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Projects are born to introduce changes. However, very often we focus all our attention on the tangible result, the easiest to see. The deliverable of the project gets all attention, while we lose scope of why we are carrying out the project in the first place. A project is more than a deliverable, it has impact and benefits that are aligned with the organisation's vision and should not be taken for granted. Project teams tend to focus their efforts on producing tangible results, the deliverables. But in reality, the project deliverables are the means and not the end, the real goal of the project is to achieve specific final results that lead to measurable benefits. This is why project management uses terms like project ‘outputs’, ‘outcomes’ and ‘benefits’. It is very important that all the resources involved in the management and execution of a project (managers and team members) understand the relationship between these three elements.  

What are output, outcome and benefits?

OUTPUT

Deliverable, also translated as results. Output can be a product and/or service that introduces something new (a change).

OUTCOME

The change introduced by the output leads to an outcome, a final result, which offers direct benefits.

BENEFITS

The real “why” of the project. Benefits are measurable improvements resulting from the final result or outcome.   What are the characteristics of these three elements and what is their relationship?

• The outputs are easy to measure; it is easy to see whether the output has been created/achieved or not.
• Outcomes are more difficult to measure and they interest the user. To measure them, you can, for example, interview those who use the product and/or service.
• The benefits are the hardest part and are difficult to measure. They are of particular interest to the people who have to decide to carry out the project. To measure them you can use collected data, statistics or surveys.

   

Relationship between outputs, outcomes, benefits in a project

According to The PM² Methodology Guide v3.0, all parties involved in the project must be able to identify the outputs, outcomes and benefits of a project. Without understanding, project participants can lose sight of the original goal and produce deliverables that have little (or no) value for the organisation. Since the project team finishes its work with the delivery of the output, it is the Project Manager who must ensure that they are implemented. In order to do so, he/she must create the vision from the beginning of the project and share this vision with the project team. While it is true that often the final results and benefits are realized only after the closure of the project, it is necessary to avoid reaching the conclusion of the project without the involvement and a clear vision for all team members. For example, the output of a project can be the development of new software that keeps user requests for a particular line of products. The outcomes can be service improvement, greater accuracy of the data collected and better user satisfaction. The benefits could be a 20% increase in product sales and 25% revenue growth.  

Best practices for realizing the benefits of a project:

• Establish project KPIs: measuring is key. Also, make sure you create the right structure to measure. The KPIs help the whole team to focus on common goals and ensure the alignment of all the resources involved.
• Involve the project team. If you are the Project Manager focused on the final results and benefits expected by the organisation, you will inspire other team members. It is important to always have in mind the reason for the project. If you are a Team Member, question yourself and question your Project Manager if you are not clear about the vision of the project.
• Clearly written in the Business Case what the planned (and therefore expected) benefits are. Review estimates regularly, especially if real benefits are difficult to measure.
• Project management methods can certainly offer you a useful tool to check performance and have tools to improve it.

Download your copy of the Benefits Management Approach Template PRINCE2: a useful document (word) that can support you in managing your projects! Source: The PM² Methodology Guide v3.0  

Shana Coenen has been working in a project-, program- and change management since 2009. She works at the Federal Public Service Finance where she is responsible for the pool of transversal project managers.  

What's your current job title and what does that mean in practice?

My current job title is 'Team Leader Pool Project Leaders'. In practice, this means that I am responsible for a team of project leaders, who are executing and leading the transversal transformation projects in our organisation. The team is also responsible for the project methodology (“PMFin”, PRINCE2 based) within the organisation. This means that we train all the project leaders and that we are responsible for all the training material. My team mainly focuses on projects that impact all of our departments. These projects help us accomplish our four strategic ambitions:

• Tailored: personalized and accessible services
• Cooperation: valuable interaction based on mutual trust
• Smart: a data-driven, innovative organisation
• Performance: a flexible organisation that creates pleasant working conditions

Some examples? Our project 'Chatbot' is testing the possibilities of working with a chatbot for our organisation, another project is focusing on how we can digitize all of our incoming paper mail. The last example is a project that works on a participation culture and how we can move towards it in our organisation.  

