Central government department plans for workforce upskilling with a Microsoft 365 user adoption strategy

This large central government department has 5,000 staff, located in Whitehall.

Background

Following the implementation of Microsoft 365 by this central government department, a user adoption programme was defined as the most appropriate way to get the best from the technology investment.
The customer had an open-minded and flexible approach to how the project would be delivered

Solution

Work packages were defined to support specific strategic and tactical activities.
A benefits realisation package developed an understanding of what successful outcomes would be expected and how they could be tracked.
An adoption strategy package documented all the recommended functions, activities and elements required to ensure a successful adoption.
Several tactical pieces of work were completed to support the overall delivery, including a technical audit of the Microsoft 365 platform, a guest access review, and the creation of a process for managing platform changes.

Results

The department is very happy with the work we have completed to date.
If the department proceeds with the full implementation of our recommendations, the results will include:
- A userbase that is fully informed, engaged and making the best use of Microsoft 365.
- Improved productivity and application knowledge through training, and self-reliance supported by champion’s network and peer support.
- Verifiable progress tracking against expected benefits
- Best practice governance to ensure that the Microsoft 365 platform is managed, operated and used optimally.
- A reduction of operational and data risks.

Project Background

Following the implementation of Microsoft 365, this central government department decided that a user adoption programme would be beneficial to get the best from its technology investment and defined a G-Cloud RFI to select a partner.

With a dedicated user adoption team with the required skills, experience and change management accreditations, the department selected Silversands as its preferred partner.

The department’s requirements were structured around several key objectives, which included:

Defining a roadmap for Microsoft 365 adoption to maximise its benefits
Designing and delivering a change management strategy
Designing appropriate governance
Changing behaviour and driving adoption across the department
Agreeing the channels for the delivery of comms to promote user engagement
Building and managing a champions network
Establishing measures to monitor return on investment and user adoption progress
Defining a support model

Outside of these objectives, and in an unusually enlightened approach for such a large project like this, there was no defined scope of work at initiation. Since the department did not have a deep understanding of the activities and elements that would underpin the objectives, to its credit it took an open-minded and flexible approach to the delivery, trusting that we would use our skills and expertise to structure the project most appropriately.

To facilitate the smooth running of the project, we proposed creating individual work packages against each objective and defined the scope, activities and costs for each.

Background

A user adoption programme was defined to support a Microsoft 365 implementation
An open-minded and flexible approach was required

“We really enjoyed working with the Technology Service Solutions team here. While already very knowledgeable on the subject matter, they were open to new ideas and worked collaboratively with our consultants to define new ways of working and enhance existing operational processes to allow the business to react proactively to regular changes in the Microsoft 365 cloud platform.”

“This joint approach helped us to develop a comprehensive strategy to drive more successful Microsoft 365 adoption across the department by ensuring that each member of the workforce was guided and supported in how best to use the most relevant application and working practice to do their job function as effectively as possible.”

Colin Gray, Account Manager, Silversands

Solution

Once the general project approach was agreed upon, we mobilised our team of adoption and technical consultants. The project was primarily adoption-led but some technical activities also needed to be completed.

The first work package to be defined included a benefits realisation activity, to identify all the elements that would make the adoption programme a success, and a user adoption strategy, which would define all the functions, methods and capabilities that would form the overall adoption programme.

The adoption strategy was developed based on audits, which allowed us to understand the department’s readiness to implement a large adoption programme (covering communications, education, user support and the governance of users and applications).

Alongside these strategic discussions, tactical work packages would provide supplementary planning or configuration actions.

Benefits Realisation

For the benefits realisation objective, we wanted to map the available Microsoft technologies to the organisational strategy, identify what would be successful outcomes and give the department the ability to assess and measure the success of the entire adoption programme, identifying any necessary remedial actions. The key project activities that delivered this were:

Identification of strategic business objectives that Microsoft 365 could help the department achieve.
Interviewing staff to understand how they felt they and their teams could improve the way they work using Microsoft 365.
Creating a baseline assessment of the agreed success measures.

The outputs from this activity were a Benefits Measures workbook, which details the benefits that the organisation can expect to gain, and a Benefits Tracker, which gives the department a business dashboard. The dashboard can be updated yearly or following any large-scale adoption activity, which will allow them to demonstrate ongoing improvements and identify any areas requiring more attention.

Adoption Strategy

The second work package was constructed around the development of the overall adoption strategy.

