The subsidiary of a German industrial group (electrical engineering and plant construction) had failed to meet its targets in an internal audit. The Maturity in Project Management Level (MPM Level 3) required by the company management to improve the processes in project and risk management was not achieved.
Analysis of the risk management system reveals weaknesses
The main reasons for this were deviations in the process landscape, the training level of the employees and the documentation in the integrated risk management system of the projects examined. In a new attempt, the interim manager (then an employee of the group) was commissioned to change the processes so that MPM Level 3 was achieved.
The analysis of the risk management system in the subsidiary revealed many weaknesses. For example, the process landscape was not yet intranet-based. In addition, the processes were not fully described. There were no suitable interfaces to the risk management system for adjacent processes. The graduate engineer defined the necessary optimizations and ensured that the required resources were provided quickly.
High expenditure for training programme meets with resistance
The challenge in this project was not so much the technical implementation, but rather the transfer of the necessary knowledge during day-to-day business. There was resistance primarily due to the scope of the training measures.
In order to make the training programme as efficient as possible, the current interim manager had the management processes for the intranet visualized and linked. The processes were structured in a user-friendly way. All those involved in the risk management process were enabled to recognize their role and retrieve the necessary information.
Multi-stage seminar program qualifies target group
In addition, the project manager developed a multi-stage seminar program in which a total of 400 employees from all hierarchical levels took part. This effort and the resulting costs were initially questioned. However, the project manager was able to make it clear that only complete training with subsequent support in day-to-day business would enable the audit objectives to be achieved. In the end, the training sessions were held in small groups of 10 to 12 participants. The project manager prepared the risk management workshops specifically for 3 target groups: Executives, project managers of major projects as well as employees and project managers of small projects from sales, logistics, commercial staff, service, etc.
MPM audit successfully completed with level 3
After a project duration of one year, the MPM audit was successfully completed with the targeted level 3. The employees involved were not only able to provide theoretical information. They had also already implemented and documented the optimized risk management system in a large number of large and small projects. The company management was very satisfied. The managers also benefited, as MPM Level 3 was entered as a target for their annual bonus.