How did you end up in the world of Project, Program and Portfolio management?

I discovered the world of project management at the Public Service of Health. I started there in 2010 as a project leader. Three years – and a lot of projects and experience later – I switched to the Public Service of Finance where I now work for 8 years already. After several projects, I also led the programme 'Knowledge Management' and became a team leader.  

What's the biggest issue you see in your network at the moment regarding PM?

The biggest issue in our network is the different skill levels of the PMO’s and project leaders. We have some very experienced PMO’s and project leaders, but also a lot of juniors who are just starting. A job as a project leader is extremely demanding. This means that you always have to deal with some turnover.  

What's your advice on how to solve/face the above-mentioned issue?

Different skill levels mean that you cannot work with a “one size fits all” approach. We already offer a wide range of training possibilities and workshops today: basic project management, planning, risk management, benefits management, resource management, communication and change management, … In the future, we will evolve more towards individual coaching to work as customized as possible. Recent survey results show that project leaders prefer to follow e-learning in combination with coaching rather than following classes in groups or workshops. We strive to keep our training up to date every year and to adjust them depending on their needs.  

What are the specific challenges that you face within PM in the public sector?

I think it’s more difficult to launch innovative and creative projects in the public sector because our margin of acceptable failure is a lot smaller than in the private sector. In the private sector, you’re even obligated to take the risk of investing in innovation to stay relevant in the sector. The investments that are made in the public sector have to be immediately socially relevant. The benefits of an innovative project often only become visible after a couple of years. That’s the reason why it’s not as easy to invest “taxpayer money” in projects that don’t have an immediate return on investment.  

What kind of advice would you give to the public sector, in general, to prepare for the future coming years?

Don’t run before you can walk. There are a lot of interesting steps to take in the world of Project Management (resource management, benefits management, tooling, …), but it’s important to adapt those choices to the level of maturity of your organisation and the teams. It makes no sense to try to implement things where the people or the process aren’t ready for.  

What are three things you’ve told yourself that you would like to learn in the near future to develop yourself and your team?

The last few years we mainly focused on “hard skills”: Project Management, resource management, benefits management, … In the near future I would like to focus on 'soft skills': brainstorming techniques, creativity, collaboration in a team, solution-oriented thinking). The world of Project Management is often a 'hard' world where people like to focus on the technical part of the job. A pity, because what would a project leader be without being able to inspire his or her team, without facilitating, coaching, influencing, motivation, negotiation and trust-building skills?  

Shana Coenen

Team Leader Pool Project Leaders

Shana Coenen has been working in a project-, program- and change management since 2009. She works at the Federal Public Service Finance where she is responsible for the pool of transversal project managers. Those project managers execute the transformation projects for the FPS. She is passionate about organizational development and never stops exploring opportunities to keep evolving the organization and the people who are part of it.

The ITIL 4 continual improvement model is what in ITIL v3 was called the 'continual service improvement (CSI)'. It is a recurring organizational activity performed to make sure the organization is aligned with the stakeholder's expectations. The continual improvement model is part of the Service Value System (SVS).  

What is the continual improvement model?

The Continual Improvement Model provides simple and logical steps for an improvement initiative at any scale. It can be seen as a guide to help sustain improvement initiatives, from the very beginning to the end. The model has an iterative approach, which means it divides the work into manageable pieces with set goals. Using the model increases the possibility that ITSM initiatives turn out to be successful. The continual improvement model puts focus on customer value and makes sure that all improvement initiatives are linked to the organization’s vision. The model is applicable to very small initiatives like service or operation improvement, but also to organizational changes. The approach is always the same, the techniques can differ depending on the size of the initiative. The continual improvement model is shown in the image below.  

