The document discusses a federal cabinet-level department's customer relationship management initiative to improve customer interactions. An outside firm, Advanta Healthcare Partners, was brought in to strengthen the initiative's program office. Advanta developed an operational framework for the program management office that implemented new processes for performance reporting, budgeting, risk management, and more. This resulted in an integrated and fully functioning program office that successfully managed the initiative's planning and acquisition stages.

1. Strengthening
the
Program
Office
–
Federal
Cabinet-­‐Level
Customer
Relationship
Management
Initiative
Copyright
2013
Advanta
Healthcare
Partners
1
Strengthening
the
Program
Office
Federal
Cabinet
Level
Department
Customer
Relationship
Management
Initiative
The
customer
relationship
management
(CRM)
initiative
is
an
initiative
designed
to
improve
customer
interaction
with
the
government.
The
CRM
solution
allows
customers
to
interact
with
the
government
using
multiple
communications
channels,
reduces
the
need
for
paper,
and
provides
a
secure
and
simple
means
to
obtain
benefit
information.
It
is
a
large,
multi-­‐year,
cross-­‐disciplinary
initiative.
The
CRM
initiative
is
run
by
an
Administrative-­‐wide
solutions
team.
Its
customer
base
consists
of
millions
of
customers
who
expect
services
on
par
with
private
sector
consumer-­‐level
self-­‐service
technologies.
This
initiative
requires
coordination
across
multiple
stakeholder
groups;
geographically
and
functionally
dispersed
delivery
teams;
and
the
management
of
five
workstreams
and
more
than
23
projects.
The
Federal
cabinet-­‐level
department
turned
to
Advanta
Healthcare
Partners
(Advanta)
to
successfully
integrate
the
efforts
of
all
teams
involved
in
the
initiative,
to
improve
the
efficiency
of
the
initiative
and
ensure
its
success.
Advanta
developed
and
executed
an
operational
framework
for
the
Information
Technology
(IT)
Program
Office.
This
framework
included
new
management
processes
and
systems
for:
performance
reporting;
budget
and
financial
management;
executive
communications;
risk
and
issue
management;
change
management;
out-­‐year
planning;
governance;
and
program
maturity
efforts.
Working
jointly
with
the
government,
our
efforts
resulted
in
an
integrated,
fully
functioning
and
successful
IT
Program
Management
Office
(PMO).

2. Strengthening
the
Program
Office
–
Federal
Cabinet-­‐Level
Customer
Relationship
Management
Initiative
Copyright
2013
Advanta
Healthcare
Partners
2
The
Client’s
Challenges
The
primary
challenges
facing
the
initiative’s
team:
• The
client
had
defined
a
general
vision,
goals
and
objectives,
but
had
not
developed
a
plan
for
achieving
them.
• The
initiative’s
project
structure
did
not
include
clearly
defined
requirements
and
prioritized
capabilities.
• Many
existing
projects,
with
their
own
management
structures,
had
to
be
assimilated
into
a
fully
integrated,
centrally
managed
program.
• Communication
was
difficult
because
the
participants
(including
internal
implementers/managers,
business
stakeholders,
and
solution
teams)
were
numerous
and
geographically
disparate.
• Agenda
misalignment
between
the
IT
and
business
teams
resulted
in
disparate
priorities
and
ineffective
governance.
The
Advanta
Solution
Advanta
established
a
team
of
industry,
PMO,
and
functional
experts
to
design,
develop
and
execute
PMO
operations
for
the
CRM
IT
team.
We
started
by
evaluating
current
state
and
facilitating
interviews
to
identify
strengths,
weaknesses,
and
gaps.
We
coupled
our
commercial
and
federal
expertise
with
lessons
learned
through
years
of
experience
to
define,
design,
and
implement
an
operational
framework.
The
framework
leveraged
the
office’s
strengths,
minimized
the
weaknesses,
and
closed
the
gaps.
Our
team:
• Identified
executive
and
organizational
needs
• Assisted
the
client
in
identification
and
prioritization
of
business
requirements
• Defined
and
facilitated
an
approach
that
translated
the
vision
into
a
means
for
getting
things
done
• Created
a
roadmap
to
achieve
the
identified
capabilities
and
end-­‐state
solution
• Established
and
managed
processes
and
tools
that
improved
PMO
operations,
including
risk-­‐
and
issue-­‐management,
change
management,
and
performance
management
• Prepared
budgets,
established
financial
management
controls,
and
led
financial
reporting
• Designed,
developed,
and
implemented
a
fully
integrated
communications
plan
• Aligned
IT
and
business
goals,
objectives
and
priorities
through
joint
planning
and
governance
• Supported
continuous
process
improvement
activities
for
PMO
operations;
evolved
operational
framework
with
the
complexities
of
the
program
• Facilitated
the
executive
board,
project
teams,
and
PMO
meetings

3. Strengthening
the
Program
Office
–
Federal
Cabinet-­‐Level
Customer
Relationship
Management
Initiative
Copyright
2013
Advanta
Healthcare
Partners
3
The
Results
As
a
result
of
Advanta’s
services,
the
CRM
IT
Director
successfully
managed
the
program
throughout
the
planning
and
acquisition
stages
while
accomplishing
major
milestones.
Advanta’s
team
of
experts
transformed
an
incongruent
group
of
individual
projects
into
a
standardized
integrated
team,
enabling
the
program
to
meet
its
initial
objectives
and
goals.
Our
activities
resulted
in:
• A
fluid,
business-­‐IT
integrated,
and
functioning
governance
structure
which
resulted
in
timely
and
informed
decision-­‐making
• Streamlined
and
centralized
management
functions
that
aligned
business
needs
with
IT
solutions
and
governance
• More
accurate
and
timely
dissemination
of
information
and
response
to
informational
requests
from
stakeholders,
executive
leadership,
and
Congress
• Enhanced
prioritization
and
alignment
of
the
diverse
and
changing
needs
of
the
multiple
stakeholder
teams
• An
executable
plan
for
achieving
out-­‐year
priorities
• Improved
inter-­‐team
relationships
Contact
Information
Holly
Honeycutt
Vice
President,
Federal
Practice
hhoneycutt@advantapartners.com
704-­‐545-­‐7489