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The paper describes the results of an exploratory study of the application of programme management in six companies. A classification of programmes developed may help in understanding the differences between programmes and the managerial impact of these differences. The research shows that the formalised and rigorous approach as described in most programme management handbooks is not widely adopted. The cases show less centralisation, less formalisation and less management of the interdependencies between the projects in the programme than one would expect on the basis of the programme management literature. This is especially the case in programmes that originate as a grouping of a set of existing projects. Yet, formalisation is mentioned as the main success factor in managing programmes.

This paper aims to examine the notion of maturity assessment and maturity models more broadly and goes on to examine the findings from the assessments of project, programme and portfolio maturity undertaken across Australian Government agencies.

A statistical analysis was performed to determine the level of maturity that best represents the Australian Federal Government agencies as a whole. The unit of analysis in this study is the agencies overall scores in each sub-model across the seven perspectives of the portfolio, programme and project management maturity model (P3M3) maturity model.

This study has identified a number of interesting findings. First, the practices of project, programme and portfolio across the dataset practiced independently of each other. Second, benefits management and strategy alignment practices are generally poor across Australian Government agencies. Third, programme management practices are the most immature. Finally, the results showed a high sensitivity to the “generic attributes” of roles and responsibilities, experience, capability development, planning and estimating and scrutiny and review.

All data used in this analysis are secondary data collected from individual Australian Government agencies. The data were collected by accredited consultants following a common data collection method and using a standard template to ensure a consistent approach.

The study poses some implications for practice, particularly given the context of Australian Federal Government agencies current plans and action to improve organisational maturity. The study suggests that benefits management processes at the project level and benefits management, governance and stakeholder management processes at the programme level should be an area of focus for improvement.

This study is the first attempt to systematically review the data collected through such an assessment and in particular identify the findings and the implications at a whole of government level.

Standards are written by practitioners for practitioners. It is therefore logical that project managers should comply with project management standards. Benefits management is a domain within programme management. The focus of benefits management is to deliver benefits of initiatives beyond the closure of a normal programme or project. This is not the case with projects within the information systems (IS) discipline, implying that IS programme and project managers are not adhering to standards. The purpose of this paper is to determine whether the best practices associated with benefits management are applied to IS initiatives in order to maximise the benefits of these initiatives.

Senior and middle managers in South African organisations were interviewed to determine how benefits are managed within their various projects. The purpose of the interviews was to determine adherence to standards and especially benefits management and, second, to determine whether these organisations are achieving any benefits and ultimately value.

There is an overwhelming non-adherence to benefits management best practices within the IS discipline, and IS programme and project managers do not have the slightest idea how to perform benefits management. Irrespective of this, organisations do believe that they are receiving benefits and value from these IS projects.

The research was only done in South Africa with the specific focus of IS. The results are thus very specific and opens the door for more comprehensive research that focusses on various industries, countries and standards.

The results have several implications ranging from how standards are written to the professionalism of IS programmes and project managers. Organisations are not achieving the optimal benefits from investments. The fact that organisations do realise benefits from a broken process, implies that more benefits can be realised when the entire benefits realisation process is followed. Governance controls should also be put in place to ensure that programme and project managers are adhering to standards.

Standards are dominating the project management discipline and there is a general assumption that programme and project managers are adhering these standards. This research queries the value of standards as the results indicate that there is limited adherence to standards and best practices.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the management challenges related to the transition from the application phase to the delivery phase of the project of being a European Capital of Culture (ECoC).

Case study based on qualitative research interviews with the management team, combined with existing research on ECoC and documents on the Aarhus 2017 project.

The first main finding is that the challenges are caused by the way in which the transition from applicant to designated ECoC includes a change in management, shifting from a project to a programme structure and change in organisation. The second main finding is that stakeholder management in relation to politicians and cultural agents is challenged by a high level of ownership and expectation.

The study focuses on just one case and one phase of the project.

Consequences for the way ECoC are managed and the programme organised could be drawn from this.

The originality of the work is in that it studies this very critical phase in the project’s life-cycle in great detail, and focuses specifically on the management of ECoC.

Companies today face many conflicting priorities in remaining competitive. Some of the challenges include leading company staff in thinking bigger, operating in direct relationship to customers and stockholders’ needs, while staying flexible and adaptable to economic and market shifts. How does a facilities manager stay connected to the business strategy, manage more projects with less staff, and still provide responsive service, while the business environment the manager supports is changing rapidly? The manager may be faced with consolidating facilities owing to a merger or company restructuring. Consolidation presents several challenges that must be met. The manager must work with executives to align equipment deployment and facility use to merger goals and objectives. He/she must consolidate facilities management infrastructure into a cohesive unit from the different approaches of the original companies. This requires the ability simultaneously to coordinate the strategic, tactical and technical aspects of consolidation, while maintaining the seamless operation of the company. If it is a large operation, with facilities spread across a region, facilities management may have been distributed, with each location responsible for their own projects and maintenance. A major change effort such as consolidation requires a centralised facilities management structure that is tied directly into the strategy of the company. The answer for many companies in meeting these challenges is enterprise programme management (EPM). Enterprise programme management is a way of thinking, communicating and working, supported by an information system, that organises an enterprise’s resources in direct relationship to leadership’s vision, and the mission, strategy, goals and objectives that move the organisation forward. Simply put, EPM provides a 360‐degree view of an organisation’s collective efforts.