How to use the continuous improvement model?

Depending on the type of improvement you are planning, the steps of the improvement model can vary significantly. It's important however to follow all the steps for each improvement. The steps are:  

. What is the vision?

The improvement should support the organization’s goals and objectives at all times. It should also link individual actions to the future vision, in order that it really can be seen as an improvement.  

. Where are we now?

In order for an improvement to really impact, it should have a clear starting point. The step ‘where are we now’ helps you to assess your current situation, from a technical, human resource and user’s perception perspective.  

. Where do we want to be?

This step helps you visualize your improvement initiative. Here you set your Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) and the objectives of the improvement initiative.  

. How do we get there?

The fourth step helps you plan. The continual improvement model advises to work iteratively, however with some initiatives this might not be needed and another approach will suffice.  

. Take action!

Execute the plan that you created in the fourth step. A measurement process is key in this step as it will help you stay on track. To execute the plan you can use any type of approach that you think fits best (waterfall, big bang or small iterations).  

. Did we get there?

Check and confirm the progress and the value of the improvement initiative. If the desired result has not been achieved, additional actions need to be taken (often in a new iteration).  

. How do we keep the momentum going?

If the initiative is a success, use it to build support and momentum for the next improvement initiatives. To do so, share the success both internally and externally. If the initiative failed to achieve success, make sure to use it for your ‘lessons learned'. This way the initiative did create value, even though it was not a success.  

Three tips to apply the continual improvement model

If the continual improvement model is embedded well in your way of working, it will help you stay aligned and increase user engagement. To help you do this, make sure you look for the right initiative to take on, be proactive and stay organized!  

Choose well

There are always opportunities for improvement, especially in IT services and support. To understand what type of improvement initiative you like to perform, you have to start to look at the pain points. Improving these services will help you create the biggest benefits.  

Be proactive

Pro-activity will help bring the results of the continual improvement model to light. Continual improvement is not just about fixing current pain points, it is also about being more future-facing. Processes are not static and will change if you are ahead of this change you will be in a more comfortable position.  

Stay organized

Create a register for all the improvements you are planning to make. This will help you prioritize and know what things to focus on next. A register for improvements can be very simple, a shared document with the improvement, time-frame and explanation will do!  

The 7 ITIL guiding principles applied to the continual improvement model

The 7 ITIL guiding principles and the continual improvement model are key to the ITIL Service Value System (SVS). Both are applicable to all of the other SVS components and together they ensure that the SVS as a whole operates with integrity and agility. Applying the Continual Improvement Model can optimize services and maximize success. The guiding principles are a great help in planning and managing an effective improvement. That is why it is strongly recommended to keep each of the principles in mind while establishing the Continual Improvement practice. All the 7 ITIL guiding principles are applicable and relevant at every step of an improvement initiative. The level of applicability of the principles at every improvement initiative, however, may vary. Some guiding principles are extra relevant to specific steps of the continual improvement model. To know what principle to keep in mind at which step of the continual improvement model, see the following overview.     Are you looking for a clear overview of the 7 ITIL guiding principles? Download it here for free!   Source: ITIL Guiding Principles for Continual Improvement Axelos

The purpose of the ITIL 4 Direct, Plan & Improve is to provide the candidate with an understanding of how to integrate different value streams and activities, of service performance, service quality and improvement methods. Thanks to this understanding, the candidate will be able to create, deliver and support IT-enabled products and services, and relevant practices, methods and tools. To take the exam, the candidate must have passed the ITIL 4 Foundation examination. Also, the candidate must have attended an accredited training course for this module. Work experience in IT services is recommended.  

ITIL DPI Examination Target

• Individuals continuing their journey in service management.
• ITSM managers and aspiring ITSM managers.
• ITSM practitioners managing the operation of IT-enabled & digital products and services, and those responsible for the end-to-end delivery.
• Existing ITIL qualification holders wishing to develop their knowledge.

