​​RMS Program and Change Led Project Management Framework

RMS was responsible for building and maintaining road infrastructure and managing the day-to-day compliance and safety for roads and waterways within NSW, before it merged with Transport for NSW in 2019. In 2015, RMS received a significant increase in its overall spend profile with the RMS Major projects division now responsible for 180+ projects with a value of $16.5bn.
To support this increased effort, RMS established a project called “Wave Control” aimed at creating a portfolio approach to governance, assurance and project controls to ensure processes were streamlined and efficient.

TBH’s Role

There were a number of key challenges that needed to be addressed as part of the TBH solution:

• It was critical to ensure a consistent approach to the calculation, management and release of contingency.
• Alignment with the Infrastructure NSW (INSW) assurance process that had just been established

TBH conducted significant stakeholder engagement with all key stakeholder groups both within RMS and external (e.g INSW) to understand the needs of requirements of all stakeholders.

Then, through a structured co-design process the team developed the first iteration of a project lifecycle using leading practice schedules from within RMS that had proven to support project outcomes.

Using business process optimisation techniques, the team then worked with key stakeholders to iterate and refine the lifecycle over several months to ensure it was pragmatic and fit for purpose. Appropriate governance and assurance requirements were then developed and tailored to the RMS environment, but importantly also aligned to INSW and broader NSW government requirements.

The final solution saw a project management framework designed to provide project managers, their teams and their contractors with clear understanding of key activities and deliverables, as well as approval processes, roles and responsibilities.

TBH concurrently worked with RMS leadership to understand future state needs and developed a draft portfolio management office organisation design to support the new ways of working.

The TBH Difference

By designing leading practice portfolio services and managing implementation through a dual program and change-led approach, TBH were able to successfully develop, implement and train over 500 staff in seven locations across NSW. The framework succeeded in creating efficiencies in the management and control of cost, risk and schedule by standardising approaches, tools and templates across the portfolio.

The project received a nomination for the Premier’s Award and the portfolio and lifecycle approach is still in place today, having been rolled out across the broader transport cluster.

To find out more about TBH’s Organisational Change Management expertise, please visit the Organisational Change Management page.