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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.
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