Delivery Assurance Group report: quarter 4 2021 to 2022

Section 2: Indicator of Overall Progress of Delivery

The Indicator of Progress of Overall Delivery (IPOD) provides a high-level measurement of Scottish Water's progress in delivering the Committed List for projects over £1m^[2]. It assesses the progress of these investment projects monitored by DAG across 3 delivery gates^[3] combining this information to give an overall score.

When projects are added to the Committed List, each milestone is allocated 1 point. Each quarter, the number of points achieved by reaching gates is assessed against the baseline^[4] level for the previous quarter (lower limit) and the subsequent quarter (upper limit). These points are shown as absolute scores.

Scottish Water is considered to be within the target range where the number of points gained lies within the lower and upper limits.

At the end of March 2022, Scottish Water's IPOD position was on track at 332 points, against a range of 229 to 402 points (figure 1).

The green line in the figure above shows the aggregate of the forecast dates in the Committed List (the baseline). The solid blue bars shows Scottish Water's actual position, and the light blue bars show the forecast position for future months. The green area above shows the + or – 3 months target range (i.e. is the baseline from the previous and subsequent quarters respectively). Being above this shows that Scottish Water are more than 3 months ahead of their baseline and being below this shows that Scottish water are more than 3 months behind their baseline.

Figures 2,3 and 4 below show the IPOD position at Quarter 4 2021/2022 by individual milestone:

Year to date performance on the Start on Site milestone is in the top half of the target range with most projects commencing construction on or earlier than planned across all three portfolios. This increased focus on achieving a site start as planned has ensured that projects presented for approval at Gate 90 are ready to progress to site and that all actions to achieve that site start are understood avoiding potential lengthy delay and additional cost once approval to progress to site has been granted.

Year to date performance on the Gate 100 (Project Acceptance) milestone is out with the target range (Figure 3) where 146 points were achieved to date, 1 below the target of 147. The realisation of risks for a number of projects has resulted in longer forecast delivery times. The water portfolio is within the target range, however, impacts on the wastewater and CE & FS & SS portfolio have moved the total position out with the target range. Explanation of this movement can be found in Sections 4 & 5.

Year to date performance on Gate 110 (Financial completion) is at the top end of the target range (Figure 4) with most projects achieving financial completion earlier than planned. Increased focus on the financial completion milestone has driven improved commercial behaviours ensuring that outstanding contractual issues are reviewed and concluded in a timely manner allowing projects to be closed without excessive delay and additional cost.