ATO Evaluation of PMO Information Systems

Project Overview

The Australian Tax Office (ATO) has undertaken significant changes to their organisation, seeking to align their project, program and portfolio management to best practice, including the establishment of an Enterprise Portfolio Management Office. These changes involve significant shifts to existing practises, including an evaluation of the current project management (PM) information systems ability to deliver executive reporting and effective management control.

TBH’s Role

TBH was engaged to provide expert advice on the direction of the ATO’s core project management toolset in meeting its current and future needs. TBH approached this in a three-step process.

• Understand, in its entirety, the current PM Information state
• Determine what the future PM information state should comprise of
• Provide a roadmap detailing the steps required for the transition between the current and future state

This three-step process required two experienced consultants to be embedded within the ATO enterprise portfolio management office full-time for three weeks as it was recognised early on that stakeholder engagement was imperative.

During this period, over 20 interviews were undertaken with key staff, from assistant commissioners of the ATO to systems architects, administrators and business analysts.

The report delivered to the ATO enabled senior management staff to understand their current project management tools landscape and the challenges facing a future PM information and toolset environment. This report is expected to inform the existing approach to market process for both stabilisation and upgrade of the core PM information system.

TBH was well received as independent management advisors, providing valuable advice for the current and future states of the PM information systems at the ATO.

To find out more about TBH’s P3M experience, please visit the P3M page.