This chapter describes and explores the relationship between formal and semi-formal systems of programme and project management and broader strategic programmes and leadership approaches in the academic and research library context.

The leadership perspective of this chapter allows assessment of the contribution of programme and project management techniques to the strategic development of the library. A case study approach is taken, and the methods used for programme and project management arise mainly from the UK’s Office of Government Commerce.

The chapter provides insight into how a variety of practical project management techniques can be bound together within strategic programmes, together with appropriate governance structures for monitoring and judging successful outcomes.

The chapter describes the application of programme and project methods in two research libraries, but the techniques used have been used widely in many organizational settings and so should be transferable to other research library contexts.

The cases in the chapter reveal the social world of the academic and research library, illuminating the real-life experience of project work within the library and its broader institutional context.

The chapter presents an original typology for differentiating projects in the research library. The chapter is unique both in describing 30 years of continuous application and development of programme and project methodologies and frameworks, and also in its leadership perspective.

States that experiential learning, action learning and action research have long been recognized as among the most effective means of acquiring professional education and training. Few tertiary programmes, however, choose to give attention to such “learning by doing”, giving emphasis instead to traditional lecturing and information gathering (highly analytical) approaches. One programme which takes a strong experiential learning approach is the postgraduate project management course conducted at the Queensland University of Technology. The project management course recognizes and aims to develop the technical, financial and legal knowledge and skills, and the specialist people knowledge and practical process skills required to practise effectively as a project manager. Shared expertise comes from the host School of Construction Management and from the School of Social Science. Describes the course and indicates a balance given in training to the academic analytical requirements and to the use of experiential learning and self‐development exercises. These include indoor exercises aimed at developing knowledge of options, the use of questionnaires and the use of outdoor exercises at off‐campus camps aimed at developing self‐ and other‐awareness. Roughly 40 per cent of the course is taught through a mix of experiential and lecturing presentation; the remaining 60 per cent is more traditional in the teaching of the legal and other technical and financial requirements. Discusses the success of the experiential approach for teaching the people side of project management.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the applicability and utility of supply chain (SC) segmentation through demand profiling to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of infrastructure projects by identifying different types of project demand profiles.

A three-stage abductive research design was adopted. Stage 1 explored the applicability of SC segmentation, through demand profiling, to the portfolio of infrastructure projects in a utility company. Stage 2 was an iterative process of “theory matching”, to the portfolio, programme and project management literature. In stage 3, theoretical saturation was reached and “theory suggestions” were made through four propositions.

Four propositions outline how SC segmentation through project demand profiling could improve the effectiveness and efficiency of infrastructure projects. P1: the ability to recognise the different demand profiles of individual projects, and groups thereof, is a portfolio management necessity. P2: projects that contribute to the strategic upgrade of a capital asset should be considered a potential programme of inter-related repeatable projects whose delivery would benefit from economies of repetition. P3: the greater the ability to identify different demand profiles of individual/groups of projects, the greater the delivery efficiency. P4: economies of repetition developed through efficient delivery of programmes of repeatable projects can foster greater efficiency in the delivery of innovative projects through economies of recombination.

This work fills a gap in the portfolio management literature, suggesting that the initial screening, selection and prioritisation of project proposals should be expanded to recognise not only the project type, but also each project’s demand profile.

The purpose of this paper is to develop and test an extension of a previously conceived framework for improving and embedding project management (PM) practice in organisations. The framework identifies the most useful project management improvement initiatives (PMIIs) and the key factors for embedding PM practice. However, professionals need guidance on how to operationalise such framework in their organisations, therefore a method for applying the framework is developed.

The method being proposed for applying the framework is demonstrated and tested with a large University–Industry consortium case study. During the case study analysis three research methods were applied: participant observation, document analysis and focus groups.

In what concerns both the PMIIs and key embedding factors in the framework, the proposed method comprises their acknowledgement, scoring, relevance analysis, selection and planning. The detailed report on how the framework was applied in the particular case study also sheds light on how University–Industry consortiums can make use of PM to become more successful.

The research was performed using only one case study which limits the generalisability of its findings.

Detailed guidance is provided for applying the framework’s both constructs, “improving” and “embedding”, through a set of clear steps.

The paper shows the explanatory power of the framework for improving and embedding PM practice in a case study, demonstrating that the method for its application is practical and suitable.

Presents a case study of managing risk in an IS/IT programme. Introduces the National Strategy for Police Information Systems for England and Wales. Outlines a framework for managing risk. Discusses the nature of risk and risk perception from a behavioural science perspective and introduces the theory of cultural complexity. Describes the management of risk processes adopted for the programme and the products to which these gave rise. Details the key areas of risk identified . Discusses the implications for the programme’s projects. Concludes the process has been worthwhile and that the case may interest other programme and project managers.