The interim manager was commissioned by a large investment company in the German-speaking region to set up customer reporting across all product segments as an independent IT demand line. The company invests large sums of money for its customers. And each customer requires - sometimes very different - reports. The investment company's account managers therefore confronted their IT with a large number of often small-scale requirements. In order to gain a better overview of the requirements and process the tasks in a structured and efficient manner, the interim manager was tasked with setting up the corresponding IT demand line. To this end, he took on the role of a temporary IT Business Relationship Manager (BRM).
Developing a concept for the new demand line in customer reporting
The interim manager first developed a concept for the new demand line in customer reporting. In his technical concept, he described the necessary aspects for successful cooperation between the specialist department and IT. He also specified the implementation using agile methods and set up IT-side release planning.
When validating the IT demands addressed by the business in the area of customer reporting, the interim manager identified dependencies and redundancies. He also estimated the required IT resources at an early stage and assigned the requirements processing to the relevant IT delivery units. In close coordination with the IT delivery units, he also ensured that the respective delivery was carried out within budget, on time and in terms of quality.
Operative activity as SCRUM master in a larger sub-project
In most cases, the customer reporting requirements involved smaller projects with an IT effort of 3 to 5 days. The interim manager did not take on any operational activities in these projects. In one larger and critical reporting project, however, he was also involved in operations. Here, the interim manager introduced an agile collaboration model and took on the role of SCRUM master.
Developing a medium to long-term assessment of resource requirements
The interim manager was also responsible for creating a medium to long-term assessment of resource requirements for expected future demands and coordinating the provision of the relevant resources with the IT delivery units. In the event of foreseeable resource bottlenecks, the interim manager negotiated the procurement options with the IT delivery units and IT portfolio management.
IT-side release planning for agile development of a standard solution
Together with the managers of the IT delivery units, the interim manager designed IT-side release planning. The aim was to use agile methods to proactively develop a standard solution that already covered the majority of recurring reporting customer requirements.
Contact person and IT input channel for the Business Demand Manager
The interim manager acted as the central contact person and IT input channel for the specialist Business Demand Manager Customer Reporting. In order to improve collaboration between the individual project participants and teams, he introduced regular jour fixes between BDM and BRM. The interim manager was also a member of the IT requirements committee, which was responsible for the company-wide prioritization of IT requests, among other things.
Expectation management and escalation instance
At the same time, the interim manager continuously managed expectations with all stakeholders. In particular, he was tasked with acting as an escalation authority for the specialist clients.
