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Project Stage Gates can help the NHS control Project costs

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The NHS is constantly in the news. There is huge pressure on A and E departments and all the political parties are vying to spend more than each other.

The NHS is spending serious amounts of money on key projects that are designed to improve the service, deliver services more efficiently or reduce costs.  Whoever wins the next election the number of projects that the NHS will undertake is likely to increase not decrease.

It is very important, therefore, that money is NOT wasted in project delivery and the expected project outcomes are actually delivered. Projects, however, have a great tendency to veer off course and to cost more than included in the original business case.  It is critical therefore that controls are put in place that checks whether the project is still on track and the predicted benefits are likely to be realized. There is a simple yet powerful set of checkpoint that we have introduced into a number of NHS clients to check the health of projects at key intervals.  These are called Stage Gates or Quality Gates.

Put simply, these Stage Gates ask the question:

 “Should we still do this project and, if so, is the project being run in the correct way?” 

It is obviously a little more complex than that. But essentially this is the essence. You define a set of criteria at each stage gate. For example, at our stage Gate 1, we ask: Should we initiate the project?  In this gate the criteria may be as follows:

CONTROL GATE 1 CRITERIA
COSTS Preliminary costs are defined, reasonable and potentially affordable
VALUE
  • If marked non-discretionary, the project is genuinely non-discretionary
  • Preliminary financial benefits are defined and reasonable
  • The business value of the project is defined and compelling
  • The adverse business impact of not performing the project is defined and compelling
  • The proposed project is acceptably aligned with the business, systems and technology strategies
  • The payback period is defined and reasonable
  • The payback assumptions are defined and reasonable
RESOURCES Sufficient resources are available to progress the project to Control Gate 2
STAKEHOLDERS
  • There is an agreed Project Sponsor
  • Key Stakeholders are defined
QUALITY The Project Brief Document has been completed and signed-off

Here is an example of a quality gate and associated criteria in our PMO tool, PM3.

Gateways

The fact that you are having formal check points and evaluating a project against a set of criteria means that you can make an objective assessment whether  you should still continue the project or terminate the project.

Avoid the Master Mind Approach to Project Management – I’ve started so I’ll finish!

Mastermind

So few projects, in both the private sector and public sector, actually get terminated because once they start they keep going. This is the: Mastermind Approach to Project Management  If you have formal check points or stage gates it means you can make an objective assessment of whether you should still invest in this initiative. Terminating a project is a good thing if it, either won’t be delivered, or the business case is no longer valid. In these situations, of course, terminating projects as soon as possible means saving money or not throwing good money after bad. In the NHS this means scarce resources, i.e. money can be directed to other projects or initiatives that produce a better return, e.g. improved services.

In summary, Stage Gates or Quality Gates in the NHS will help you ensure that you are still delivering the right projects and you are spending taxpayer’s money wisely.

For more information on this topic or to talk through our work at the NHS on Stage Gates, please contact: info@bestoutcome.com or visit our website @ www.bestoutcome.com


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