Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council

Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council (MTCBC) engaged CMC Partnership to provide project and change management consultancy services as it embarked on a “high paced” major transformation programme to become a fully e-enabled and modernised procurement organisation.

The core project centered on the migration of the authority from outdated, inefficient, paper-laden manual purchasing processes to a new e-purchasing system, linked to the Welsh Government’s xchangewales eTrading marketplace.

The step-change to new technologies enabled authorised purchasers across MTCBC to specify their requirements, view and select goods and services from online catalogues, authorise and send orders, sign-off order fulfillment, receive invoices and make payments, all within a paperless integrated electronic environment that efficiently connects buyers with their chosen suppliers. The project’s key goal was to achieve delivery within a highly challenging nine-month timeframe.

CMC kicked off their engagement with MTCBC by delivering a readiness for change project healthcheck, using Prosci® Change Management methodology to assess the organisation and its employees' readiness for change. The resultant gap analysis provided vital insights into the barriers that the project team and their project sponsor faced in mobilising the project. This work was a key foundation for realistic and focused decision-making, enabling the definition of a project team structure and approach that would best secure project goals.

CMC has further assisted MTCBC by adding key programme and project consultancy skills to the project team while providing Prosci® Practitioner Change Management training to selected internal staff. These actions have instilled good change management practice within the project team and their project sponsor. Supported by CMC these new Prosci® Practitioners have created a project specific change management strategy, sponsor road map and communications plan in tandem with the development of the business case and project plans. This helped to ensure that any resistance to change was successfully managed, people affected by the change were appropriately supported and the business benefits targeted by the organisation were fully realised. More information about CMC's work with the Council can be found HERE.