned in a single consolidated document. | Accept: The ITS Programme has considered lessons learned on an ongoing basis following go-live' and roll out' of the elements of the programme. This learning has been shared with the Programme Partnership Board and with the CPMO for recording centrally. The CPMO has also established a Corporate Lessons Register which is available to all the GoJ on the CPMO Hub for sharing of lesson insights. Once the ITS programme is complete, all lessons learned will be captured and summarised as part of the Closure report. | In place In place January 2024 | Programme Director ITS Head of Corporate Portfolio Management Office Programme Director ITS |
R10 Develop a clearly documented plan to prevent the issues and problems from releases one and two | Accept: The Programme has performed several Lessons Learned workshops in relation to release one and two. However, as the deliverables and outcomes of the |
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being repeated for future releases and in future Government programmes. | constituent "Releases" of the programme are different. It would not always be possible to develop a detailed plan documenting all issues and problems that arose from release one and two. All relevant key issues and learnings have been factored into Release 3. However, the closure report would capture those strategic issues relating to delivery and programme management that would be relevant to wider future government programmes, which would then be incorporated into CPMO working practices. | Ongoing Q1 2024 | Programme Director ITS Programme Director ITS |
A1 Use the reporting model adopted for the Strategic Oversight Board and the strong financial management and governance which it demonstrates for future programmes. | Partially Accept: A review of the deliverables and benefits of this Strategic Oversight Board will be undertaken by the CPMO, with a view to distilling learnings that would benefit other programmes. Accordingly, an update to the Public Finances Manual Project Governance Framework, that supports the | 31/03/2024 30/06/2024 | Head of Corporate Portfolio Management Office Head of Corporate Portfolio Management Office |
Programme and Project Delivery Frameworks, will be proposed to incorporate any amendments. |
Recommendations not accepted
| Recommendation | Reason for rejection |
| R4 Produce annual reports on benefits realisation from closed programmes to allow transparent reporting on long-term benefit realisation. | Rejected Based on the current maturity of the organisation, and limited SME resources in this area, this recommendation cannot be progressed at this time. Rather focus needs to be prioritised on putting foundational steps in place as above in R3 and focus on continued improvements to the quality of business cases. |