Digital

Technology Assurance Framework – what we learned from Major Digital Project Reviews in 2023-24

July 16, 2024 by Stewart Hamilton No Comments | Category Digital Assurance Office, Digital Scotland Service Standard, Technology Assurance Framework

Guest blog by Berit Braun, Continuous Improvement team, Digital Assurance Office.

 The Digital Assurance Office (DAO), who administer the Technology Assurance Framework (TAF), share the lessons learned from their assurance reviews to support others to deliver more successful projects and programmes

This blog shares what we learned from the 30 major digital project reviews carried out in 2023-24. You can catch up on previous assurance insights on our blog.

Major digital project reviews

In 2023-24, 30 major digital project reviews were completed under the Technology Assurance Framework (TAF), resulting in 281 recommendations for improvement. The four top themes that we explore here together make up over 30% of the recommendations made, and over 40% of those marked as “critical” for successful delivery. Three of them have been consistently emerging as dominant challenges in major digital project reviews over previous years.

Governance and project control

This has been a dominant theme every year since the introduction of major digital project reviews in 2017-18. You can read more about our insights on governance and project control from previous years on our blog.

In 2023/24, recommendations for improvement focused on:

• formal governance processes should be communicated, understood and followed, with clear escalation routes, approval points and change control mechanisms in place
• appropriate board membership, meetings and decision making processes should be set up and include relevant partners and stakeholders
• governance arrangements should be reviewed regularly to ensure they remain fit for purpose as the project moves through the project lifecycle, with the appropriate changes made where necessary

Critical recommendations focused on:

• the board providing clear direction to the project team on the appropriateness of its project management structure and the need for a project plan to enable the board to have visibility of how delivery is tracking against it

Invitation to tender (ITT) and evaluation criteria

This has been a dominant theme from reviews in five of the last seven years. You can read more about our insights on effective procurement and contract management on our blog.

In 2023-24, recommendations for improvement focused on:

• projects should seek out specialist or peer review of ITT documentation
• clear criteria for determining readiness to issue the ITT should be determined in advance and there should be formal governance and Senior Responsible Officer (SRO) oversight to ensure the ITT issued meets the needs of the project
• the ITT should accurately reflect the scope and scale of services required and include specific project requirements
• where compliance with the Digital Scotland Service Standard (DSSS) is needed, the requirements should clearly set out the supplier’s responsibilities in relation to achieving compliance, including where they will be required support DSSS assessments
• appropriate costing mechanisms should be considered, decided on and clearly set out in the ITT

Critical recommendations made focused on:

• the need for a robust final review of ITT documents
• putting in place a clear “go/no go” decision point for the final ITT, that includes appropriate governance and SRO sign off

Organisation and/or planning

This has been a dominant theme from reviews in 2019-20 and 2021-22.

In 2023-24, recommendations for improvement focused on:

• projects need to have in place a high level plan that covers all key activities and accurately reflects planning assumptions. This plan is vital to support understanding across functions, drive project success and support decision making
• more detailed plans for the short to mid term should sit below this high level plan
• plans and assumptions should be reviewed as circumstances change and the project moves through the project lifecycle
• the project should take a long term, holistic view of the project/programme within its delivery context being aware of and planning for interdependencies and future needs
• plans should be shared with and/or clearly communicated to stakeholders and users

Critical recommendations made focused on:

• the need for projects to formally agree and articulate an end to end vision for project delivery (for example using a roadmap)
• the need for accurate, detailed and up to date plans to inform the consideration of priorities and timescales

Resource requirements and/or capability

This has been a dominant theme every year since the introduction of major digital project reviews in 2017-18. You can read more about our insights on resourcing from previous years on our blog.

In 2023-24, recommendations for improvement focused on:

• projects should develop a resourcing plan that reflects the requirements of the project, includes contingency options and effectively interacts with overall project plans
• to secure effective handover and knowledge transfer, transition arrangements to business as usual needs to be actively planned for
• projects need to secure the right specialist expertise and/or support, for example project and programme management, data and commercial

Critical recommendations focused on:

• the need to escalate resourcing issues appropriately up the decision making chain
• securing specialist expertise and support. Examples include programme leadership, commercial/contract management, test management and business change

To help others improve the delivery of digital projects, the Digital Assurance Office are sharing insights from assurance and working with organisations who have had assurance to share their experiences from delivery. If you want to get involved – or have thoughts on what insights would be helpful to share – contact us at DigitalAssurance@gov.scot.

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Over the last year, we have shared insights and case studies via the Digital blog. This included a blog post on what we learned from major digital project reviews in 2022/23.

For further information and signposting to advice and support on programme and project management contact the Programme and Project Management Centre for Expertise.

The Scottish Government programme and project management principles are available and apply to any project of any size.

The Scottish Digital Academy is the public sector centre of expertise for digital capability and can provide information, advice and guidance on developing digital, data and technology skills to support transformation.

For expert guidance on delivering a digital project visit the Digital Scotland Service Manual.

The Social Security Programme: Our Story Team are part of a wider legacy portfolio, whose goal is to capture and disseminate eight years of acquired knowledge, capabilities and lessons learned to demonstrate that irrespective of the size, nature or maturity of your Programme, your profession or career pathway, ‘Our Story’ has the potential to build individual and team skills and capabilities whilst improving the effectiveness and quality of your delivery. They do this through a variety of means from building case studies, interviews and blogs to facilitating workshops and resource loans, for the benefit of Social Security Scotland, the wider Scottish Government and public sector. You can access their resources on Pathways or contact the team: socialsecurity.ourstoryteam@gov.scot

Tags: Continuous Improvement, Digital Assurance Office, Digital Scotland Service Standard assessments, Technology Assurance Framework

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