Mobilising

Summary

MOBILISING describes the activities and challenges which build on the early activities within JUSTIFYING to commence the transformation programme. Activities in this state include developing a more detailed programme of work, building the transformation team and engaging with key stakeholder groups.

Transformation programmes encompass a series of complex actions involving large and diverse groups of stakeholders over extended periods of time (e.g. 5-10 years for many national public Sector led programmes). In addition to the ‘technical’ challenges to overcome (e.g. data formats and classification, software systems and interoperability etc.), it is critical to consider the importance of public sector leadership and change management to the success of the programme. Commonly this will include a combination of engagement, encouragement, inclusion and influence to build agreement on the scope, activities, deliverables, and outcomes to be achieved by the programme and the role of each stakeholder group in achieving those aims.

The Global BIM Network Information Collection contains summaries and links to many examples of the outputs from MOBILISING, which were prepared by different countries, states and organisations from across the world.

See all resources in the Information Collection related to MOBILISING

Overview of the common considerations and outputs covered in this section.

Mobilising from the perspective of the network personas

Why is Mobilising important?

MOBILISING ensures that the transformation programme is set-up for success by answering:

Who?	The team who will be responsible for delivering the change, key stakeholders to the programme, and beneficiaries of the change.   The stakeholders who might influence or be impacted by the change.
What?	Outputs that the programme will develop to meet identified goals.   Principles for the new ways of working to define the future state of the sector.
When?	A timeline of key activities to be actioned, and the overall programme milestones in a time-based plan.
Why	A rationale for why this change is needed now, and what the benefits are which will be achieved.
How?	A delivery model for the programme, including a governance model for effective management.

Common Considerations:

Building the core transformation team

The core team often have defined roles aligned with the major lines of action of the programme. The team will likely evolve, expand and contract throughout the programme lifecycle. A key part of building the core transformation team is to identify the necessary skills to deliver various parts of the programme and ensure that the team is comprised to deliver the skills, expertise and experience needed to achieve the programme outcomes.

Teams may change over time due to the programme’s varying skills requirements, or potentially, due to other external factors which may necessitate a change to the core team composition. Setting programme governance and establishing processes to ensure that knowledge is retained within the programme is an important consideration to maintain momentum in the face of unexpected changes.

Clearly defining and organising the work

Digital Transformation Programmes can be complex and run over multiple years. So,

it is important to have clearly defined lines of action.

An example of a structure for organising the programme of work is the ‘Strategic Framework for Public Sector BIM Programmes’ described within section 2.6.1 of the Handbook for the introduction of Building Information Modelling by the European Public Sector published by the EU BIM Task Group in 2017, which describe lines of action around four strategic areas:

1. Public Leadership
2. Communications and Communities
3. Collaborative Framework
4. Capability and Capacity Development

Strategic Framework for public sector BIM programmes. EU BIM Task Group, 2017

Creating a structure for the lines of action provides a consistent method of organising the outputs from MOBILISING (and later stages of the transformation programme), including:

• Defining core team skills requirements, roles & responsibilities
• Identifying the nature and profile of potential stakeholders
• Simplifying communications
• Structuring the roadmap
• Detailing the workplan

It is likely that the level of detail in the workplan for short-term activities will be higher than in later stages of the programme as there is more certainty and definition for the immediate next steps. It is common for this planning to incorporate clear and achievable short-term deliverables to build momentum and demonstrate early progress.

Implementing appropriate management and governance

Putting in place activities to set the programme up for success, including governance, programme management and change management.

Identifying and engaging with stakeholders

This includes activities such as defining stakeholder groups, understanding their expertise and priorities, clarifying their role in the change, and commencing engagement.

Stakeholder groups include those who benefit from, sponsor, champion, define, support and/or adopt the transformation. This might include representatives from the public sector, private sector and academia.

1. Change Mangement – Building commitment and support for the transformation through clear communications, understanding how the change affects and benefits different groups and involving them in the development and implementation of the change to create a sense of ownership. These stakeholders will also be invaluable in extending the reach of direct programme communications by sharing core programme messages through their communities, networks and audiences.
2. Expertise – Some stakeholder groups may have valuable expertise in relation to digital transformation, which could supplement and build the capacity of the core delivery team. These experts might be recruited into the core team or provide additional voluntary support.

