Dstl Management System
Transformation Project
CQI Wessex Branch, 8 February 2011
Martin Gething, Dstl
Eric Scargill, RED Scientific Ltd
Topics / Agenda
• Introductions
• Overview of Dstl
• RED Scientific
• Management System
• The MS three years ago
• Transformation project
• Lessons learned
• Look forward
© Crown Copyright Dstl 2011
Dstl is part of the
Ministry of Defence
An Introduction to Dstl
Maximising the impact of science
and technology for the defence
and security of the UK
Who we are
• MOD’s Science and Technology (S&T) agent
• Executive Agency plus Trading Fund
• 100% contract funded
• Turnover (2009/10) £433 million, assets £225 million
• £70M work placed with industry / academia
• 3700 staff (including 100 military) > 70% active
scientists, engineers and analysts
• Integral part of the UK Government and MOD
© Crown Copyright Dstl 2011
Dstl is part of the
Ministry of Defence
Dstl’s role
Dstl’s core role is
to provide independent, high quality scientific and
technological services to the MoD, the UK Armed
Forces and wider Government
We deliver…
• High quality science and technology research
• Impartial advice on defence & security issues
• Integrated solutions to MOD/Govt science and
technology problems
• Focus for International Research Collaboration
• Exploitation and knowledge transfer
© Crown Copyright Dstl 2011
Dstl is part of the
Ministry of Defence
Dstl locations
Porton Down
Portsdown West
Fort Halstead
Harwell
Alverstoke
© Crown Copyright Dstl 2011
Dstl is part of the
Ministry of Defence
RED Scientific Limited
Eric Scargill
RED Scientific Limited
•
Located in Alton, Hampshire
•
List X
•
Independent, privately owned, ten core staff, 1,400 associates
•
Turnover YE 2010 £2.2m
•
Established in 1987 (RED Incorporated 1990) 21 Years Trading
•
BS ISO 9001:2008 registered
•
Supplier of technical, research and consultancy services
•
Provision of Manpower Substitution resources & Subject Matter Experts
•
Wide range of Government and Defence Enabling Contracts
•
Collaborative trading model supporting Industry, Micro SMEs, Academia &
Government Agencies
Dstl Management System
Dstl’s Management System
• ISO9001, ISO14001, TickIT, etc
• Chemicals, Biological, Explosives, Radiation
• Office, Lab, Ranges, Trials, Operational Deployment,
Home
• Unclassified to TS
• Multi-site
© Crown Copyright Dstl 2011
Dstl is part of the
Ministry of Defence
DAIG (USA)
MHRA
HSE
OPCW
HMRC
HTA
NAO
BARDA (USA)
PKF
FDA (USA)
CfDC (USA)
DEFRA
DSAS
Integrated Audit – Governance,
SHEF, Security, Commercial &
Data & Records Management
CAS
CLA
Home Office
ENV Agency
DE&S
DOSG
GLP, GMP
GCP DEPARTMENTS
HQ LC
Technical
& FUNCTIONS
DCSA
DSSA
Finance
Department
Regulatory
Requirements
DS&C
DIA
DFRMO
Pay
Central Project Assurance
National Archives
English Heritage
Natural England
UKAS
DCIO
ISO17025
ISO 9001
OCSC
MORI
OGC
LRQA
ISO 14001
Investors in People
©
Copyright Dstl 2011
13Crown
April 2015
Dstl is part of the
Ministry of Defence
Legacy system
Starting point
• Evolved incrementally, stovepiped by function, department and site
• Many of the Procedures, Rules and Guides being described as:
– Inefficient in terms of the processes embedded within
– Out of date
– Providing conflicting information
– Written in ‘management speak’ or ‘legal jargon’
– Far too long and trying to cover too much information
– Mixing mandatory instruction and non-mandatory guidance so that the
key requirement becomes lost
© Crown Copyright Dstl 2011
Dstl is part of the
Ministry of Defence
Transformation Project
Integrated Processes & Procedures
(IP&P) Project
IP&P Project – Aims & Objectives
• An integrated management system that would:
– Be simple to understand and easy to use, separating process
from guidance
– Provide a consistent, coherent single way of working which
delivers the business
– Embed process ownership fully so that Process Owners feel
responsible for their processes, are supported in their role and
are held accountable
– Implement appropriate management and governance of the MS
so that changes made in the project are fully embedded and
maintained in business-as-usual
© Crown Copyright Dstl 2011
Dstl is part of the
Ministry of Defence
Process Page Design
• Career Level Review example
• Key aspects to note:
– Policy, Process, Practice
– Colours, tabs, flow, supporting information
– Multiple routes in
– Increasing levels of granularity
– Links to other processes, reference material and added
functionality
© Crown Copyright Dstl 2011
Dstl is part of the
Ministry of Defence
Management System Design
• Iterative development of a conceptual model
• Attempted to identify and group common process types
– HR (joining, managing, leaving)
– Workplace (management of materials, H&S etc.)
