Digital

Care Inspectorate’s Stage 2 Digital Transformation project -governance in an agile delivery environment

July 22, 2026 by Stewart Hamilton No Comments | Category Digital Assurance Office, Digital Scotland

Blog by Niamh Duncan, Independent Assurance Stakeholder Communications Manager in the Scottish Government’s Digital Assurance Office.

Introduction

The Care Inspectorate have been undertaking the second stage of an ambitious digital transformation project since May 2020. Stage 2 of the project builds on the replacement of end of life legacy systems and aims to continue the replacement of applications and simplify their data landscape. The project has taken a user focused approach to ensure frontline staff will be able to access and use the information they need easily. Read our first case study with the Stage 2 digital transformation project team on the proactive use of independent assurance.

Context

The Stage 2 project has received assurance under the Governance and project control is the most common focus of recommendations from major digital project reviews. You can read more about areas identified for improvement in our deep dive.

The governance arrangements in place for the Care Inspectorate’s Stage 2 project were identified in several independent reviews as being of high quality. The team were praised for the effectiveness with which appropriate controls were embedded into their agile delivery approach.

Activities

The project team:

• invested time early to design proportionate governance, using a critical friend as a sounding board to ensure they were taking the right approach from the outset
• established a clear governance structure for the project sitting within the overall organisational governance, clearly defining roles and responsibilities
• used the project board report pack as the single source of truth, which avoided creating multiple versions of reports for different forums and built an open culture
• evolved the governance structure as the project progressed, separating the project board into two parts: one includes delivery partners who can report directly, and the other focuses on internal matters
• created a separate board to focus on technical matters, which reports to the project board monthly, allowing a deeper technical conversation
• kept the project board focused on outcomes, people, risk and delivery
• dedicated resource within the project team to the management of delivery partners to allow senior leaders to concentrate on relationship and stakeholder management
• introduced quarterly, in‑depth risk review board sessions with senior leaders and a critical friend where a holistic view of the key risks, issues and dependencies and assumptions is taken

Reflections

The project team found that:

• governance was more effective when it was deliberately designed, not inherited
• separating technical detail from strategic decision‑making improved board engagement and built space for reflections and deeper discussions in an appropriate forum
• using one set of reports reduced duplication and confusion and allowed team members to dedicate time to keeping supporting documentation robust and up to date
• agile delivery and formal governance can coexist when the roles and forums are clear and the value can be seen by all stakeholders
• regular deep‑dive risk reviews improved collective understanding and confidence, building dedicated time to have open conversations about challenges

Find out more

For more information about this case study contact DigitalAssurance@gov.scot

The Technology Assurance Framework (TAF) is designed to help prevent digital projects from failing for common reasons, improve delivery and ensure that the lessons learned from previous experience are reflected and embedded in future practice. The Digital Assurance Office are working with organisations to share information which might help others deliver digital projects and we have been publishing our insights and case studies on our digital blog. If you want to get involved contact us at DigitalAssurance@gov.scot

Other case studies focusing on governance include:

Moveable Transactions Project: good governance and active leadership

Census 2022 – information governance and standards

For further information and signposting to advice and support on project and project management contact the Project and Project Management Centre for Expertise. The Scottish Government project 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.

Tags: Care Inspectorate, digital transformation, Technology Assurance Framework (TAF)

Comments