Social security agency in Scotland: outline business case

7. The Management case

7.1 Introduction

7. The purpose of the Management Case is to provide confidence that recognised project management methods and robust governance arrangements are planned or in place in order to deliver to time, cost and quality. The management arrangements articulated in this case are appropriately generic and high level to reflect the early stage of the process. The focus in this document is on a discussion on the structure of the project and the methodologies and governance in place. Other aspects of the management case that are not a key driver of the current decision include:

• Project planning;
• Project milestones;
• Change and issue management;
• Tolerances and contingency;
• Benefits, risk and opportunity management and
• Contract management.

7.2 Background

7.1. The scope of this project to deliver an enabling capability, the social security agency, which will govern the new social security system in Scotland is defined as:

7.2. In Scope

• Personnel requirements for operations, governance and assurance
• Corporate services, IT Systems and operation
• Devolved powers
• Migration of early/interim delivery arrangements to the Agency (if appropriate)
• Advice to stakeholders on UK reserved benefits

7.3. Out of Scope

• Administration of UK reserved benefits

7.3 Methodologies

7.4. The Social Security Programme will use Managing Successful Programmes ( MSP) for programme governance, and PRINCE2 / PRINCE2 Agile for project-level governance. Delivery methodologies will be appropriate to the nature of each project.

7.5. A dedicated HR Partner Manager has been embedded into the programme, as well as actively recruiting for a fulltime Resource and Asset Manager. Also, early recruitment of the Agency's senior management team will help ensure appropriate sponsorship and ownership.

7.6. The programme has initiated a significant 'Lessons Learned' activity where individuals with project and programme experience within the public sector in Scotland can share their (relevant) 'Gone Well' and 'Not Gone Well' experiences. Furthermore, the programme will place all of its arrangements under continual improvement, and will seek to regularly learn from and share any new lessons.

7.7. Whilst the scale of the task to create a fully capable and compliant agency should not be underestimated, there is no known 'show stopper'.

7.4 Organisational Structure

7.4.1 Programme Governance

7.8. The scale and nature of the Social Security Programme necessitates robust governance arrangements that are able to adapt as the programme progresses and evolves. See Figure 14 below.

Figure 14 - Governance Structure

7.4.2 Project Governance

7.9. The project governance structure below is aligned to ensure efficiencies and effectiveness of communication and MI. The Project Board shall report to the Programme Board. See Figure 15.

Figure 15 - Project governance

7.5 Post project evaluation

7.10. Post Implementation Reviews ( PIRs) and ex-post evaluation will be undertaken as part of both the Lessons Learned and Gateway review process.

7.11. Evaluation of the Business Case will follow HMT Green Book guidance. The Agency Implementation Division will take forward Go live lessons learned and any programme of continuous development.