 

Exam Format

• Language: English and French
• Duration: 90 minutes
  • Candidates taking the exam in a language that is not their native or working language may be awarded 25% extra time, i.e. 113 minutes in total.
• Materials permitted: No materials other than the examination materials are permitted. This is a ‘closed book’ examination.
• Questions: 40
• All 40 questions are Objective Test Questions (OTQs).
• Pass Mark: 28 marks or above.
• Level of Thinking: Bloom’s levels 1 & 2
  • There are 15 questions at Bloom’s Level 2 = approx. 37.5%
  • There are 25 questions at Bloom’s Level 3 = approx. 62.5%
• Exam Format: Online or Paper
• Certificate Format: Online
  • The online certificate is usually included in the exam fee, you could ask for a paper certificate to the Exam institute after your exam.
• Prerequisites: The candidate must have passed the ITIL 4 Foundation examination. In addition, the candidate must have attended an accredited training course for this module (the recommended duration for this training is 18 hours including the examination).

 

ITIL 4 Direct, Plan & Improve (DPI) Exam Sample Questions

All 40 questions are Objective Test Questions (OTQs), which present four options from which one option is selected. Question styles used within this type are: ‘standard’, ‘list’, and, exceptionally, ‘negative’ standard OTQ.

Example ‘standard’ OTQ:

What describes improvement? a) Q b) P c) R d) S  

Example ‘list’ OTQ:

What is required in an operating model? 1. It does Q 2. It does P 3. It does R 4. It does S a) 1 and 2 b) 2 and 3 c) 3 and 4 d) 1 and 4 NOTE: Two of the list items are correct. List style questions are never negative.  

Example ‘negative’ standard OTQ:

What should the management team NOT do when identifying excessive controls? a) Q b) P c) R d) S NOTE: Negative questions are only used as an exception, where part of the learning outcome is to know that something is not done or should not occur.  

ITIL 4 Direct, Plan & Improve (DPI) Objectives

The purpose of the ITIL 4 Direct, Plan & Improve examination is to assess whether the candidate can demonstrate sufficient understanding and application of the ITIL 4 Direct, Plan & Improve module. The ITIL 4 Direct, Plan & Improve qualification is one of the pre-requisites for the designation of ITIL 4 Managing Professional. As a candidate you need to demonstrate the achievement of these learning outcomes:

• Understand how to plan and build a service value stream to direct, plan and improve services
• Know how relevant ITIL practices contribute to directing, planning and improving the SVS and value streams
• Know how to direct, plan and improve services

 

The ITIL 4 Direct, Plan & Improve (DPI) Certificate

The candidate that passes the exam with positive marks, will obtain the certification. The online certificate is usually included in the exam fee, you could ask for a paper certificate to the exam institute after your exam. QRP International is an ITIL Accredited Training Organisation (ATO) by Peoplecert on behalf of Axelos. We are authorised to deliver ITIL 4 MP Direct, Plan & Improve (DPI) courses and can prepare you for the examination leading to the ITIL 4 Direct, Plan & Improve (DPI) Certificate in IT Service Management.  

Alessia works as NOC Change Coordinator for ESA at Capgemini. She is Change Management certified and she's planning to get Project Management certification too. Alessia is dealing with numerous change requests to successfully complete the project where she's involved.   Here are the questions we asked.  

1. What's your current job title? What do you actually do?

I am a Capgemini employee and since 2014 I work as a contractor for ESA (based in ESRIN-Frascati). However, from November 2019 I cover the role of NOC Change Coordinator for a specific project related to the network infrastructure. I am acting as SPOC and keep relationships with the numerous departments who have to migrate their devices and servers into the security zones (it is a new network architecture). I participate in Boards, coordinate and plan the delivery of the security zones. I keep the users informed of every update. Change requests are registered into the ticketing system we have in place, whose name is BMC Remedy.  