This covered elements including the assessment of skills, adoption readiness, governance and outlining the activities that would best achieve the desired adoption outcomes. Key elements of this part of the project included:

Completing a skills survey to establish staff use of, and attitude towards, Microsoft 365.
Completing a readiness audit to understand and validate aspects of the department’s capabilities and operations, such as communications, learning, support and governance, which form the foundations of a successful adoption project.
Workshops to document any settings, policies and procedures that govern the use of their Microsoft 365 applications, understand any previous educational guidance and identify any risks associated with their current environment.

The outputs from these activities identified some previously unrecognised business risks that the department might need to mitigate with technical controls or business guidance and policies, and gave us further detailed information from which to develop the adoption strategy.

Finally, the focal point of the project, the adoption strategy was crafted. Based on the key principles of a user adoption approach, this identified the following key recommendations:

Creating an operational management group, to steer, promote and support the development of best practice management processes over Microsoft 365.
Establishing a champion network, to provide intra-team evangelising, support and guidance across the organisation.
Creating a central Microsoft 365 hub for learning, support, and communications on all things Microsoft 365.
Development of personas and scenarios to drive adoption through an understanding of how people work.
Planning and development of application and user group communications campaigns.
Devising learning and information campaigns around executive overviews, drop-ins, hackathons, and roadshows.
Developing a culture of self-learning and curiosity to encourage people to try non-familiar activities and features in conjunction with a peer-colleague community.

Tactical Adoption Activities

Alongside the strategic work packages, there were several tactical supporting elements, which included:

Writing an evaluation paper on Microsoft Learning Pathways and Viva Learning to inform a decision on the best tool(s) to support the adoption programme.
Implementation and configuration of the Microsoft Champion Management Platform, which provides tools to manage, encourage and track champion behaviour within Microsoft Teams.
A technical audit of the Microsoft 365 platform to inform other workstreams.
Completing a guest access review to advise on best practice processes for sharing content and managing guest access.
Creating a Message Centre review process to assess and review platform changes, so that advance usage decisions could be made, and users could be better informed.

Solution

Work packages were created for specific actvities
A benefits realisation package outlined successful outcomes and tracking methods
An adoption strategy package documented the functions, activities and elements for a successful adoption programme
Several tactical mini-projects supported the delivery

What did the client say?

“Breaking our objectives down into work packages was a beneficial approach for us. It meant that Silversands delivered high quality resources and reports at regular intervals, rather than in bulk at the end of the project. This allowed us to start implementing some new processes ourselves, but with the benefit of still having the experts from Silversands available for support.”

“With Silversands’ guidance and support we gained valuable insights into our organisation, and as a result, we are ready to start evidence-based projects that we feel confident will improve adoption and user experience.”

Michelle B, Digital Workplace Lead, HMG Department

Results

Due to commercial rules around this engagement, our consultancy delivery ended once the strategic planning and tactical activities described in this case study had been completed.

Since that time, there has also been a restructuring in this part of the government, which has put a hold on the next phase of the project.

In the meantime, the department is very pleased with the work that we have completed, which provides all the information and guidance that the department needs to build an effective adoption programme. The recommendations in the Adoption Strategy provided both a linear plan to approach the development and delivery of a single adoption programme, and also recognising budget and resource pressures, a list of activities that, if implemented in isolation, would improve the department’s overall approach to the adoption of Microsoft 365 tools.

If the department implements everything in our strategy, it will result in:

A business understanding of how Microsoft 365 can be adopted to support the delivery of strategic objectives.
Quantifiable measures aligned to business objectives, and tools to identify the success of adoption activities.
Staff who have access to the training and support which enables them to decide why and when to use the various tools within Microsoft 365 to support the way they and their teams work.
Improved productivity and application knowledge developed through training, champion’s network, and peer support.
Management and operational control over the support, use and development of the Microsoft 365 platform.
A reduction of operational and data risks.

“Silversands were excellent partners in this project. They were ready and able to assist with the wide variety of objectives we had, and they helped us identify key improvements in our IT environment. The project has been a success with their help.”

Alex W, Senior IT Change Manager, HMG Department

Strategy Recommendations

Mapping of Microsoft 365 adoption to business strategy
Quantifiable measures aligned to business objectives
Implementation of tools to identify adoption success
Training and support to help staff understand the why, when and how using Microsoft 365
Champion's network and peer support to improve knowledge and productivity
Management and operational control for the Microsoft 365 platform
Reduction of operational and data risks

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