Te Whatu Ora – Waitematā – Case Study

Case Study

Te Whatu Ora – Waitematā​

Waitematā District Health Board is the Government’s funder and provider of health services to an estimated 641,000 residents living in the areas of North Shore, Waitakere and Rodney. Waitematā is the largest and one of the fastest-growing DHBs in Aotearoa New Zealand, and it is expected to serve an extra 103,000 residents by 2035.

Waitemata DHB provides hospital and community services from 31 sites, including North Shore Hospital, Waitakere Hospital and the Mason Clinic and employs more than 9,600 people.

How it all started…

Back in 2017 Guy and Tracie were part of a team of consultants engaged by the Waitemata executive leadership to help build Waitemata’s portfolio, programme and project management maturity (P3M3).  

The main drivers behind this were to improve the delivery success of Waitemata’s projects and to meet the Investor Confidence Rating (ICR) score targets set by the NZ Treasury. (Previously, in 2016, the NZ Treasury had undertaken ICR assessments of all capital-intensive government agencies to determine their level of organisational maturity in P3M3.)

How did we do it?

The improvement programme identified early on the opportunity to develop each of the P3 frameworks iteratively by initially developing lite frameworks, drawing on international methodologies (PMBOK, MSP, PRINCE2, MoP) and the NZ Government’s ‘Better Business Case’ process. The lite and iterative approaches allowed for quicker adoption of the frameworks by making them accessible early on rather than rolling out full versions months later.

Everything produced by the programme team was tested with a Waitemata reference group made up of a cross-section of the Waitemata DHB staff including seasoned IT and construction project managers, clinicians, operational staff and service change leads. This increased the opportunities for feedback and fine-tuning over an extended period.

The reference group provided valuable input into the development process and made the framework and its supporting tools and templates fit for purpose in a healthcare context. The reference group also acted as change champions in their respective areas for the framework’s adoption and they helped with organisational buy-in.

How did it go?

An external Treasury-appointed assessor conducted an assessment on Waitemata in 2019. Waitemata’s P3M3 score increased from a level 1.42 to a level 3.1 – the highest out of the 20 DHBs. This was achieved in under 2 years.

The improvement programme had a positive ROI within the first 6 months of implementation. 

The PSO, established as part of this work, was shortlisted as a finalist for the Project Management Institute’s ‘PMO of the Year 2019’.

The 18-month programme delivered:

  • An established Portfolio Investment Committee with Waitemata executives
  • A complete suite of project, programme & portfolio frameworks, tools and templates
  • A Project Portfolio Management (PPM) tool
  • Project portfolio reporting
  • An established Portfolio Support Office (PSO)
  • A PSO knowledge hub and intranet site.

The programme did encounter and overcome the following challenges:

  • The diverse make-up of Waitemata’s project portfolio (constructions and maintenance, clinical, IT and innovation-type projects)
  • There was no established enterprise project or portfolio management office at the start of this improvement programme.

How did it go?

“Driving the required improvements in P3M3 maturity represented a significant challenge for the DHB. With Guy and Tracie’s expertise and support we were able to achieve an outstanding uplift and create a sustainable trajectory of continuous improvement.” – Chris Watson | Director of the Investment Management Office, Waitemata District Health Board (2015 – 2021).

What happened afterwards?

In 2020 Waitemata asked Guy to come back to help manage and run the PSO until they found a suitable individual to do this in a permanent capacity. It was during this time that Guy introduced an Agile way of working for the PSO team and helped them develop an Agile mindset. This pivot to a new way of (Agile) working resulted in benefits seen and experienced by both the PSO team and Waitemata’s project community.

Today, Guy continues to support the PSO with delivering their ‘Managing Successful Projects’ training to Waitemata’s project community.