Cross-program Activities

In a complex sourcing program, the cross-program activities link the individual workstreams of the program office and the program office to the individual workstream. These activities comprise events such as cross-program seminars, briefings and updates. There are four critical success factors necessary for cross-program activities to be successful.

Agree roles and responsibilities. Individual workstreams are focused on one set of objectives and a single team of resources to meet the objective. Whereas in a complex program, cross-program activities must meet workstream-specific objectives while remaining focused on the overall program objectives required. Clear roles that are to be workstream focused must remain focused on the tasks and activities of their individual projects, while other roles take on the responsibility of linking the various workstreams together to achieve the program objective.

It is imperative that each cross-program activity and all of its requirements are planned in conjunction with the overall program manager and the individual workstream leads. The following activities are traditionally deemed to be cross-program:

Typically it is the service workstream that is divided into multiple projects such as IT, applications or business processes and is selected to be outsourced to external parties.

Clearly define deliverables. Simply identifying cross-program roles and responsibilities without the other roles in the program will promote only confusion, not coordination. The following steps help facilitate the necessary coordination between project and program roles:

Establish communication links. Managing multiple cross-program activities can be challenging, and the need for clear lines of communication is critical to avoid confusion and ensure successful delivery. Therefore, each cross-program activity must establish communication channels between its own team, across the other cross-program leads, with the individual workstream leads, and with the overall program, where necessary.

Cross-program activities must establish communication links and meetings schedules to ensure all workstream-specific activities are in alignment with the larger program objectives and activities. Reporting structures for workstream-specific activities need to be established along with the necessary personnel to facilitate the cross-program activities. Workstream-specific and cross-program specific reporting ensures status updates, and that outstanding actions are resolved on a project basis.

Manage the relationship with workstreams. Finally, the relationship between the individual workstreams, the cross-program activities and the overall program is critical. Understanding each workstream’s individual role and deliverables is only half of the relationship. Working to understand the roles and deliverables of the other projects and the overall program is the other. Managing the relationship ensures that both sides, like in successful supplier/client relationships, ultimately achieve their own level of success.

Only through managing the relationship, will cross-program activities fully comprehend how they fit into the larger program and how dependent the individual workstreams and the program are on the cross-program activities.

Delivering benefits through successful management. Complex program-management assignments, while difficult to manage given the variable number of projects, are manageable given sufficient time to plan. Coordination and communication are the key mechanisms for a successful program, and within a complex program they are critical.

Recognizing the need to manage each aspect of the project as a unique entity increases the need for communication between the program, the individual projects and the cross-program activities (workstreams). The coordination demonstrated between all three increases the likelihood of success.

Most organizations want things quicker, cheaper and better when they look to external advisors, and in a perfect program two out of three of these aims are attainable.

However when attempting to manage multiple projects within a sourcing assessment, traditional program management can be applied, thus causing delays, budget strains and poor service. Complex outsourcing assessments require complex program management to achieve the client’s needs quicker, cheaper and better.