2. What is the thing you love the most about your job?

The thing I like the most is the international context that surrounds me. ESA is, of course, a European identity, but its borders go way beyond. I daily interact with people from every nation with different cultures and perspectives. This constantly gives me the chance to understand their minds and put myself in their shoes.  

3. What are, in your opinion, the key things to adapt to changes? And how do you apply them in your job?

Change is a difficult and long process involving so many factors and it is hard to identify the key points. But if I have to summarize they would be:

• Personal experience of everyday life
• Extrinsic-intrinsic factors
• Communication plan

During the Change Management course I followed, I learnt different best practices to work with the change. I realized that in my organization I already used a mix of these approaches. I see change on a daily basis. Since I am involved in my current project for a long time, I can, of course, apply some personal circumstances that let me better understand the way to approach a new beginning. This occurs through lessons learned,  things that went wrong in the past with other changes we tried to apply. While brainstorming with the colleagues and the stakeholders involved in the change, I understand that some factors directly linked to the job itself can influence the assessment to be produced. Together with intrinsic factors which, indeed, are directly linked to the context of the job. These can bring more enthusiasm and optimism to the change. Laying down the communication means working closely with the communication manager to decide the right strategy to adapt to the change. It is not universal for all changes. I took part in the drafting of the numerous service alerts, information notes with instructions or not (depending on the nature of the change) user guides. Choosing the right communication tool also depends on the target, the users’ community receiving the change.  

4. What's the biggest issue/change you see in your community at the moment? And what's your advice on how to solve/face this issue/change?

At the moment, the biggest change we are coping with is adopting Microsoft Office 365. The ESA community is currently using HCL Notes over 20 years. So, it is not and it will not be easy to switch. There were some rumours one year ago about it and it has been difficult to reply to some questions raised by the users while this was not officially confirmed. Adopting Office 365 is in progress now. It started a few weeks ago with a pilot phase for IT users only. This will help the project team to understand the system and change the plan if needed, by deleting, adding or improve something along the way. There is still much resistance despite having explained the advantages. People remain in their position and will take time to adapt to the change. Interpersonal and mass communication is in progress now to try to fight resistance. So, ending transitions are important stages still in progress, a new beginning will come.  

5. Change Management during teleworking: how does it go?

Change requests run the same now that we work from remote as before when we were in the office. Remotely we have access to all the systems we daily work with. Business is proceeding and also increasing. All the steps for good change management are in place with very few difficulties. Collaboration tools, such as Webex, Skype or mobile devices, allow us to meet and discuss the changes we have to move forward and agree on what the deliverable has to be. Implementing powerful strategies during Covid-19 situation is challenging and stressful since we are used to working in a bigger physical environment and to be surrounded by colleagues. Keeping concentration despite the confinement has been, and is a huge effort.  

6. Would you like to share some good examples (and bad) of Change Management?

The theory says that good examples of change management are the ones without impacts for the users. Basically it is applying a change while users continue their work without any disruption of the service. However, I do not fully agree with this. In my experience, a very bad example occurred while applying the Microsoft patches to the servers hosting some services. The network fell down for all users, generating mess, stress and severe complaints. The back office team, with me as the Change Manager, had to face hard times to recover from the situation. We had to write down the RCA, root cause analysis to deliver to the site manager and the Head of IT end users services. A rollback plan has been applied which saved the situation.  

7. What are three things you’ve told yourself that you would like to learn in the next future to develop you as a professional?

Reaching the Change Management certification is already a great step. To keep on developing my personal career I would like to learn more about Project Management, even if I already work closely with it. I see every change as part of a project, maybe we can even say it is a little project itself. I studied the PMBOK but also getting the certification would mean a lot to me. I always look for positive energy and motivation that help to confront me with challenges. Another thing I like to do is to move to the Netherlands. I am working on trying to be relocated as soon as possible. That would represent a new start for my personal life and for my professional path, too. I already lived abroad, in the Middle East, in Kuwait City and it was a great experience. This was a huge change for me. Applying Change Management in another framework, in another customer’s reality. It’s always challenging to find out new climate and environment. Shaping a new network of agents and roles to play.    

