:: Professional Highlights ::

Planning Inspectorate Board Director

Member of the board of directors which transformed PINS (planning inspectorate) into a highly effective Government Agency. PINS' annual budget was £35m.

Planning Portal Programme

Senior Responsible Owner (SRO) of the Planning Portal Programme. The programme consisted of a number of linked projects including the Planning Portal (www.planningportal.gov.uk) and the PINS' Planning Casework Service. Conceived the concept. Persuaded Ministers and the planning community to support and finance the programme, the budget for which was £20m.

Recruited and led the Planning Portal management team oversaw the creation and implementation of the Portal's communications, marketing and future ownership strategies. The challenge was to ensure that the Planning
Portal's team was organized and managed along commercial rather than traditional public sector lines with its own sense of identity/brand. The Portal is currently used by around 100,000 unique users a month, including
all local authorities. It has won several awards including the Best
Government to Business IT Project award in 2004 and e-Government Excellence in Central Government Strategic Plan award 2005.

Planning & Casework Service

SRO of the PINS Planning Casework Service (PCS). The PCS is an integrated document, workflow and casework management system which enables internal and external users to track progress and submit casework documents on line. It is PINS' most fundamental business system. Graham led a multidisciplinary team of administrative staff, planning inspectors, contractors, consultants and IT staff in specifying, developing and implementing the system. The programme included a number of linked projects and pieces of work, including;-

• Business process reviews of the way PINS processed its casework. The recommendations of the reviews required legislation which Graham persuaded ODPM to take forward
• the development of new workflows;
• decision templates to be used by planning inspectors;
• the redesign of all forms to make sure that they are scanner friendly;
• restructuring and retraining of casework teams;
• a major upgrade of PINS' IT systems;
• business continuity planning
• integration with the Planning Portal and PINS' internal systems
• implementation of a business information system to monitor the realisation of benefits against agreed metrics;
• a comprehensive change management programme.

The PCS programme was ambitious and highly complex from both a technical and business point of view. Some significant problems had to be resolved along the way, including:-

• A live pilot revealed technical and business process problems of scanning appeal forms and documentation. The solution was an upgrade of the scanning equipment, the redesign of all forms and new business processes;
• independent usability testing highlighted the need to make the system more usable for both internal and external users.
• Workflows - the live pilot of the system highlighted the need for a further simplification of workflows and business practices,
• Performance and resilience - the volume of PINS' casework doubled during the course of the project due to reasons outside PINS' control. An independent review indicated that a major upgrade to the IT infrastructure was needed to improve performance and resilience;
• Communications - PINS' staff were concerned about moving from a largely paper based to electronic working. Graham worked closely with the Trade Union Side to overcome these fears. An action plan was drawn up and implemented to deal with the ergonomic implications of greater electronic working.
• Keeping the team focused and motivated whilst the problems were overcome. One of Graham's key tasks was to ensure that all of the component project teams communicated with each other, identified dependencies and bore in mind the strategic objectives of the PCS, including improving the service to internal and external customers.

Restructuring the Planning Inspectorate

Led a project to restructure the Planning Inspectorate (PINS) into a more customer and regionally focused organisation. The new structure was successfully implemented and backed up with a comprehensive change management programme - budget £1m

PINS Casework System

SRO of PINS Casework system (CASE) project. CASE had been in development for 8 years at a cost of £20m when Graham joined PINS in 1997. Users and senior management had lost faith in the system ever being rolled out. The requirement had become out of date. Responsibility for the system was split between separate development and implementation boards. Graham carried out a fundamental review of the project, set up and chaired a single project board, reviewed and reduced the requirement, and successfully implemented a new project plan which focused on current business needs. As a result of his leadership the project was turned around and the system implemented successfully in 1998. Benefits included 10% staff savings and up to date and accurate management information.

PINS Information Systems Strategy

PINS Information Systems Strategy - 1997 - working with consultants. Graham undertook a fundamental review of PINS Information Strategy which took into account the lessons from the development of CASE. The strategy was agreed by PINS' Management Board. Key points included: - the established of 6 theme boards each chaired by a different PINS director (thereby giving ownership to the business was than the IT group); Graham chaired the programme board established and led an IS Strategy Support Unit; created a five year vision; and creating a customer and supplier relationship between the IT department and the business.
New systems delivered included:- a modern intranet; an award winning web site; a modern Microsoft Office desk top; IT links with 400 home based planning inspectors; an system; the electronic scheduling of inspectors' work programmes; and improved management information systems. The vision was achieved within 4 years. Key change was that Graham successfully encouraged PINS Management team to take an active interest in IT and to recognize the importance of IT to the business - Programme Budget £15m

Grants & Subsidy Payments System

SRO of the Department of the Environment's Grants and Subsidy Payments System (GASP) project - 1994 -1995 - a system which validated and authorized claims for payments of housing subsidy and grants form local housing authorities of a total value of £4 billion a year. The system broke new ground within Government in using a self validating electronic claim form on disk based upon propriety software. Graham conceived the concept, obtained funding for the project, chaired the project board and managed the in house project team. GASP was implemented successfully. All local authorities were persuaded to use the electronic claim form system. Benefits included the elimination of validation errors, increased resilience and staff savings. Resolved contractual dispute with the supplier of the system.