Enhancing project management efficiency for a large U.S. county

Client background

This county is one of the largest in the United States with more than 950,000 residents, including a mixture of metropolitan, suburban and rural living.

Supporting the county’s operations is an information management division dedicated to managing, overseeing and developing effective information and technology services. This division is committed to identifying and implementing high-quality, innovative and transformative IT solutions that enhance government performance, efficiency and transparency across all levels and in over 40 departments countrywide.

The business challenge

The county conducted a comprehensive strategic assessment by interviewing and surveying leadership across different departments. This process led to the prioritization of numerous multi-year initiatives as part of a road map and supported by $10 million in federal funds from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). In addition to technology optimizations and upgrades, several opportunities were identified to enhance process-related efforts.

As the county’s digital transformation program was set to launch, there was a need for additional capacity and project management experience to review and strengthen their project management office (PMO) capabilities.

Strategy and solution

An in-depth assessment of the county’s PMO capabilities was conducted, which included a thorough review of the project delivery methodologies, tools and processes. This assessment resulted in a detailed report with recommendations to enhance the maturity of the PMO. Baker Tilly then tracked and coordinated the implementation of county-approved recommendations, supporting the PMO in monitoring progress across the digital transformation portfolio.

Key accomplishments included:

• The majority of the recommended project management process and tool enhancements were adopted by the county’s PMO and integrated into SmartSheet, improving efficiency and adoption among the project management staff.
• Project managers received training on updated roles and responsibilities to support the enhanced digital transformation program reporting processes.

The PMO enhancements ultimately improved the county's reporting accuracy and enabled quicker visibly to project metrics. This includes the overall project status with milestone reporting progress, project risk areas, organizational readiness activities, budget reporting metrics and resourcing plans. Due to the success and widespread adoption of these enhancements, these processes and tools are now being leveraged in the county PMO to support other project portfolios as well.