- Foreword and Introduction
- 1: Putting projects in context
- 2: Entity arrangements
- 2.1 Strategic alignment
- 2.2 People and culture
- 2.3 Effective governance
- 2.4 Common APS Requirements
- Summary for entity arrangements
- 3: Individual project proposals
- 3.1 Clarifying the concept
- 3.2 The business case
- 3.3 Approving the project
- Summary for individual projects
- 4: Project implementation
- Appendices
- Quick reference card
PDF version of guide [3.0MB]
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Tips for PDF and HTML versions [0.5MB]
Word version of checklists [0.1MB]
Skills for project planning
Better Practice results: Advice from relevant specialists during planning is reliable and is available when needed during the planning cycle. This improves the usefulness of information provided to decision-makers.
Talent makes a difference:
“People who can develop really good statements of business outcomes are hard to find. It seems to be as much art as science. We were lucky that we had a good business analyst who understood our organisation and had a magic touch. She was able to separate the wheat from the chaff in all the detail from the project team, and develop business outcome statements that went to the heart of the initiative, were measurable, and were meaningful to our stakeholders.”
… Agency business manager.
To help ensure that decision-makers have reliable and timely advice, it is better practice for an entity to develop and maintain access to a pool of people with the skills and knowledge to develop project proposals. In many entities, the relevant skills would be spread over a number of staff and organisational units, and would not be a full-time role for the staff involved. Larger entities may maintain a central area of project planning expertise. Some skills may be contracted in, on a continuing or ad hoc basis as required.
Relevant skills and knowledge for entities to have readily available include:
- business analysis (in particular to help with early concept development);
- operational knowledge, drawn from the area of the entity responsible for delivering the business outcomes;
- ICT– covering both the technical subject matter itself, and just as importantly, the ability to translate technical issues into business terms;
- legal, for projects involving the drafting of legislation, regulations and contracts;
- experience in implementing business change;
- an understanding of central agency processes for projects (including ICT project processes);
- ICT and general procurement; and
- project costing and estimation.
Such specialist skills will usually supplement the skills and knowledge of the responsible business area. The business area typically has detailed subject matter knowledge and relationships with important project stakeholders.
The availability of people with relevant skills to best assist decision-makers can be assessed though a review of the quality and timeliness of projects, by interviews with project sponsors, and by discussion and comparison with similar entities. Any shortfalls identified can be addressed by actions such as:
- setting up or enhancing a central specialist team to make best use of scarce skills;
- targeted training – particularly focusing on elements of work about to be done in an entity’s planning cycle (in contrast with general project management training);
- secondments of experienced staff from lines areas to assist during the project planning cycle; and
- the use of external expertise – in training, mentoring and preparing project proposals.
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