Life Cycle: Implementation

Project implementation includes all of the aspects of a major project most closely associated with established models of project management. The success of a major project implementation needs to focus both on the what is being delivered and how it is being delivered. Consequently it depends on how well the project has been initiated and how the context of the project changes through time as well as the capability of the organizations involved and the appropriateness of their chosen delivery model.

11th March 2022

Knowledge Type

Research Paper

Organisation

National Audit Office

Major Project

Ajax Programme
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The Ajax Programme

Summary

Ajax ProgrammeAt December 2021, the Department had paid GDLS-UK £3.167 billion and, at this point, GDLS-UK had designed the vehicles, built 324 hulls and assembled and completed factory acceptance testing of 143 vehicles. The Department had received 26 Ajax vehicles, as well as associated training systems and support.

The programme has encountered significant problems. In 2014, the Department extended its expected in-service date by three years when it set an initial operating capability (IOC) of July 2020. The programme subsequently missed a revised target date of June 2021. In 2021, the Department publicly acknowledged concerns about excessive levels of noise and vibration on the Ajax vehicles, leading the minister for defence procurement to make regular statements to Parliament on the programme’s progress and the possible impact on the health of its crews who had been testing the vehicles. These issues remain unresolved, and the Department has not yet set a new target date for IOC.

Full Resource

15th February 2022

Knowledge Type

Video

Organisation

Major Projects Association
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Masterclass Interview: Aerial Photo Surveying of Construction and Infrastructure

Summary

Aerial surveys and photography, whether from fixed masts, drones or aircraft are an important tool for many large construction and infrastructure projects. Chris Billington, whose company 360photosurvey.com undertakes weekly aerial photo surveys of some of the UK’s big projects explains what the process involves, what they can achieve, what the constraints are and how do you go about commissioning a survey.

23rd June 2021

Knowledge Type

Guidance/Good practice

Organisation

National Audit Office

Major Project

Test and Trace
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Test and Trace in England – progress update

Summary

This is the second of the NAO reports on government’s approach to test and trace services in England and it focuses on the period from the beginning of November 2020. It follows their interim report in December 2020, which covered the period from the creation of the NHS Test and Trace Service (NHST&T) in May 2020 up to October 2020.

Test and trace services are designed to play a core role in government’s response to the pandemic, which has also included restrictions on social contact, travel, retail, workplaces and educational establishments, and from December 2020 the roll-out of the vaccination programme. Test and trace programmes for COVID-19 aim to reduce infections by identifying individuals with the virus, tracing their contacts and isolating them to limit further transmission.

This second report provides an update, focusing on the period from November 2020 to April 2021. It is factual and does not present a full value‑for‑money assessment. This reflects the time period covered and the changing and ongoing response to the pandemic. The report covers:

  • major developments in the test, trace and isolate programme from November 2020 (Part One);
  • funding and spending for the programme in 2020-21, including its use of contracts, consultants and its utilisation rates (Part Two);
  • the performance and effectiveness of test and trace services up to the end of April 2021 (Part Three); and
  • current plans for the future delivery of test and trace services, including transition arrangements to the new UKHSA, and securing a longer-term benefit from the investment into test and trace services (Part Four).

Full Resource

7th July 2021

Knowledge Type

Case Study

Organisation

National Audit Office

Major Project

Crossrail
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Crossrail: a Progress Update

Summary

Crossrail is a complex major programme to run new, direct rail services between Reading and Heathrow Airport at the western ends of the railway, to Shenfield in Essex and Abbey Wood in south-east London at the eastern ends. When complete, the railway will be around 73 miles long, stopping at 41 stations, including 10 new stations and 26 miles of new tunnels. Once Crossrail is open, it will become part of Transport for London’s (TfL’s) underground and overground rail network and be known as the Elizabeth line. The Department for Transport (the Department) and TfL are jointly sponsoring the Crossrail programme (the sponsors). Crossrail Ltd is responsible for delivering the programme.

In its 2019 report Completing Crossrail, the NAO found that the funding package stood at £17.6 billion and the forecast cost was £17 billion, with the central section due to open between October 2020 and March 2021. The current funding package agreed in December 2020 is £18.8 billion. This followed announcements in November 2019 and August 2020 that Crossrail required more funding and that the opening date would be delayed. Crossrail Ltd now expects services to run through the central section between January and June 2022. This is 10 to 20 months later than planned when the NAO last reported, and up to three and a half years later than originally planned. Full Elizabeth line services are currently expected to run from May 2023.

