Vanessa Cowan

Business Change prioritises projects for success From over 200 to less than 40 top projects in just months During the latter part of 2009, Santam opened its doors to a new business unit - Business Change. Business Change is now making significant progress. This was recently demonstrated by the successful orchestration of the new projects prioritisation process, which has resulted in a focused, do-able portfolio of less than 40 of the right projects for Santam. While in the past the demand for change was handled ineffectively, in an ad hoc manner, the mandate of Business Change is to shape and manage the optimal change portfolio for Santam. It does this by ensuring that the right changes are made, in support of Santam’s strategy and vision, and that enabling tools, processes, people resources and support for change are in place. In following a highly collaborative and clearly defined process for prioritising the demand for change (while also considering the impacts and capacity for change), Business Change has been able to create the optimal portfolio of projects for Santam for the second half of 2010. “In January this year, Santam had an enterprise portfolio of over 200 projects. We now have a considerably more focused portfolio that includes the top eight transformational programmes (SIIC funded) and an additional top 32 projects (PIC funded as well as key below threshold projects),” says Lizet Murray, head of the Business Change Unit. “I believe this Santam wide portfolio of projects is now reflective of the right mix of projects for Santam, in fit with our bigger corporate strategy. I’m extremely encouraged with the progress Business Change has made in delivering on some of our bigger promises. Not only are we managing down the demand for change to get the focus and priorities right and address critical business issues and market drivers, but we are also being pro-active in planning for change, in terms of funding, resourcing and people impacts. We are now more confident of the ability of business and IT to deliver on the change portfolio and reap the rewards,” she says. How does the prioritisation process work? The projects portfolio prioritisation process is a formal, iterative process for prioritising all demand for change across Santam. “In the past projects were initiated randomly, without consideration for organisational (vs. business unit) priorities in every instance and whether it was the right change for Santam as a whole. We have changed this now by putting in place a process that helps us see where the demand for change is, to filter and sort this according to what’s right for Santam, while also considering multiple constraints faced by the business, for example resource availability, skills levels, capacity for change and other people impacts such as a fatigue for too much or the wrong change,” says Simon Morilly, Business Change Portfolio Governance Manager. “The process begins with the Business Change Managers (BCM’s) and Client IT Executives (CITE’s), in consultation with business, assessing the demand for change. This demand is then aggregated and, using established rating criteria, translated into a Santam enterprise wide view of demand. Demand for change is ranked according to priority, benefit to the business, risk and Business Change prioritises projects for success From over 200 to less than 40 top projects in just months size. What this means is that all projects on the demand list are ranked in relation to each other, across divisional portfolio’s. This is a major point of departure for Santam since in the past we tended to look at divisional portfolio’s in isolation of one another, meaning that we were not always looking out for the greater good of Santam.” “In ensuring we are able to deliver on our portfolio, we then apply funding and resourcing constraints to the aggregated view, checking how many people may be required to fulfill project roles, skills levels needed, funds required and people impacts of change,” says Simon. So what does this mean for Santam? “For the first time ever, we have a top down goal aligned strategy. It’s no longer about doing everything for everyone as this sets the business up for failure – people cannot cope, there is little direction and we just don’t have the capacity to see things through. We are now in a much better position to deliver on the right projects and set Santam up for greater success. Part of the function of the Project Portfolio Office (PPO) is also to actively track and monitor the benefits delivered by projects so that we are sure we are on track, aligned to Santam Strategy, and seeing tangible benefits,” comments Head of the PPO, Everett Brown. The PPO is responsible for the ongoing orchestration and review of the portfolio prioritisation process on a quarterly basis. Since Santam must also remain flexible and adapt to outside changes, as external conditions demand, an important part of the process is the constant check for alignment to Santam strategy as new decisions are made and shifts in direction required. This is done by making sure that projects and programmes align with Exco and divisional action plans linking to the strategic choices made by Exco (the Exco “To Do List”), as well as through continuous BCM engagement with Exco members and level 4 managers. “Creating a core competency in managing change requires an organisation to select the “right” initiatives, execute these in the “right way” and effectively measure success. By implementing a good portfolio management process, Santam has come a long way towards putting in place the first critical element of competitive advantage, namely doing the “right” things,” Lizet concludes. Business Change prioritises projects for success From over 200 to less than 40 top projects in just months What our Business Stakeholders are saying: “In the past IT did a lot of ‘less value adding’ initiatives that kept limited resources busy. With IT enabled to focus on the priority issues and real value adding initiatives, we now utilise more than 50% of our delivery capacity on Strategic Change programmes. I believe the collaboration between Business Change and IT have been successful in implementing proper governance processes and in ensuring effective communication and alignment with Business. [Jan de Klerk: Chief Information Officer] “Business Change have been instrumental in creating a better understanding of the portfolio through proper discipline and priorisation, leading to a better alignment of funding requirements to available budget.” [Machiel Reyneke: Chief Financial Officer] “Although we are in early stages of implementation, there are positive signs. We now have a single prioritised list based on business benefits instead of multiple competing lists. The process was beneficial in that it involved the co-operation of many different stakeholders towards a common goal.” [Mo Gani: Head Solution Design] “On the positive side, we have a prioritized list of projects, which is a key component of demand management. The challenge going forward is to be able to make the tough decisions and say no, where we need to.” [Nathan van Rooyen: CITE Broker Distribution] “The new prioritisation process is a really positive step forward. The lack of effective prioritisation in the past meant we were managing our resources reactively whereas this is now a proactive process. Through more effective scheduling we can also balance our workload and maximise the use of permanent resources. This will enable Santam to develop its internal intellectual capital and cut down on unnecessary costs.” [Tahier Saban, Head of the IT Project Management Office] “Prioritising demand provides us with the comfort that we are focusing on the correct things, as it considers the strategic fit and relevance of our intended initiatives. It enables us to build or enhance the correct business capabilities so we can maintain a leadership position. It also provides a framework for making decisions on juggling resources and funding,” [Shaheen Gani, Head of Business Design]