ARCHIVED - About EMF - Enhanced Management Framework

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Implementation

Since the publication of the Enhanced Framework in May of 1996, departments have not been idle. Pilots have been conducted, assessments have been made, lessons have been learned, and goals have been defined for the implementation of improvements within IM/IT organizations. What follows is a recommended strategy that will allow departments to integrate these plans with the requirements of the Enhanced Framework. This strategy contains:

• a step-wise approach and timeframes for implementation;
• an outline of the activities at each stage;
• a brief description of the roles and responsibilities of the players required for successful implementation;
• a description of solutions/approaches/methods available from Treasury Board Secretariat that will be of assistance to departments during implementation; and
• a broad outline of the initial tasks required to get started.

Departmental Improvement Plateaux

It is understood that departments are not beginning implementation of the Enhanced Framework from a standing start. Some departments have already launched IT process improvement initiatives. The chart below, however, provides the larger government-wide view of implementation and the steps that departments are expected to have either underway or completed.

Plateau 0: Baseline

This first plateau is designed to ensure that departments have in place the basic project solutions required to initiate and manage a project. These include defining: a clear and explicit business case, a procurement strategy, a project charter; a gating and review process; a project planning and control mechanism and a risk management approach.

The second objective of plateau 0 is to ensure that departments create a plan for advancing to the next plateau. Without a plan, it is unlikely that departments will make the improvement gains as identified in the Enhanced Framework. It is expected that departments will have implemented the project solutions and created the plans for achieving their next plateau by March of 1998.

Plateau 1: Project Focus

Project planning, tracking and oversight, and contract management (if applicable) begins once a project has been approved and initiated. While most departments already have processes in place that address these functions, the achievement of Plateau 1 will ensure that there are no gaps or weaknesses.

The objective of this plateau is to achieve proper planning for projects in government departments and to establish sufficient visibility into actual progress to allow senior management to take effective action when the project deviates from plan.

It is also in Plateau 1 that actions are taken to ensure project managers have the required knowledge and experience and the tools to support them and the project. Departments are to have implemented these improvements by March of 1999, and have a plan in place to move to their next plateau.

Plateau 2: Product Focus

Plateau 2 seeks to establish, at a project level, the controls and processes to be followed that will ensure:

• changes to requirements follow a clearly defined effective change management process;
• product integrity is maintained throughout the life of the project; and
• product quality is acceptable within defined parameters.

Again, most departments will have processes in place and achieving this plateau will ensure that elimination of any gaps or weaknesses. Actions continue to be taken to ensure plans are in place for addressing plateau 3 and that Project Managers continue to develop.

Plateau 3: Organizational Focus

The third Plateau deals with making the processes and practices established in Plateaus 0-2 the way that government departments do business for all their projects. The objective of this Plateau is to ensure that the best processes implemented in one project within a department are carried through to the other projects within the organization.

Organization-wide issues such as the training of personnel and the documentation of processes are also addressed at this level.

Plateau 4: Continuous Improvement

The final Plateau deals with continually improving the organizational effectiveness of departments when managing and delivering projects (e.g. deliver projects faster, better).

This Plateau includes quantitative techniques to measure and improve processes. This path for improvement will guide Enhanced Framework implementation by establishing clear priorities, objectives and time frames.

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