Closure Report
Project Summary
The project was raised to address the current ECA induction process which is ad-hoc with recruiting managers needing to generate induction plans and source material for their particular area for each new recruit. There is no consistency in how inductions are conducted across the school and no guidance on which resources new starts should be directed to for their role.
The project was timeboxed with an agreed amount of effort being made available to assist with improving the induction process.
After an initial review with the project sponsor it was agreed that there were a couple of threads that could be addressed. The first of these was to look at the ECA specific induction content present on the ECA intranet. Workshops were held with a cross section of individuals who had recently undergone induction as either new employees to ECA or individuals who had recently taken up a new role within the ECA. The workshops focussed on the induction experience and online induction content with an objective to identify both positive and negative experiences. In doing so a record of content both present and absent was generated. With regards the absent content a level of priority was assigned with regards its value to inductees.
The second course of action was the creation of a scoping report to review the present ECA intranet induction experience and identify where improvements could be made. The outcomes from the content workshops discussions were held with the ECA web editor and CAHSS Digital Innovation team to identify present best practices and areas for improvement within the ECA web site. The outcome of these discussions was a scoping report which identified a number of areas within the ECA online induction experience which could be improved along with the actions which could be undertaken.
A review of the actions identified in the scoping report was undertaken to identify any short term tasks that could be addressed in the agreed project timescales. One of the priority tasks proposed was the creation of induction checklists. Checklists could be generated based on role and/or time period. A role checklist would be for a new recruit to the ECA or for an individual taking up a new position. A time based checklist would be to identify tasks or actions to be carried out over the first couple of weeks, the first 3 month or the first year depending upon what was appropriate. In conjunction with the ECA project team a Pre-Start and initial Manager and Employee checklists were generated and approved.
Analysis of Resource Usage:
Staff Usage Estimate: 25 days
Staff Usage Actual: 25 days
Other Resource Estimate: £0
Other Resource Actual: £0
Other Resource Variance:
Outcome
The objectives and deliverables for the project as identified in the project brief were all achieved to the satisfaction of the project sponsor and programme owner.
Objectives and Deliverables
|
O1 |
To understand the present induction process and identify elements of strength and weakness |
Priority |
Outcome |
| D1.1 | Working with ECA staff identify and record induction material. Inventory should include existing induction content as well as content that would be desired but is not available. | MUST | Completed |
| O2 | To evaluate the options available that could deliver an improved integrated induction process across the ECA and produce scoping report | ||
|
D2.1 |
Scoping report to contain a set of improvements that can be undertaken to improve the induction process. These will include initial improvements that can be undertaken within the timescales of the project as well as longer term actions to continuously improve and manage the ECA induction process. |
MUST |
Completed |
|
O3 |
To manage the implementation of the improvements to the induction experience across the ECA and the ongoing BAU process |
|
|
|
D3.1 |
Scoping plan that provides a design for the implementation of the issues addressed in the scoping report and provides a framework for the transition to BAU and the ongoing management of these actions within the ECA induction process. |
MUST |
Partially completed |
With limited resource available to the ECA to address the tasks identified in the scoping study it was agreed that rather than produce a plan (D3.1 above) which could not be adhered to, the scoping report was expanded to include recommendations to the approach and management of the tasks included in the report. As a result each task could be addressed individually as and when the opportunity arose rather than as part of a scheduled plan.
Explanation for variance
The project was timeboxed based on the effort assigned to the project by the programme owner. As a result variance was minimal.
Key Learning Points
Uncertainty from the project sponsor regrading their expectations meant that the initial induction, scoping review and workshop phase took longer than desired. This meant that the actual effort remaining to focus on project deliverables was limited. In hindsight being more assertive with the project sponsor with regards initial expectation and requirements might have helped progress the project.
Outstanding Issues
None