Overview of program activities

- You may wonder why follow a different approach for program management? Surely the project management principles and processes are sufficient. Well, they aren't. Programs include multiple related projects, transition activities, and realization of benefits activities. So a different approach is required. Let's take a look at the activities that will need to be addressed. All programs have a business need, which provides the justification for the program, often as part of a concept or feasibility phase. This phase is carried out by a sponsoring group and a Senior Responsible Owner and focuses on understanding the business drivers for the change. Once the drivers have been determined, the team creates an outline vision statement and outline business case for a view on whether to invest in the program. If the sponsoring group agree to proceed, the program moves into the definition phase to define what we can about the program. Remember, it's very difficult at this point to be too specific. The Senior Responsible Owner and the Business Change Managers will refine the vision statement and the business case, create a target operating model, and define the benefits. The program manager will set up the program governance and produce a program plan. This phase ends with a formal gateway review before beginning work on the delivery phases. During delivery, the program manager collaborates with the Business Change Managers to oversee the projects, ensuring they started, monitored, and closed effectively. There are many activities the program manager oversees including managing issues and risks, resources, procurement, progress, and planning, and these need to be continually addressed during this phase. The Business Change Managers will prepare their business units for the change carrying out training and communicating, then transitioning the solution into use while maintaining stable operations, and finally, measuring the benefits achieved. As the phases are delivered formal reviews are carried out to assess the progress and the justification of the program. When it becomes evident the vision and the target operating model have been delivered, the program will complete the closing phase. This is when the program manager takes stock of the outcomes and the benefits that have been achieved and assesses if the target operating model and program vision have been delivered. In addition, assessing lessons of how effective the program governance was should be carried out. And then the program needs to disband resources formally. Underpinning these phases are some continuous activities running along the whole program lifecycle. These cover the stakeholder engagement and communication and change management activities which are vital to gain the buy-in and the commitment to the change. Including these activities in your program plan will greatly increase the chances of success to deliver the program's objectives and subsequently achieve the corporate objectives.