Background
The transformation delivery team is responsible for driving large-scale change initiatives designed to improve business processes, culture, technology and overall organisational performance.
Its PMO oversees and supports operational change, restructuring and process improvement, while also supporting teams responsible for areas such as risk, commissioning, innovation and partnerships.
With an increasingly broad portfolio of work, the team needed a consistent way to manage projects, bring information together and give senior leaders a clearer view of delivery.
Their Challenge before Verto
Before Verto, reporting relied on a complex combination of spreadsheets, Word documents and PowerPoint presentations.
A master Excel document was manually updated using inputs from numerous smaller files. This made the reporting cycle inefficient, time-consuming and heavily dependent on manual intervention.
At the same time, the project management function was still relatively new and included colleagues with varying levels of formal project management experience. The team therefore needed technology that could support more consistent project management practices while reducing the burden of manual reporting.
Another significant challenge was the lack of a centralised system for storing and tracking project information.
Without a single source of truth, reporting against KPIs was difficult and project information could be held across multiple locations and systems. Access to specialist project management software was also limited to certain roles, despite supporting colleagues carrying out much of the day-to-day project activity.
Senior leadership identified the need for a solution that could:
Ultimately, the ideal solution needed to consolidate all project data into one central platform, automate reporting, and establish consistent processes—particularly in project planning and risk management.
In summary, the team identified four core objectives for adopting Verto:
How they implemented Verto
The organisation adopted a phased approach to implementing Verto.
Initially, a small number of activities were moved into the platform, allowing users to familiarise themselves with the system before gradually expanding its use across a larger proportion of the portfolio.
This proved effective.
As users became comfortable with Verto, they began identifying other areas of their work that could be managed through the platform. More information and processes were gradually incorporated, including the team's benefits realisation framework.
This organic approach helped build internal buy-in and gave teams greater autonomy over how they used the platform.
Successful adoption within the original transformation function subsequently led to Verto being introduced to other teams elsewhere in the organisation, supporting a more unified approach to portfolio, programme and project management.
The impact they have felt
Verto has significantly changed how the organisation manages projects and reports on portfolio performance.
Because existing project management processes could be configured within Verto, the team was able to begin seeing benefits quickly.
Real-time visibility for leaders
One of the biggest improvements has been providing senior leaders with access to live project information through Power BI dashboards integrated with Verto.
Instead of relying on periodic, manually compiled reports, decision-makers can access current portfolio information and understand what is happening across projects.
Leaders also have visibility of forthcoming milestones, enabling them to intervene and plan earlier.
For example, if several projects require senior action the following month, this can be identified in advance, facilitating earlier conversations and reducing last-minute pressure.
Stronger decision tracking
Previously, individual projects maintained separate Excel-based decision logs, sometimes stored in different locations.
If a decision needed to be revisited several years later, locating the original information could be difficult, particularly if members of the project team had since left the organisation.
Verto's centralised decision log means project decisions are now stored in one accessible location, strengthening transparency, accountability and organisational memory.
Reporting reduced from four days to one
The impact on reporting has been significant.
A process that previously took around four days of manual effort can now be completed in one day.
Instead of spending much of the reporting cycle collating information across spreadsheets, documents and presentations, the PMO can spend more time supporting delivery and analysing what the information is telling them.
Routine project updates have also become considerably faster.
A staff survey found that updates within Verto take approximately 30 minutes per project, compared with a previous process involving multiple documents, PowerPoint updates and approvals that could take a day or more.
Projects delivered two months faster
Perhaps most significantly, improved portfolio visibility has contributed to better prioritisation and earlier intervention.
Previously, the team managed more than 20 projects each year, with an average duration of approximately 14 months.
Greater visibility of the portfolio, including escalated risks and issues, now enables senior management to prioritise more effectively and intervene earlier where required.
The portfolio has subsequently become smaller and more strategically focused, while projects are being completed around two months faster on average.
This has resulted in average staff cost savings of nearly £9,000 per project.
The results at a glance
- Nearly £9,000 average staff cost saving per project
- Average project duration reduced by two months
- PMO reporting reduced from four days to one
- Routine project updates reduced to approximately 30 minutes
- Real-time portfolio visibility for senior leadership
- Centralised project and decision information
- Earlier identification and escalation of risks and issues
- Greater consistency in project and portfolio management
Future plans
After more than five years of using Verto, the organisation continues to identify opportunities to expand and improve its approach.
Ultimately, what began as an initiative to reduce manual reporting has developed into something much broader: a consistent, centralised approach to managing change, with trusted information giving leaders greater visibility and teams more time to focus on delivery.
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