UK Government Education Funding Service

Develop an efficient and cost-effective change delivery portfolio to tackle operational challenges. Transition from spreadsheet-based project data to a system that boosts productivity and provides comprehensive oversight of all projects. Ensure the solution retains our tried-and-tested processes and ways of working.

The education funding service has millions of active customers who receive many different types of loans for part-time and full-time courses at some three thousand UK education institutions. It manages a loan book valued at more than £8bn and requires the highest security standards and governance protocols while improving efficiency, maintaining technology, and increasing delivery capability.

To meet its operational challenges, the organisation’s change delivery portfolio grew fast, and so did its costs. By 2018 it was running approximately 100 active projects each year at a cost of c. £80m, roughly equivalent to one-third of its annual expenditure.

We were too dependent on spreadsheet-based data to deliver our projects efficiently and cost-effectively.

We had lots of separate spreadsheets for each project. All that data had to be checked and validated. Underlying processes were solid enough, but we knew we could manage smarter, faster, and more transparently.  – the Head of Change, Governance and Assurance.

In early 2019,  an analysis of its project delivery environment was completed. The decision was made to invest in new systems and operating practices to improve project delivery performance.

Several potential solutions were considered and ultimately Microsoft Project Online was selected to underpin the modernisation exercise.

There were good reasons for our choice. We had a significant Microsoft 365 deployment across our 3,300 employees. We believed that Project Online was flexible enough that we didn’t need to re-engineer our processes or radically change our ways of working. We also saw the potential of deploying other parts of the Microsoft suite. Power BI could enhance our reporting output, and SharePoint could be used to store and access project documents. Gartner assured us that Project Online was ‘industrial strength’ and a sensible strategy. – Head of Change and Governance.

As a not-for-profit government organisation, a tender process was conducted to find a partner. CPS, a multi-award-winning Microsoft Cloud Solution Partner that has project, portfolio and change management at the core of its services, was chosen to provide systems implementation and process upgrade services.

The education funding service had a clear vision of the improvements it needed to achieve.

CPS worked with a team from the client to define, configure, implement and embed Project Online to provide a solid, contemporary technical foundation to support improving data-driven project services supported through effective processes.

CPS was an experienced guiding partner, helping us generate a substantial performance shift. They provided insight into the best overall approach, and deployed expert skills in Project Management and Microsoft Project Online implementation and configuration. They helped us use Microsoft Project and its rich functionality, tailored reporting via Power BI, Project Detail Pages and SharePoint Online. – Head of Change, Governance and Assurance.

The investment case for the solution was built on forecast productivity improvements amongst the thousand or so employees involved in project related work. Productivity performance since the solution was implemented 18 months ago has covered the cost of implementation.

Improvements have been seen in planning, resource management, assembly of project KPIs, visibility of status and key project information. Data has been captured more quickly and accurately, and summary reporting is superior to previous outputs. Greater flexibility has been gained in resource demand and capacity management.

We now have far richer insights and improved conversations about the status of deliverables based on real data from Project Online. What used to take weeks to get around all projects now takes minutes. Oversight of projects makes capacity planning much more meaningful, using our ‘red stripe’ system to identify issues. – Head of Change, Governance and Assurance.

The Head of Change, Governance and Assurance says that the organisation aims to deliver further critical improvements this year, with CPS’ continuing support. Tools so far implemented, including SharePoint Online and Power BI, offer additional capabilities that have yet to be fully exploited.

The aim is to ‘do more with what we’ve got’, using the vast potential of the Microsoft solution to deliver continuous improvements in process quality and project management performance. – Head of Change, Governance and Assurance.