Planning communications and preparing initial communications outputs

Communications activities during MOBILISING might include:

• Preparing a communications plan
• Devising clear and simple messaging which adapt the complex ideas of the transformation programme into a clear and compelling vision for change and call to action
• Establishing channels to deliver communications, such as a programme website, social media presence and stakeholder engagement events

Common outputs at this stage:

Transformation Strategy
(see examples in the Information Collection)

A common output from MOBILISING is a transformation strategy. The scope of strategy documents can vary significantly and will often collect some (or all) of the outputs listed below into a single document. The strategy document will usually provide context to the transformation programme and explain the value and benefits it aims to achieve as a summary of the JUSTIFYING state. Included in this context will also be an assessment or summary of the current state, which defines the problem being solved by the transformation.

Roadmap
(see examples in the Information Collection)

While vision-setting strategies might be developed as part of JUSTIFYING, outputs from MOBILISING are likely to be more action and schedule oriented. This might build on the rationale and desired outcomes defined earlier, with details of objectives, priorities, dependencies, and timelines, which can support communications, stakeholder engagement, governance and change management.

Detailed Workplan & Schedule
(see examples in the Information Collection)

Typically, these outputs consist of internal working documents so it can be difficult to find published examples.

Programme Website
(see examples in the Information Collection)

A platform for communications regarding the transformation which might include information regarding the programme, sections aligned to the programme lines of action, published programme outputs and calls to action.

Strategic Lever
(see examples in the Information Collection)

The Strategic Lever is the way that the adoption of the transformation is formalised. This typically enables changes to public procurement to incorporate digital requirements in a consistent way and encourage wider digital transformation across the sector.

The tone and strength of the method to formalise digital transformation varies from programme to programme and often varies over time within a single, long-term transformation process. This might vary from removing barriers and allowing digital working practices through to requiring the use of digital for specific sectors / project types. (This is shown across the top of Table 2 below)

The method for publishing the strategic lever also varies from programme to programme (as shown to the left of Table 2 below) for example:

• Vision statement in a strategy or programme.
• Statement of intent or call to action within a sector policy document.
• A rule defined by an authority for example directives, decisions, regulations, or legislation.

Examples of specific types of strategic levers

Case Study Examples

Office of Projects, Victoria Australia

Strategy – Victorian Digital Asset Strategy (VDAS)

The Office of Projects Victoria (OPV) was established in September 2016 within the Department of Treasury and Finance. They were set up to support the successful delivery of major infrastructure projects in Victoria. Their purpose is to improve efficiency in project delivery to maximise value for all Victorians. The aim to achieve this is by providing unique insights, practical tools and support to improve Victoria’s major infrastructure project delivery and efficiency. As part of this, to support the aim, the OPV has developed the Digital Asset Strategy. It supports project delivery efficiency with real cost, safety and risk reduction benefits.

OPV is delivering the ‘Digital Build’, to make Victoria the digital innovation state and continue delivering the nation’s best infrastructure pipeline.

Digital Asset Strategy

The Digital Asset Policy is founded on the Victorian Digital Asset Strategy released in March 2020 and supports the Government in delivering unprecedented levels of new infrastructure by uplifting the capability of Victorian Departments and Agencies. The video in this link explains this in more detail:https://vimeo.com/376068636

Vision

The Office of Projects Victoria set a strategy for the BIM transformation programme including a vision of what the programme is to achieve. This helps to communicate the change to industry.

The Digital Build Program

The OPV Digital Build program is funded to drive the whole of government transformations. It’s been a road of refinement, improvement and delivery over the last two years since the release of the Victorian Digital Asset Strategy in March 2020. Since the release of the Digital Asset Strategy, the plan has progressed to creating the Digital Build Program to build a smarter major projects pipeline and deliver better outcomes for Victorians through better information management. An important milestone in the program is when the Treasurer launched the Whole-of-Victorian-Government Digital Asset Policy in September 2022 which set the minimum requirements for digital processes and information management across the whole project lifecycle.

The Digital Build Program Workstreams

The Digital Build Program has four key pillars – Policy, Legal and commercial, Capability and Proven value. These are the workstreams which OPV will use to make change happen and help drive the adoption of better digital information management.

They have set out the policy so people understand how it can be applied, providing the legal and commercial operating space, providing them with the know-how and also proving the value of the activities.