CASE STUDY
Public Works Advisory
NSW Government
Following a series of machinery of government changes, NSW Public Works Advisory was faced with challenges around inconsistent processes, reporting and the tools used across projects. Read about how they were able to achieve complete projects' portfolios visibility, consistency, and governance with Microsoft pmo365.
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$10b $10b
Annual portfolio
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1,500+ 1,500
Projects under management
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500+ 500
Staff
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17 17
Locations
About the organisation
Public Works Advisory
Public Works Advisory (PWA) is a NSW Government agency that supports local and state government agencies in their delivery of infrastructure and investment projects. Through their expert teams, PWA provides advice and services ranging from project management, asset management, environmental impact services, infrastructure and building development, and much more. PWA is a critical arm of the government that supports, connects, and builds-up regional communities to allow them to flourish and prosper.
Previously called the Public Work Department, PWA has been responsible for some of the most iconic and pivotal projects in our nation's history including the Sydney Harbour Bridge, the Sydney Opera House and the extensive water supply dams throughout regional NSW.
The challenge
PWA faced five key challenges
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01
Lack of visibility and effective reporting
The wide range of tools and applications used made gathering consolidated project progress data difficult, leading to a lack of visibility over the different project portfolios. Valuable information was not presented to key stakeholders in an accurate, efficient, and timely manner.
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02
Lack of consistent project management
Teams were using different practices and processes within their projects. A paper-based governance structure was difficult to monitor effectively, leading to inconsistent practices, a lack of success traceability, and time-consuming quality control.
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03
Lack of knowledge sharing across the organisation
Without a shared system, practice, or software, sharing knowledge across the organisation was difficult — hampering organisational innovation and losing potential productivity gains.
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04
Lack of tailored software and tools
Processes were being adapted to applications rather than people. Projects were tracked through applications like SAP rather than tools that help project managers manage their projects — leading to critical gaps in information and hampered collaboration.
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05
Change fatigue
PWA had tried various solutions from off-the-shelf to highly comprehensive software. These implementations either failed to fully accommodate their needs or were overly complex. Staff were increasingly sceptical of new changes without tangible positive impacts.
The requirements
What PWA was looking for
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01
A central digital solution
Digitise project portfolio management and remove the administrative overhead of collecting data from different data sources — a centralised, single source of truth for all project stakeholders.
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02
Scalability
PWA was growing fast and needed a system that could accommodate growth in both the size and number of projects and portfolios — handling more projects, users, integrations, and configurations.
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03
Alignment to the technology strategy
A PPM solution that solved its business challenges and aligned with its technology strategy — not a solution hosted by a vendor outside PWA's IT function's control.
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04
Adaptable PPM system
A system that could adapt quickly and easily to both the organisation's top-down governance mandates and the end-users' initial and ongoing requirements — from senior directors to on-the-ground project managers.
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05
Low risk investment
No large upfront investment or long-term commitment. PWA wanted a solution that could be gradually and iteratively funded and released to mitigate risks around staff adopting the tool.
"Being able to show progress and build momentum early as opposed to showing them none for 2 years and handing staff the shiny Lamborghini they might not need is definitely the way to go."
The solution
Unify all project activities onto a single intuitive and integrative platform
The team at pmo365 introduced a one-stop solution that addressed all these issues through the implementation and configuration of pmo365 — the Microsoft PPM — to deliver solutions to all PWA's needs.
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01
Centralising and automating governance process
Leveraging PWA's mature procurement, contract and project management processes, pmo365 became PWA's one-stop shop for all project management activities from proposal to completion — the entire lifecycle in one place, with all data sources connected.
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02
Introducing a single source of truth
Real-time, accurate project portfolio information by consolidating all data sources: new Microsoft PowerApps applications supporting PPM, stand-alone files replaced with apps, and data integrated from external sources such as PWA's finance system.
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03
Unifying all applications and tools on a single platform
Microsoft Project for scheduling, SharePoint for documentation, Power BI for reports and dashboards — plus a Power Automate and Dataverse connection to PWA's pre-existing SAP instance, bringing all project financial information onto the single PPM platform.
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04
Building the solution for the users, by the users
The solution was released in several iterations, each informed by user feedback — PWA put the design in the hands of end users. A subscription-based service meant minimal risk, no lock-in and no upfront set-up fee.
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05
Providing training and collecting feedback
Several in-depth training sessions guided PWA users on best practices and processes. Constant feedback informed future iterations, with supplementary resources and tools to ensure users made the most of their new platform.
The benefits
What changed for PWA
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01
Significant time savings for project managers
Automated project governance, real-time dashboards and seamless integration of data sources let project managers focus on more value-adding activities.
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02
Enhanced reporting and insight on all levels
Intuitive, real-time dashboards configurable to specific needs — from senior leadership needing high-level portfolio overviews to project managers needing constant activity updates.
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03
A fit-for-purpose solution for great user adoption
By building capability based on growing and changing needs, pmo365 introduced functions users wanted to use, not had to use. Buy-in was quick, and always growing.
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04
Improved project quality control and assurance
With clear governance structures and shared data, project activities, progress, documents and compliance are easily tracked, analysed and improved. Historic data in a single platform lets PWA replicate successful projects.
The future
We are only getting started
PWA and pmo365 have developed a promising and exciting roadmap for future releases. With a strong PPM solution foundation, we can begin to collaboratively build higher-level functions and features that will take PWA's PPM maturity to the next level. From new bespoke applications to improved accessibility to an innovative procurement function, pmo365 is ready to configure fit-for-purpose features for PWA as they continue to grow.
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