Credentials
Key assignments are listed below:
Programme Management: Public sector
Management of a national project funded by the Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG) formerly the Office for the Deputy Prime Minister. Led by London Borough of Newham, other project partners were 8 other Local Authorities and the Valuation Office Agency.
The project's objectives were to ensure that property data held locally was accurate for revenue collection purposes and could be shared electronically internally and externally. This provided benefits to all internal fucntions for which accurate property data is important, as well as for extrenal public sector organisations able to use this core information.
As well as programme management the role included provision of presentations at venues throughout England and Wales to enable the project to roll out nationally. www.newham.gov.uk/valuebill
Strategic Review: Public sector
Engaged by the Valuation Office Agency to conduct a review with them into the processes for obtaining and maintaining property data, especially where this changes over time. Opportunities for speeding up the process will result in better services to their customers.
Marketing and Project Support - Electronic Survey of Empty Homes (ESEH)
Engaged by DCLG to carry out marketing support, with others, for the development of awareness and buy-in to more effective collection of data by DCLG for housing statistics. This provides strategic benefits in areas including empty homes.
Web Site Redevelopment: Association of MBAs
Project managing the upgrade of a web site to better reflect the diverse needs of its stakeholders including organisation members, potential members, and those seeking general advice on continuing education. The site is under continuing development, at
www.mbaworld.com
Process Mapping and Process Review: Local Authority
Facilitation of Process Mapping, and associated project management consultancy for a programme developing a customer services centre for a proactive forward-looking borough council. This seeks to ensure that front and back-office functions are recognised, and that staff are more effectively utilised. The overall programme, planned to take two years, is expected to see enquiries dealt with much more speedily, with 70% being completed at the first call.
Business Change: Pharmaceutical
Project Management using PRINCE 2 as part of a change programme for a company, taking advantage of the opportunities associated with the transfer of 1,500 staff to new premises:
- Prepared a series of trials to be monitored and rolled out for the whole programme for various aspects of business especially relating to filing and retrieval;
- Developed a policy document for a global approach to the selection of electronic document management systems;
- Set up a site-wide project for ensuring a consistent approach to material retention and disposal arrangements, in preparation for staff relocations. This achieved site-wide reductions in space utilisation.
- Set up, managed and handed over a project for ensuring visitor management processes would be in place in the future premises;
- Mentored staff on project management.
Year 2000 Programme, Business Support Services, major utility company
Year 2000 Project Management support for a water company, with the objective of prioritising and implementing activities to minimise the risks of non-compliance of equipment essential to business processes and facilities management.
- Set up the project within the overall programme, using PRINCE2 methodology and MS Project;
- Identified interfaces with other projects and enabled links to those projects;
- Provided financial management processes for the project;
- Facilitated the development of a list of critical suppliers for the business;
- Provided processes to enable Year 2000 compliance to be retained.
Business Project Management Review
Reviewed and recommended changes to management procedures to ensure that a specialist hardware and software systems supplier improved customer satisfaction while reducing their own costs.
Strategy Review Programme
Project Management support to a major part of a public sector organisation on a Strategy Review. This assignment took place between October 1995 and July 1997, in an area responsible for sales of £1.3 billion, approximately 25% of the organisation’s revenue. The key issues were enabling change in the delivery of service to major companies, and dealing with the effects of that on equipment suppliers. The assignment involved:
- Adopting a pragmatic approach to the PRINCE methodology, ensuring effective project controls were in place;
- Developing the plan across 30 projects in MS Project;
- Liaison across operational, technical, security, and legal disciplines as well as with external suppliers and associated companies;
- Direct support in preparing the strategy in three separate areas of the overall review.
Education and Training Support:
- Durham University Business School
There is a continuing role in providing support to Durham University Business School MBA.
- Rewriting and updating the Project Management course material;
- Tutor for MBA Distance Learning students during their Project Management course;
-
Guiding students during their Dissertation on subjects from Marketing and QA to e-commerce and Customer Relationship Management.
-
Information Systems Examining Board (part of British Computer Society)
Member of the Examination Panel for the Information Systems Examinations Board for their qualification ion Consulting. The role includes:- Chief Examiner/Moderator
- Attending exam panel meetings to review the course
- The content, and the questions
- Marking examinations
- Attending oral examinations
-
Assessing candidates
The following is a selection of assignments undertaken as a consultant with Ernst & Young
Business Modelling Programme
- Developed complex business control models for a waste reprocessing company to enable them to identify and respond to commercial issues affecting their long term business:
- Providing leadership and direction to client staff and colleagues in the production and application of business planning models;
- Ensuring that long term cost estimates were produced on a consistent basis and accurately identified critical risk issues to ensure management control;
- Producing a guidance manual for client staff and colleagues engaged in preparing, updating and using business planning models.
Marketing Management
- Undertook line management responsibility for all aspects of a new marketing department in a division of the Home Office,subsequently privatised. This division provided telecommuncations services to police forces and fire brigades throughout England and Wales. Responsibility included:
- Undertaking line management responsibility for all aspects of a new marketing department;
- Advising on and preparing contract documents for installation, maintenance and repair of telecommunications equipment; setting up a suite of standard sales contracts;
- Producing a Marketing Manual setting out policies and procedures;
- Motivating staff to ensure that they understood the customers and met the organisation's needs;
- Organising, drafting and marketing competitive tenders; subsequently negotiating and agreeing contracts with customers.
Earlier Experience
A variety of roles in the UK and Saudi Arabia, including
- Management of multi-million infrastructure projects in Saudi Arabia, with values of design services exceeding $5 million, and construction exceeding $30 million, with staff levels of over 80 people in technical roles.
- Technical Manager of a specialist sub-contractor with 18 staff,
- Site development and renewal with the Scottish Development Agency, now subsumed into Scottish Enterprise
