Business Change Manager Tasks

Ensure that the all the members of the board have clear areas of responsibility defined.

At this point your role should be formalised and you and colleagues should have a clear definition of what is expected.

You may have responsibility for a number of areas, so ensure that this is clarified in a role description.

Confirm that you can deliver the vision and the business change defined in the brief in your operational area.

Ensure that the responsibilities for change are cascaded into the operations.

You need to be comfortable that it fits the needs of your business area, which may be or not be mentioned explicitly. It will be your job to deliver the end state that is being defined, if it is too unrealistic it is better to say it now. The Vision and brief should also provide you with enough contexts to enable you to develop the blueprint and the benefits. It has been known for people to mistake the vision for a blueprint.

As the business representative the SRO/Sponsor is going to need your support in presenting to the governance board to win their support.

It is essential that if there is stakeholder resistance to the project it is understood within the project team.  If there are active opponents, their reasons should be understood, addressed where possible but most of all, don’t come as a surprise.

Organise the benefits tracking mechanisms are in place

Your main area of concern is going to be focusing on how the momentum for change is going to be sustained when the new services are passed into the operational environment. Clear ownership for maintaining the benefits project will need to be allocated to operational areas, and ideally embedded in their objectives. Where new services or supply arrangements have been put into place, it is essential that there is a planned and structured handover of contracts and contract management arrangements to your business areas.

Formalise the sign off of outcomes and benefits at this point

Your main focus will be on taking on the management of new contracts and suppliers. Many of the benefits ownership will be transitioning to you and your delivery colleagues. A major inheritance from the programme should be better management information and performance monitoring tools. These need to be harnessed and built into longer term business improvement plans which have clear ownership.

Handover business change actions to appropriate groups for completion

This can be quite an extensive task taking many months to complete.

Depending on the programme, there may well be need for case studies to help with other programmes and if it is something that is wider interest it may be of interest to the organisations in the sector or industry.

Confirm that you can deliver this vision in your area

You need to be comfortable that it fits the needs of your business area, which may be or not be mentioned explicitly. It will be your job to deliver the end state that is being defined, if it is too unrealistic it is better to say it now. The Vision should also provide you with enough contexts to enable you to develop the blueprint and the benefits. It has been known for people to mistake the vision for a blueprint.

Ensure that the right business expertise is devoted to this work.

You will need to provide a lot of business performance and process information on how things work at the moment and the final Blueprint will be the design of how your business will operate in the future.

Undertake impact analysis of project changes to anticipated outcomes

You will need to do an impact analysis on the consequences of losing projects from your short term business requirements and needs. There will need sacrifices to be made and it may be good opportunity to draw a line in the sand around some ‘sacred cow’ projects in your business areas.

Undertake impact analysis of project changes to deliver anticipated outcomes.

You will need to do an impact analysis on the consequences of losing projects from your short term business requirements and needs.  Sacrifices will need to be made and it may be a good opportunity to draw a line in the sand around some ‘sacred cow’ projects in your business areas.

If the Tranches can be aligned with a strategic Business Plan, committing to leverage or avoid certain events, then this is the opportunity to do it. You need to look carefully at the benefits opportunities associated with these step changes.

Test that the preferred option is best for delivering your benefits.

You will be a key player in this, ensure you balance the needs of the programme with the needs of your business. You should be looking to keep your Sponsor informed of the progress and consult them as part of the appraisal process.

Liaise with your business area leads to confirm viability.

You are now signing up to begin the process of delivering the benefits and managing the change. You should ensure that you have had one to one reviews with the SRO and your Portfolio Board executive so they understand your private and public concerns.

Ensure that the project requirements will be adequate to achieve your benefits.

The projects need to be aligned to what you need to deliver in terms of benefits and transition, therefore it is essential that you are satisfied the Project Dossier is adequate for your needs.

Ensure that the governance arrangements support your objectives.

This is largely Programme Manager territory, but you must be comfortable your needs will be met by these arrangements. Your role is a key element of the governance arrangements and each strategy should define how you and your part of the business will contribute. Make sure you understand the role of the Change Team. 

Ensure that the benefits and business change plans are built into the Programme Plan.

It is critical that enough time is allowed for transition and that realistic benefit realisation timescales are in place.  Commitments made now will be expected to be kept once you move into delivery.

Review the programme blueprint to confirm the viability of the change and the plans to achieve it.

Do you have the resources to deliver the change and the support of your organisation? You need to check that the key decision makers appreciate the extent of the changes and support it.

Arrange for local business leaders to be involved in the programme launch.

You will now need to provide the resources to join the Change Team and support you in being effective, the plan must cover this. There may be a bigger focus on projects just at this moment, but you and the Change Team cannot afford to let the momentum of the launch leave you at odds with the programme.

Approve the requirements and ensure they deliver the capability for benefits.

You should be taking an active interest in the initiation of projects and signing off project design and delivery documents to ensure they meet your requirements. You should also be ensuring that you have reliable representation on the project boards and steering groups.

Track project changes for impact on the benefit release plans.

Ensure that change plans are in place and being managed by the Change Teams.

You should stay in close contact with the business representatives on the various project boards or steering groups to ensure you are maintaining your intelligence about what the operational issues are. You should also be actively preparing the business for the changes that the projects will be delivering for you.

Your key focus should be on preparing the organisation for change by ensuring effective stakeholder engagement, monitoring of the business stability and ensuring that the future state for the organisation is achievable and desirable. The Governance framework should be providing you with the information to enable your decision making and identify problems.

Test for opportunities to enhance benefits from alternative outcomes and operating models.

Provide input on the effectiveness of governance for the Business Change Team.

Arrange for local business leaders to be involved in the programme launch.

This will be your opportunity to flag up concerns you may have about the realism of the approach and in particular, any concerns you may have regarding the benefits and level of business change being planned. If the Blueprint is proving unachievable or the Benefits can't be delivered, now is the time to speak up.

From the business perspective, you should consider whether you have had enough influence of the direction and day to day decision making in the programme, if not, now is the time to look for changes.

You may need to reinforce the Change Team to enable it to support you in being effective - the plan must cover this.

Liaise with your business area leads to confirm viability to continue or close.

You are now signing up to deliver the operational changes and benefits for your part of the business for the next Tranche, re-establishing your Terms of Reference and commitment to yourself would be a reasonable request for you to make.