Genesis – Case Study

Case Study

Genesis Energy

Setting up Genesis’ technology portfolio for success

Genesis generates electricity from a portfolio of thermal and renewable generation assets in different parts of the country. It is New Zealand’s largest energy retailer providing electricity, reticulated natural gas, and LPG to its ~500,000 customers.

Genesis was looking to mature its portfolio management capability and practices for its technology investments and engaged ValueKey to provide expertise and support.

How did we do it?

  1. We broke down this engagement into 2 phases:
    A rapid discovery phase to review existing artefacts and tools/systems, interview key stakeholders and produce a findings and recommendations report. In consultation with Genesis, we formulated a plan for the next phase to deliver the prioritised recommendations.
  2. The establishment phase focused on the development and maturing of portfolio reporting and prioritisation, the Technology investment pathway and project status reporting.

We established a steering committee to provide oversight and governance to this engagement. We adopted an agile way of working with the portfolio services team and helped build their portfolio management capability. We sought iterative feedback from key stakeholders and end users throughout to ensure all outputs were fit for purpose.

How did it go?

The Technology portfolio dashboard reporting now meets the Enterprise Portfolio Forums’ (EPF) reporting requirements. We did this through a series of steps:

  • Pulled together a single register of all initiatives for the Technology portfolio
  • Created a repeatable schedule of activity with roles and responsibilities to produce an EPF dashboard report every month for each meeting
  • Introduced categories and sub-categories to group initiatives by their strategic drivers
  • Improved portfolio financial analytics
  • Introduced consolidated monthly project health (RAG) status reporting.

Technology’s investment pathway was, through a series of workshops and stakeholder feedback sessions, clarified and enhanced to include other areas that contribute or receive an output from the investment pathway process (e.g. architecture, finance, procurement).

Project data and status reporting improvements included a standard project status report template, standardising health indicators (e.g. benefits, scope, cost, schedule, etc.) and their RAG definitions, establishing steering committee and monthly reporting requirements, and utilising their PPM tool to support push-button aggregated portfolio reporting.

Prioritisation and Enterprise Project Management Office (EPMO) model options were developed to support Genesis’ maturity roadmap and what service offerings the portfolio services team could provide to support the EPF with monitoring the execution of Genesis’ strategy and objectives through projects.