Alan Calder on IT Governance, information security & ISO 27001

“Almost £300m worth of public-sector IT projects have been binned in the UK, sparking accusations that the government is embarking on the schemes without proper thought.“

I guess that what our government needs is access to a good project and programme management framework, something that recognises all the common reasons for IT project failure, and which enables organisations to avoid having to re-invent approaches that have already been tried and tested.

I’d like to recommend that they start with a project management methodology called PRINCE2 and then follow through by investigating a programme management methodology called MSP - Managing Successful Programmes. These programmes were both pulled together by a UK government department, and the IP is still owned by the OGC - who, I’m sure, would be delighted to learn that someone else in the government actually uses these programmes.

To help Human Resources and Training Managers get the most from their budgets we have introduced our new IT Governance Training Passports. In a single purchase, these allow organisations to acquire any combination of IT training, tools and support services from the most comprehensive one-stop shop on the Web. Discounts are offered on all chosen items, whether used immediately or at a future date, making them ideal for public and private sector organisations needing to purchase training ahead of their annual budget deadlines.

Training Passports are offered in three grades: Bronze (£5,000 + VAT), Silver (£10,000 + VAT) and Gold (£15,000 + VAT). Through IT Governance’s Training Gateway, Training Passport holders can access the Web’s widest range of accredited, professional IT training, which is available across the UK, and receive discounts of up to 30 percent:

* On every classroom course, including Basel II, BCM & BS25999, CISA, Cisco, CISM, CISSP, EC Ethical Hacking, HDI, ISO20000, ISO27001, ITILv2, ITILv3, ITIL bridging, Microsoft, MoR, MSP, Prince2 and Sarbanes Oxley.
* On every distance or e-learning course.
* On every exam guide, subject manual or other training material.

All bookings are made through IT Governance’s friendly and efficient team of training consultants, who can advise on how to get the maximum benefit from a Training Passport. Furthermore, these consultants can advise of additional late-booking discounts that IT Governance is often able to negotiate with training suppliers.

These discounts and the variety of options available allow HR and Training Managers to get the maximum value from their existing budgets. As purchasers receive just a single invoice for multiple courses and products, rather than needing internal expenditure approvals for each, this also saves significant administrative time and effort.

Although Training Passports enable courses to be purchased in advance, they offer flexibility, since delegates’ details need only be finalised at a later stage once the ideal course and location have been chosen. They also assure organisations of the most up-to-date training, as each Passport remains valid for all courses and products offered by IT Governance until it has been fully used.

It is an easy thing to criticise ‘another failed government IT programme’. As with anything, it is only the failures that make the headlines and seldom the successes. I would therefore like to make amends by highlighting the news reported by ZDNet that the initial roll-out of electronic passports by the Identity and Passport Service has been judged a success by the Public Accounts Committee. Specifically, it has been lauded by MPs as an “excellent example of successful project management and procurement” and the Office of Government Commerce has been urged to spread the lessons learned from the project across government.

The OGC, of course, originated and owns the respected Prince2 project management methodology, as well as that for Managing Successful Programmes. It’s good to see them using their own methodologies but it is sad that others in the public sector don’t. So, the OGC might like to start with the Department of Health, where moves to introduce a lamentably poor online recruitment system for junior doctors were recently abandoned. In commenting on this failure, Health Minister Ben Bradshaw made what seems to me an extraordinary statement, saying, “If new or national systems [for doctor recruitment] are to be used in the future, they must be rigorously tested and agreed with doctors, the NHS and others involved.” This truly seems spellbindingly obvious and so rudimentary a requirement of any project manager that I am stunned it ranks a mention.

To be balanced, therefore, I should say it is terrific that there are clearly many pools of excellence in the public sector when it comes to IT project management; equally, there are some areas in which the level of professionalism is so low as to be positively alarming. Let us hope that the OGC can have more success than it has had in the past in spreading the knowledge of effective project and programme management so that junior medics and the taxpayer are spared future fiascos quite as amateur as the doctors recruitment system.