– Assets (acquire, use, dispose)
• Clustering of major process groups
© Crown Copyright Dstl 2011
Dstl is part of the
Ministry of Defence
IP&P Project – First Stage
• First stage (18 months):
– Created the coloured, step-based approach
– Re-brigaded and re-formatted existing material
– Relaunched and re-branded the MS
• Although many of the problems associated with the use
of the DMS were ‘solved’, in many cases the content and
quality of the processes were the same as before
© Crown Copyright Dstl 2011
Dstl is part of the
Ministry of Defence
IP&P Project – Second Stage
• Second stage therefore initiated, to:
– Review and improve processes (e.g. reduce number of steps,
identify and eliminate bottlenecks and loose ends)
– Review and improve process information (e.g. use of plain
English, reduce amount of non-essential information held)
– Introduce a system of monitoring the performance of processes
© Crown Copyright Dstl 2011
Dstl is part of the
Ministry of Defence
Measures
• Staff opinion:
–
Focus groups/presentations
–
Mori – repeat of previous questions
• Process Based Audit:
–
Number of Non-Conformance Reports, observations etc.
• Functional Measures of Performance
–
Security breaches, recruitment metrics, internal customer satisfaction etc.
• MS Feedback
–
Identifies specific issues, problem areas etc.
• On process page survey
–
Linked to database - interrogation and analysis
© Crown Copyright Dstl 2011
Dstl is part of the
Ministry of Defence
New Management System
• Nexus home page
• MS Home Page
• Key aspects to note:
– Multiple routes to information
– Navigation panes, greater integration
– Improvements to search functionality and “Best Bets”
– Separated out practitioner detail from material needed by all
– Documents Index and Sharepoint 2007
© Crown Copyright Dstl 2011
Dstl is part of the
Ministry of Defence
IP&P Project – Overall Outcome
• New MS delivered progressively over the Stage 2 timescale
• Vastly improved feedback from staff
• Much easier maintenance, and faster turn-around on updates
• LRQA ISO9001 Audit, June 2010
– Audit report stated “seen to be a significant improvement and found to
be readily accessible and considered ‘user friendly’ across the Dstl
community sampled”
– informally described our MS as “an example of best practice”
• Now have proactive engagement from Process Owners for further
improvements
• MS now being routinely referenced in internal comms
© Crown Copyright Dstl 2011
Dstl is part of the
Ministry of Defence
IP&P Project – Successes
• Design
– Top-down approach
– Improves coherence, and sets right ‘granularity’ for the details
– Highlighted gaps in coverage
• Engagement
– Wide engagement across the organisation
– Staged integration in some areas (eg Security, Estates, HR)
– Workplace suite of processes
• Team
– Weekly meetings to keep everyone informed of what was happening
– Process Design Records (PDRs)
– Issues log
© Crown Copyright Dstl 2011
Dstl is part of the
Ministry of Defence
Lessons Learned
IP&P Project
• Ended up being a much larger project than originally
envisaged!
• Project initiated March 2007, completed (with expanded
scope) March 2010
• FY09/10 team of approx eight full-time staff and
contractors, rising to ten for last four months
• plus Process Owners, domain experts, stakeholders, etc
© Crown Copyright Dstl 2011
Dstl is part of the
Ministry of Defence
IP&P Project – Pitfalls
• Design
– The design evolved as we went along
– New design wasn’t seen by the organisation until launch at the
end of the first stage (18 months)
– But multi-colour, step-based process design has remained
robust
© Crown Copyright Dstl 2011
Dstl is part of the
Ministry of Defence
IP&P Project – Pitfalls
• Engagement
– It took a long time to gain momentum with Process Owners and
Stakeholders
– Breaking down stove-pipes
– Encouraging ownership of full process
– Metrics
– Timelines for input, review and approval
– Uncoordinated inputs (“multi-headed beast”)
– Clearly identified benefits
© Crown Copyright Dstl 2011
Dstl is part of the
Ministry of Defence
IP&P Project – Pitfalls
• Team
– High proportion of contractors on project team, unfamiliar with the way Dstl
works
– BAU updates and conversion carried out work separately
• Transition to Sharepoint
– Maintaining multiple versions
– Version numbering through transition
– Checking every page, every document, every hyperlink, etc
• Removal of legacy material
–
–
–
–
Incomplete checking of superseded material
Searching for links, on MS and wider (Nexus)
Introduction of “dummy documents”
Need for other people to change their pages
© Crown Copyright Dstl 2011
Dstl is part of the
Ministry of Defence
Look forward
Management System – Future
• ‘Process-lite’ relies on good understanding and good
behaviours
• Process-based audits
• In an intranet environment, what is within our remit, and
what isn’t?
• Never-ending task – further conversion continuing, and
new material arising
© Crown Copyright Dstl 2011
Dstl is part of the
Ministry of Defence
Dstl Management System
Transformation Project
CQI Wessex Branch, 8 February 2011
Martin Gething, Dstl
Eric Scargill, RED Scientific