Programme Assurance

Your anxiety

A number of your programmes are mission critical, high-risk, high-profile and under significant time and cost pressure. Your organisation is experienced at  programme delivery but has not previously handled anything this complex, critical, or sensitive and, as a programme owner, you need independent assurance that your programme is in good health. You have, however, neither the time nor the experience to provide yourself with the reassurance you seek.

How we can help you

We support the sponsors of complex programmes by offering independent assurance that the required organisational structures are in place, that key controls and processes are working and that the programme is realistically set to deliver.

This service provides an objective ‘health check’ for your programme and its constituent projects by examining and reporting on vital signs ranging from governance to reporting processes. The outputs are benchmarked against ‘best practice’ norms to give an overall view of programme health and a realistic view of the likelihood of a successful outcome.

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Our assurance review normally concludes with feedback to sponsors on the health of their programme and a prioritised list of recommendations aimed at helping improve programme performance.

How we would work with you

Typically we work with the client team, rather than adopting a ‘stand-off’ view point. This allows us to understand the cultural and contextual issues necessary to promote organisational ownership and to balance these gainst our external objective point of view. oint working also ensures our consultants aximise the opportunities for skills and nowledge transfer – thus developing he client team’s capability to handle our recommendations. Of course we can also help implement the recommendations we make, but again genuinely believe that this aspect is best done jointly, or internally, if the benefit is to be enduring.

Throughout, our consultants maintain close links with the programme owners for whom they are undertaking the assurance review, ideally sharing findings progressively rather than in a single disclosure.

Tools & training we can provide

We have a full suite of diagnostic tools and techniques covering all key aspects of programme health including leadership, planning and control, governance, risk and issue management, stakeholder engagement, benefits realisation etc. We also have access to programme management best practice benchmarking data for organisations in a range of sectors.

How this could deliver value for you

Whether to seek independent assurance is typically a choice rather than an essential pre-requisite for programme success. The value, however, of improved visibility for those in key ownership roles should not be under-estimated. Frequently our programme assurance reviews have led to step change improvements in delivery success as well as enhanced external stakeholder perception of our client organisations’ ability to deliver. This has often led to real financial savings,
for example as a result of improved capital re-financing rates (e.g. lenders assuaged that robust management controls are in place).

If you would like to talk to us call on the number below. Alternatively, click on the consultants email address, provide us with your details and we will call you back. We look forward to speaking to you. Contact: Email: Tel: Tim Phillips timphillips@moorhouseconsulting.com +44 (0) 1225 446 313