Change impact assessment for a financial services provider

Our customer, a UK-based financial services provider, established a central PMO team to oversee the gating process across all projects, in particular the early stages for funding and change characterisation. 

The current Business Case Review Forum struggled to effectively evaluate the impacts of changes on the business areas. Consequently, changes were approved without a clear understanding of the capacity of the functional areas to handle them. The identified root causes were: 

• The purpose of the Business Case Review Forum and roles and associated responsibilities were not clear, 

• There was no consistent approach to the gathering of data to support informed impact assessment decisions  

• There was no traceability of impact assessment data 

Project One developed the following 8-week approach: 

Week 1–2: Discover and Align 

Objective: Understand current state, align stakeholders, and define requirements. 

Key Activities: 

• Confirm the 8-week plan approach 

• Create stakeholder list 

• Conduct stakeholders’ interviews to understand the current situation and gather requirements and expectations 

• Hold final stakeholder alignment session 

Deliverables: Initial list of requirements. 

Week 3–4: Design 

Objective: Define solution design and address gaps. 

Key Activities:  

• Complete gap analysis 

• Design Impact Assessment process 

• Agree Impact Assessment Forum objectives 

• Design Change Impact Assessment solution 

Deliverables: Documented design and Impact Assessment collaterals 

Week 5–7: Build & Test 

Objective: Develop and validate the solution 

Key Activities:  

• Create Impact Assessment Forum terms of reference 

• Build the Impact Assessment tool using Microsoft Power Apps 

• Run initial test and gather feedback 

• Iterate and approve collaterals and solution 

Deliverables: Tested and approved solution 

Week 8: Launch (Support) 

Objective: Deploy solution and enable adoption. 

Key Activities:  

• Create key messages for launch communications 

• Develop “How-to” guide for the new solution 

Deliverables: Launch-ready solution and support materials.

A new impact assessment process was developed, supported by a new governance model, including an Impact Assessment Forum, and an Impact Assessment tool to identify the characteristics of the change and identify the relevant business areas to engage with. 

Project One value Add

Project One delivered significant value by aligning the initiative with the strategic objectives and the operational requirements of all key stakeholders, streamlining the process for greater efficiency, and enabling the technology solutions that improved automation and data visibility.