AGILEASSURANCESERVICES

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PM Solutions Australia is a strongly independent and progressive, professional services and project solutions company, providing consultancy services to clients and partners within government, the not-for-profit and private sectors throughout Australia, New Zealand and the Asia Pacific. We are dedicated helping our clients plan, deliver and assure their portfolios of projects, whilst improving their future business performance.

Our fresh approach to end-to-end planning, delivery and assurance, has established our reputation as an organisation of integrity, honesty and professionalism, who deliver quality services on a consistent basis. We develop and put strategies into action, delivering sustainable and positive change, whilst ensuring operational sustainability and improvement through project, program and portfolio delivery, which is sustained through accredited assurance services.

Our team of professional consultants, pride themselves on being able to deliver true value-for-money services and solutions, which are implemented on time and to the highest quality expectations. Our commitment to our customers continues well beyond final delivery of programs and their projects, and we support our customer's business visions through valuing hard earned relationships and taking an enthusiastic interest in opportunities where we can deliver sustainable, beneficial and positive business change.

Through ingenuity, experience, commitment, skill and hard work, we continue to deliver sustainable solutions and services to many businesses, and by listening to our customers, we have enabled them to deliver positive change and realisebusiness benefits.

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ESOur assurance team delivers an independent review service, which assist in the overall quality of project portfolios. Our independent assurance, ensure that our client's programs and projects are meeting business expectations in time, cost and quality and are within agreed tolerances.

Our assurance services deliver an accurate, constructive, balanced and unbiased assessment of the project status, potential risks and the likelihood of programs and projects delivering the expected benefits. We also identify immediate issues which may require prompt solutions or attention.

Our assurance services provide strategic benefits, by working with business owners, program and project managers and delivery teams through delivering:

q Reviews aligned with the global standard Gateway™, Agile and P3O™ processes and methods

q Evaluation of skills and experience required for successfully delivery

q Transparent view of the project status and the issues and risks to executives, sponsors and stakeholders

q Assurance that a project is able to progress to the next stage of development or implementation

q Validation of time and cost targets, as well as scope validation for programs and projects that are realistic and achievable

q Transfer of knowledge and skills to internal resources, through participation in the review process

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Whilst working in an agile way incorporates a level of quality into development iterations, agile delivery teams should also plan for additional, independent assurance. This is particularly important if the agile delivery is an integral part of a wider change programs or as an enabler to a project.

Independent assurance reviewers who are not directly involved in the day-to-day delivery of an agile project, are commonly able to identify things that people in the delivery team are less likely to see, whilst also contributing their valuable experience from similar initiatives, through the review process.

Our agile assurance service is aligned to the UK Cabinet Office Agile Assurance process, designed for digital services and is delivered by highly experienced agile professionals, who have hands-on experience, working within dynamic agile environments and are commonly highly experienced in Agile project delivery, Scrum Masters or PRINCE2™ Agile certified. Our agile assurance compliments and forms part of holistic assurance for digitally enabled projects.

The agile assurance review process is designed to complement the agile delivery methods, within any organisation. It is a short, sharp review that understands that typical project documentation may not be in use for the management of the agile delivery elements of a project. The review team commonly observes team activities, such as stand-ups and sprint reviews, in addition to reviewing artefacts, some of which may be web-based documentation that may include epics, stories, kanban walls, product backlogs and sprint plans.

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REVIEW

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During the Alpha phase, products will be developed further and at the end of the phase a formal decision is required before moving to Beta (development build). Review 1 is undertaken at this point, which will provide assurance across:

§ Prioritisation of user needs and how this is being used to drive development;

§ Availability of skills required to progress developments to minimum viable products

§ Empowerment of agile teams to ‘get on and deliver’

§ Strength of relationships and collaborative working across teams and suppliers

§ Understanding and commitment of the organisation and stakeholders to work in an agile way

§ Consideration of any legacy integration issues or other significant interfaces and dependencies

§ Speed of delivery and how this is being used to inform future plans

§ Readiness of end users for the transition to the new service

§ Updating of the business case based on learning from the Alpha phase.

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During initial Beta phase it is likely that there will be many product releases, into an internal (non-public facing) environment. During this phase and subsequent review, particular attention is given to understanding the criteria and trigger at which the project moves from Private Beta to Public Beta.

This review provides assurance across the following areas:§ Continued prioritisation of development on delivering Minimum

Viable Products and prioritised user needs

§ Understanding of non-functional, integration and operational readiness requirements and plans to test them

§ Speed of delivery and how this is being used to inform future plans

§ Effectiveness of the organisation and stakeholders working in an agile way

§ Readiness of end users for the transition to new services

§ Plans to manage and measure channel shift

§ Control of budget and business case

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During final Beta phase, there is one or more product releases, into a public or user environment. During this final review, the review team will review the same elements as during the Beta private phase (Review 2.), however they will also pay close attention to:

§ Readiness of end users for the transition to new services

§ Plans to manage and measure channel shift

§ Control of budget and business case

§ Handover activities to product owner via the project or program

§ Consideration of forward planning for future releases/ upgrades or enhancements

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N Delivery of agile projects and their products, are often part of a wider transformation of the business involving organisational, operational, commercial, and infrastructure changes. As such, it is possible that multiple agile work streams will sit alongside other projects and business changes within a coherent program designed to meet a business need. The PM Solutions Australia agile assurance, works seamlessly with the Gateway™ Review process, across programs and their projects.

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Having the right resources for agile assurance delivery is not only essential, we think it is critical – it’s something that we take very seriously.

Unlike general assurance reviews, agile assurance requires a specific skill set, that’s why all PM Solutions Australia agile assurance reviewers have a minimum of 10-years’ experience and are highly experienced agile professionals, who have hands-on experience, working within dynamic agile environments. They have commonly led Agile project delivery, are Scrum Masters or PRINCE2™ Agile certified.

Our agile assurance complements and forms part of holistic assurance for digitally enabled projects. Our seasoned and independent agile professionals provide ongoing and measurable benefits to our clients and their projects, which include:

§ providing extra confidence to the SRO (and in turn the delivery team and people who govern the project) that they have a clear understanding of progress

§ identifying improvements that could increase the chances of successful delivery and

§ looking at delivery and behaviors across multiple teams and assess how effective it is

www.pmsolutionsaustralia.com.au

CONTACT US

We love to hear about your agile assurance needs. So get in touch with us if you have any queries and our agile assurance specialists will be happy to assist.

Head Office Suite 14 |192 Ann StreetBrisbane | QueenslandAustralia 4000+61 7 3041 4014 assurance@pmsolutionsaustralia.com.au

Sydney Office Level 5 | 95 Pitt StreetSydney | New South WalesAustralia 2000+61 7 3041 4014 assurance@pmsolutionsaustralia.com.au

New Zealand Office Camp StreetQueenstown | South Island New Zealand 9300 admin@pmsolutionsnz.co.nz

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