Supporting Digital Defence contracts with Change Management

Digitising contracts was a transformational initiative, the challenge was compounded by the complexity of delivering a cross-sector, enterprise-level programme.

The Digital Contracts programme impacted more than 1,500 employees across the UK Procurement and Commercial functions, driving significant change across technology, processes and people.

To ensure successful delivery of the programme outcomes, robust change management was identified as a critical success factor. With the programme already in flight for over two years and only nine months remaining before go-live, our role became pivotal in ensuring effective adoption and embedding of the Digital Contracts solution across each sector and business unit.

As no Change Management role had been appointed to support all sectors, we were engaged to provide a consultant with the appropriate expertise to fulfil the Change Management position and lead change activity across the programme.

The approach taken was to engage closely with the programme team to gain a clear understanding of the programme scope, timeline, and the goals and outputs agreed within the business case. In parallel, we assessed where each sector was in its Digital Contracts transformation journey. This insight enabled the development of a standardised Change Management approach designed to deliver the required outcomes within a compressed and less-than-ideal timeframe.

The approach was formally documented, clearly articulating how we would engage with stakeholders and deliver the change required to support the successful implementation of the Digital Contracts solution.

The change activity covered the following key areas:

• Stakeholder engagement
• Business impact and readiness assessments
• Mapping of current and future state processes
• Identification of what would and would not change, supported by appropriate change interventions
• Development of an integrated Change Management Plan aligned to the overall programme plan.

A key challenge for the programme was its scale and complexity. The Digital Contracts initiative spanned across all of the defence sectors, impacting Commercial and Procurement functions over a wide and diverse employee base. Each sector operated with differing processes and ways of working, requiring a level of alignment to support consistent adoption of the solution.

As a result, stakeholder engagement was prioritised as a critical success factor and a central focus throughout the programme.

The programme benefited significantly from our involvement in the Change Management role, enabling diverse sectors to effectively prepare for and adopt the new Digital Contracts system.

Prior to our engagement, the change element of the programme was significantly behind schedule. Through the development and execution of an effective Change Management strategy, all sectors were fully prepared for implementation and supported in transitioning to new ways of working.

By applying our expertise and flexing our approach to meet sector-specific requirements, we helped de-risk delivery of the Digital Contracts programme and positioned it for a successful and sustainable rollout.

Project One value add:

• We flexed skills and capabilities to recover a delayed change programme, accelerating readiness and adoption for the customer
• Our teams bring extensive and varied delivery experience, with proven capability across complex, enterprise-scale change initiatives
• We rapidly filled a critical resource gap, providing immediate and effective Change Management leadership
• We demonstrated a proven track record of successful delivery, adding value and momentum from day one.