In their first jointly organised conference, the Portfolio Management (PfM) SIG and Benefits Management (BM) SIG hosted around 80 people at the ETC in Hatton Garden, London on 6th March for a packed agenda of speakers, workshops and other interactive sessions.

1. Embedding Portfolio Management across
Westminster City Council
Peter Glynne
Head of Portfolio Delivery
6th March 2014

2. Westminster City Council
Overview and Key Facts
Key Facts
• 990,000 average daytime population
• 105,800 households
• 220,000 residents
• 48,000 local businesses
• Annual budget in excess of £1bn
• 470 services provided to customers

3. Westminster City Council
Background Context
• Cost reduction is a significant driver for large
scale corporate change
• Intense change in the last four years resulting
in savings of over £100m
• There is another £100m to save over the next
four years
• New Chief Executive who is very change
focussed
• Organisational change capability is critical

4. Westminster City Council
TriBorough Partnership

5. Westminster City Council
Our Current Westminster Change Portfolio

6. Westminster City Council
In 2013 we set out to:
• Implement a single corporate
approach to governing and assuring
change
• Drive forward cross directorate
working on change
• Provide the necessary information to
support corporate decision making on
change
• Identify portfolio level risk and ensure
that it is successfully mitigated

7. Westminster City Council
Priority Focus Areas
Robust Yet Light Touch
1. Meaningful and Timely Portfolio Level
Management Information
2. Priority dependencies
3. Portfolio level Risk/Issues
4. Benefits Realisation
5. Resourcing
6. Organisational Capability

8. Westminster City Council
The Specific Challenges
• Widespread acceptance of a common
corporate approach
• Getting top of the house buy-in
• Standardising ways of working across
multiple projects/programmes
• Building quick-wins and establishing
credibility at the portfolio level
• ENGAGING the business and avoiding
technical PPM jargon

9. Westminster City Council
Our Governance of Change
Strategic Executive Board (SEB)
Owner of the change portfolio
Change Board
Change and
Project
Management
Unit
Service
Areas
Service
Areas
Assurance through “corporate
representation” (8 members)
Service
Areas
Service
Areas
Service
Areas
Service areas include Adult Social Care,
Children’s, Built Environment, City Management
and many others

10. Westminster City Council
Change and Project Management Unit
Change and Project
Management Unit
Design and
Change
Portfolio
Management
Office
Operational
Performance
Management
Programme
Management

11. Westminster City Council
What have we learned?
• No one has perfected portfolio management – most organisations
are still maturing
• Without a strong senior level executive champion it is near
impossible to implement
• Successful senior relationships across the business are CRITICAL
• Don’t get too technical; it scares senior management
• It is not another PRINCE2 or MSP type approach. It is TOTALLY
different!
• Keep it refreshed and aligned to changing business needs

12. Westminster City Council
On a more light hearted note.....

13. Westminster City Council

14. Westminster City Council
Questions