APM Improving project handover, 6 April 2017

IMPROVING PROJECT

HANDOVER

RESEARCH TOPIC

How can we hand

projects over better?

A project is a delivery device for benefits

Handover is the start not the end

“At 30 September 2015 the GMPP

contained 143 major projects representing

a £405 billion investment over the next 25+

years that will improve the UK’s

infrastructure, transform public services and

safeguard national security”

Infrastructure and Projects Authority

Annual Report on Major Projects 2015-16

APM:

22,350 individual and 590

corporate members

making it the largest

professional body of its

kind in Europe

“Worldwide, infrastructure spending will grow from $4 trillion per year in

2012 to more than $9 trillion per year by 2025. Overall, close to $78

trillion is expected to be spent globally between 2014 and 2025.”

Capital project and infrastructure spending Outlook to 2025 - PWC &

Oxford Economics

x 78

Infrastructure projects alone

equate to 12% of GLOBAL GDP

A GOOD HANDOVER

The client gets what they pay for, when they were expecting to get it, it

does what you all agreed it would and they know what to do with it once

they’ve got it

A GOOD HANDOVER

You as PM have done your job well – reputation / market value /

personal satisfaction

You walk away feeling good leaving happy clients

You get more work – you sold a good car!

After 2 months, PMs are rarely judged on how well they managed the

project, they are judged on whether the benefits the project was funded to

deliver in the first place actually transpired.

As a practitioner, are you prepared to leave your professional reputation in

the hands of people improperly briefed?

APPROACH

INTERVIEWS:

OUTPUTS

WHAT IS HANDOVER?

“The point in the life cycle where

deliverables are handed over to the sponsor

and users”. APM

“The project should have a clear end with a

correct handover of information and

responsibility.” PRINCE2

MAYBE IT’S…

practical completion.

the end of the defects and liability period

when the on site support from the project team leaves site

no more snags noted on the snagging list and all are signed off as complete

once the last of three post occupancy evaluations is completed

when no members of the project team are involved on a scheme anymore

financial close

when the benefits established at the outset have been delivered (which

could be when the project deliverables have completed their lifespan and

been decommissioned)

How would

you define

“handover”?

IT’S NOT A DATE

IT’S A PROCESS

HANDOVER IS A TRANSITION

of…

Ownership

Management

Responsibility

Knowledge

Continuity

Benefit realisation

Operational responsibility

SURVEY RESPONDENTS:

TOP 2 CONSENSUS POSITIONS – 85%

AGREE

“It often is but phasing would be better”

“The project team's behaviour is to focus on completion of the

project, and view end-user training as part of project

completion”

“Depends on the

client - outcomes can

be patchy as a result

of client's level of

requirements”

“The sub-

contractor

produces

documentation in a

standard format for

each project

delivery”

“Project teams only ever focus

on completing the project and

moving on their next project”

4 EMERGENT AREAS

Commercial / Contractual

Process

Data and Knowledge Transfer

People

TOP 3 FROM EACH AREA – COMMERCIAL /

CONTRACTUAL

Requirements need to be written in to tender

documentation / contracts in as much detail and as

specifically as possible. The more accurate the

specification, the more likely the output to fulfil the needs

of the commissioners.

Whole life cost must be considered if at all possible.

Incentivise success.

TOP 3 FROM EACH AREA – PROCESS

Handover is a process not a date. Planning for it should be from

the start of the project and it should be viewed as an incremental

transfer of knowledge and operation from project team to business as

usual. Incorporate a series of mini-handovers throughout the project

phase (sample rooms, dry runs, simulations, data readiness tests).

The benefits and deliverables must be measurable and

communicable from the start. ‘Softer’ benefits are still measurable

“What gets measured, gets managed”.

Involve end users from the outset.

TOP 3 FROM EACH AREA – DATA &

KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER

Documentation must be written for the end users.

Collate lessons learned as the project progresses. It

provides more meaningful data for future projects, it can be

tied to stage gateways or key deliverables. It also provides a

form of decision log

Agree the information requirements at the outset.

TOP 3 FROM EACH AREA – PEOPLE

Get good people on your project and keep them for as long as

you are able. Fight for the project team you want and fight to keep

them.

Definition of stakeholders should be carried out throughout

and in detail. Don’t assume a single end user representative is

sufficient or will yield the best outcomes.

The Client role is pivotal. Not necessarily in a ‘customer is always

right’ way although that is a factor. In the transcripts of the interviews

the word that was most frequently repeated was ‘client’.

How do you define “the client” and

what do you think their role would be?

What are their drivers?

What does a good transition mean to them?

Do they know what they need

to do to be ready?

What if there had been 2 sessions built

in as part of the purchase?

1. Come and see the car being made

& have a photo sat in the car

pressing all the buttons

2. Test drive at a local track?

3 THINGS TO CHECK TOMORROW

What changes in practice are required by BAU

to deliver them?

How can the project team better prepare

the end users in advance?

What benefits are your project(s) enabling?

THANK YOU

owenanthony@icloud.com

www.owenanthonyprojects.co.uk

Tel: 07850741543