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102+ 102
Projects under management
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100,000 100,000
Residents across 17 suburbs
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220+ 220
Staff, with 60 directly involved in project management
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2×daily 2×
Live budget data refreshed from TechnologyOne
With over 96,000 residents housed within its district and a host of capital works activities, Canada Bay Council needed a consolidated data management solution to remove project overheads and prioritise consistency and governance in its project delivery. ‘Change fatigue’ was a genuine concern after several attempts to find a new PPM system had failed to satisfactorily solve all its problems.
pmo365 was chosen by the development team as a versatile, user-friendly solution that would provide effective and centralised PPM tools and instantaneous data updates across the organisation.
About the organisation
The City of Canada Bay
Canada Bay Council was formed in 2000 and is based in Sydney’s inner west. It covers 17 suburbs and contains almost 100,000 residents, maintaining over 190 parks, recreational areas, and sports facilities. Canada Bay undertakes regular capital works and construction projects for the benefit of the community. As a government entity, it prioritises utility and community satisfaction in all the projects it undertakes, aiming to deliver them to its constituency with the greatest efficiency possible.
The challenge
Five key challenges
“Prior to pmo365, Council’s project management approach was inconsistent and often confusing,” says Ivette Delgado from the Canada Bay PMO. “There was no system to support a governance framework and keeping track of where projects were at was a challenge.”
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01
No single ‘source of truth’
Around 102 projects run concurrently. Project information was kept on multiple spreadsheets which often contained conflicting data, creating a significant administrative overhead when generating reports.
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02
Lack of consistent project management
Insufficient project governance meant a lack of consistency in how projects were delivered. Multiple sources of information and no shared PPM resource inhibited the PMO’s ability to oversee performance.
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03
Lack of knowledge sharing
Lack of visibility over project progress, tasks and budgets was a major pain point. Project knowledge that could inform other initiatives was spread far and wide across the organisation.
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04
Lack of tailored software and tools
With no dedicated PPM tools or centralised data system, stakeholders relied on updates kept on local drives. The absence of collaborative tools meant delays in asset maintenance, site inspections, and actioning new initiatives.
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05
Change fatigue
Over 20 years the council made many changes to its project management systems without finding a permanent solution for its PMO and the 60 employees involved in project management. Any new proposal would meet a fair degree of resistance.
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Affordable Housing Program
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Cintra Park Netball Amenities Upgrade -
Five Dock Revitalisation
"We wanted to go live with a feature set that was sufficient for Canada Bay to reap the benefits through practical use of the tool, that we could then build on as staff got used to the tool."
The solution
Introduce a single source of truth with a trusted platform
pmo365 introduced the Microsoft Power Platform and a central location for all data updates on Canada Bay’s own Microsoft 365 cloud. This single source of truth integrates all project management divisions and routes all sources of project information to one instantaneous, real-time data exchange, the Dataverse, with custom reports and dashboards generated in Power BI.
Key solution requirements were a centralised, easy to use and scalable PPM tool; embedded project governance; logical approval workflows to reduce red tape; integration with TechnologyOne ERP to capture the financial state of all council projects; effective reporting and dashboards; and a standardised way of prioritising projects as part of the operational plan and rolling four-year capital delivery program.
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01
Embed governance to create consistency in project delivery
A universal, customisable Project Module with gates, stages and embedded governance serving each department’s methodology, while automatically sending organisational-level information to the PMO. One-click approval notifications replace lengthy email chains, and a self-governance model auto-validates gates when sufficient information is provided.
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02
Deploy user-friendly apps and integrate existing data sources
Collaborative tools deployed as a minimum use case to encourage uptake, following the Introduce, Integrate, Replace philosophy: introduce new PPM apps, integrate data from external sources including the ERP for financials, then replace standalone files with a dedicated app managers are comfortable using.
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03
Improve visibility and knowledge sharing
Paperless reporting achieved 100% uptake of project status updates in the first month. High-level data routes automatically to the Dataverse, Power BI generates regular reports with virtually no overhead, and a Lessons Learned register retains stakeholder knowledge for future proposals and estimates.
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04
Track financials and digitise approvals
A financial tracking app imports performance indicators from TechnologyOne, updating portfolio financial data multiple times a day. Funds can be requested and approved for capital works annually, with a Power BI proposal dashboard covering project type, stage, amount proposed and funding allocation.
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05
Deliver project prioritisation tools
Mandatory assessment fields for each new proposal cover alignment to strategic goals, risk, service level deficiency and financials. Asset owners assess each workflow, projects are scored against other proposals and shortlisted for feasibility, so initiation only happens once scope, costs and benefits are understood.
The benefits
Paperless, visible, and built around its users
Going completely paperless
Collaborative tools and real-time data across the organisation have delivered an efficient and completely paperless project management system, with significant time savings in contract management, new project proposals, and financial reporting. Document attachments have been eradicated; all documentation lives in the dedicated records system (ECM), following a principle of self-governance that removes red tape around approvals.
Effective reporting and dashboards
Real-time dashboards are configured to the specific needs of each user, whether high-level portfolio overviews or on-the-ground activity updates. Reporting is instantaneous and can be customised directly by users or with the pmo365 DevOps team as the organisation evolves.
Tools built on actual user experience
With change fatigue, adoption was critical. The solution let project managers quickly see practical everyday benefits, then built capabilities as demand for new functions emerged. Enhancements arrived because stakeholders wanted them, not because they had to use them, and user buy-in has been significant.
A positive culture of collaboration
Automations in governance, real-time dashboards and efficient workflows let project managers focus on value-adding activities. Actions by different departments are visible to all stakeholders, and historical data on a single platform means new proposals can replicate successful past projects. Go-live was celebrated with branded cupcakes, shirts, pens and a staff video, with pmo365 support onsite for the entire first week.
Frequently asked questions
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How long did implementation take?
It took 5 months to build a minimum viable product, with an additional 4 months to deploy additional functionality. Scheduling, risk registers, dashboards and reports, and prioritisation were all part of the MVP. The first deployment included a project module, a Power BI dashboard, and an approvals app; TechnologyOne financials were implemented in a single sprint cycle.
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How is pmo365 accessed by government agencies?
pmo365 is published on Microsoft AppSource as a Microsoft preferred solution and deployed to your own Microsoft 365 tenant. It is approved for the Australian Whole of Government (WoAG) Software Licensing and Services Panel, Category 2, available to Commonwealth, State, Territory and Local Government entities.
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How disruptive is the deployment process?
A Change Management Strategy already in place meant the objectives were clear from the outset. Staff were involved throughout with workshops, feedback, and testing groups, and regular sprints since go-live have included check-ins and education sessions. Further goals include expanding the Lessons Learned and variations registers into IT and operational projects.
"The system is linked to our financial system, so the budget data displayed in pmo365 is live and is automatically refreshed two times a day. This has made a significant improvement to our reporting and our budget management and budget forecasting capability."
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