Full Resource

23rd May 2021

Knowledge Type

Guidance/Good practice

Organisation

National Audit Office
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Principles of Effective Regulation

Summary

Principles of Effective RegulationRegulation is used in many areas of public policy for a variety of different purposes, such as to protect and benefit people, businesses and the environment and to support economic growth. Regulation can take various forms ranging from strict and prescriptive rules and enforcement to lighter-touch incentives through guidance and codes of practice. ​

The coming years may also see substantial changes to regulatory frameworks, such as expanded responsibilities or new regulators, to take on functions previously done at EU level, meet environmental commitments or keep pace with developments in technology and digitisation.​

This framework is intended as a useful tool for policymakers and regulators overseeing any given market, sector or regulatory issue. The main audiences for this guide are:​

  • policymakers responsible for the overall policy, legislative and regulatory framework; ​
  • regulators and other bodies that deliver regulatory functions; and ​
  • Parliament and other stakeholders who wish to examine areas of regulation and hold departments and regulators to account.​

Full Resource

21st April 2021

Knowledge Type

Guidance/Good practice

Organisation

Society for the Environment
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Soil and Stones: Sustaining our Future by Influencing Change in the UK and Beyond

Summary

Soil is hugely important but also neglected and degraded, while stones are too often considered as more of a waste than a valuable resource or material.

glen-carrie-iB1JuJyQob4-unsplashUrgent action is needed to ensure the protection of these natural resources, and this means we must improve understanding and practices across sectors including construction, forestry, engineering, and agricultural management.

With this urgency in mind, SocEnv formed a SocEnv task group made up of Chartered Environmentalists. During the last year, they have been drawing together their collective expertise to produce a report aimed at highlighting good practice for professionals working with soil and stones.

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31st March 2021

Knowledge Type

Guidance/Good practice

Organisation

Harvard Business Review

Major Project

Sony Ericsson Handset Development
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How to Get Better at Killing Bad Projects

Summary

Fail fast, the adage goes, and move on to the next big idea. Most innovation managers know that few of their initiatives will succeed, so they keep multiple projects running at the same time and create processes for quickly separating winners from losers.

One popular way to make decisions about what stays and what goes is the use of stage gates. This is when project leaders present their progress and findings to date, alongside updates to commercial expectations. Executives then decide whether to unlock funds for further development. For example, a project might have to pass reviews at one, three, and six-month milestones to determine whether it continues to promise return on the innovation investment.

Full Resource

28th January 2021

Organisation

Harvard Business Review

Major Project

US Covid Vaccination Program

Authors

Robert S. Huckman Bradley Staats
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Lessons from the U.S.’s Rocky Vaccine Rollout

Summary

The rocky rollout of the Covid-19 vaccines is emblematic of many of the problems with the U.S. health care system. The United States is blessed with highly trained, excellent, and compassionate care providers and terrific research and development that has led to novel medical treatments. Yet, despite these many advantages, its health care system has an inability to deliver that excellence to patients in a consistent, high-quality, and cost-effective manner.

The current struggle to vaccinate the U.S. population is but one illustration of several larger and more-fundamental challenges facing the country’s health care system.

Full Resource

10th December 2021

Knowledge Type

Research Paper

Organisation

Association for Project Management
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Eliminating Modern Slavery from Projects

Summary

APM Eliminating Modern SlaveryModern slavery involves the recruitment, movement, harbouring or receiving of people through any means for the purpose of exploitation. It is an extensive problem and one that causes immense human suffering. International Labour Organization figures suggest that there are 24 million victims of modern slavery or forced labour around the world at any one time, with a substantial proportion of these working on project-related activities.

Modern slavery causes reputational risk to organisations from the perspective of customers and investors. In the UK, it is now subject to specific legislation. The damage and costs of legal action and compensation to victims of modern slavery can be crippling. Projects are particularly susceptible to modern slavery as they have complex flows of materials and labour that need to be constantly reinvented for each unique project context.

The report will be of interest to project professionals and organisations involved in practical project delivery, academics and researchers engaged in modern slavery and multi stakeholder initiatives or research and for professional bodies amongst others.

This subject was also the topic of a webinar in Summer 2020 involving presenters from WMG, Sir Robert MacAlpine and HS2.

Full Resource

2nd September 2022

Knowledge Type

Guidance/Good practice

Organisation

Cabinet Office
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The Construction Playbook

Summary

The Construction Playbook captures commercial best practices and specific sector reforms outlining the government’s expectations of how contracting authorities and suppliers, including the supply chain, should engage with each other.

These are set out in 14 key policies for how the government should assess, procure and deliver public works projects and programmes which all central government departments and their arms length bodies are expected to follow on a ‘comply or explain’ basis.

Related Resources

The Consultancy Playbook (Cabinet Office)

The Net Zero Estate Playbook (Cabinet Office).

The Retrofit Playbook (Green Building Council)

Attachments

The Construction Playbook