Alessia Pisciotti

Alessia works as NOC Change Coordinator for ESA at Capgemini. She is Change Management certified and she's planning to get Project Management certification too. Alessia is dealing with numerous change requests to successfully complete the project where she's involved. She daily gets in touch with the different communities for their deliverables to be finalised. In a very challenging environment, rumours and resistance are sometimes visible. In an international environment like this, new ideas and incitements are always welcome and these give her the chance to compare with different minds, approaches and cultures. That's why changes and individuals always have to take care of mental framework and personal circumstances.

Setting up and running a PMO is a difficult and long-lasting task. To get inspired and learn the basics, you can get a certification and learn the foundations. Translating this inspiration into practice is the second step. This is often hard and lonely as a strategic PMO and it can be good to sometimes change ideas with other PMO’s. That is why QRP decided to set up a PMO User group. We invited a group of very different PMO to discuss different topics in different sessions. Interested to join us next time? Contact us directly! For our first PMO user event session this June (2020), we set the topic: ‘How to insert more agility in a traditional project management environment?’ QRP invited a speaker that presented their case study of the introduction of Agility in their organisation. After the presentation, the group was divided into smaller groups to discuss certain aspects of Agility in connection to the PMO. To reinforce our discussion and add some extra information, QRP decided to dedicate a blog to the introduction of Agility and the responsibilities of the PMO that come along with it.  

Implementing Agility

There is no one answer on how to implement Agility in the PMO, there are multiple possibilities. This also because there are different Agile Frameworks, there are different options for an organisation to become more Agile. The organisation needs to choose its path to an increased Agility and decide what fits their situation. However, even more, important than how to implement Agile is the reason why to implement Agile. If the reason to implement Agile is simply that it is a business buzz-word, it is likely that it will be a failed attempt. Becoming more Agile is something that needs to be communicated clearly and carried out by the entire organisation. Becoming more Agile is and needs to be seen as a change.  

Agility and the PMO

When it comes to implementing Agility in the PMO, there are some key elements of MSP (Programme management) that could be applied to increase the chances of success.

These key elements are:

. A clear vision A compelling picture of the future of the organisation, explaining the reason behind the change . Inclusion and clear communication All different stakeholders should be included and aware of the ongoing change. All stakeholders also need to be aware of what is expected of them. . A blueprint of the ‘to-be organisation’ An architecture that combines processes, organisational design, supporting technology and necessary information flows . Focus on the benefits This should be shared with the complete organisation, in order to inspire and motivate people   What Agile framework to implement has to depend completely on the organisation and the different teams. Agile is not suited for every project and that should not be a problem, as Agile can also be applied partly. It is absolutely possible that Agile is more applicable to some processes than others. This can also mean that some teams can adopt an Agile framework, and other teams do not. Chances are likely that Agile is more easily picked up by the IT department of an organisation. However, this does not mean that you should limit your Agile transformation to just IT.  

The role of the PMO during an Agile Transformation

Every organisation should consider their current situation and find their way to implement Agility. In order to do so, it involves a mindset change on all levels in the organisation. Introducing Agile means transformational change. The PMO plays very important (and different) roles in this transformational change. The PMO has to find out when and how exactly to integrate Agile practices in projects. In order to do so, the PMO needs to prioritize and provide daily guidance. The PMO will also need to coach and train people in the Agile way of work. Next to this, the PMO also has a very practical role, as it is responsible for standardisation of way of work and harmonising use of tools. That being said, we can conclude that the role of the PMO changes enormously if Agility is introduced in a traditional project management environment. The PMO needs to be prepared and ready to face obstacles. The PMO needs to understand very clearly what needs to happen and needs to be convinced of why. In this, clear communication and perseverance by the PMO are key to a successful Agile transformation.