In July of 2006 Norwich Union acquire the Cambridge-based Lifetime Group. Lifetime is an innovative provider of investments, packaged in tax-efficient wrappers. Its online systems allow customers and Financial Advisers to manage diverse asset Portfolios. Following a review Norwich Union decide that substantial cost savings are to be achieved from integrating Lifetime’s Business Operations and IT infrastructure into Norwich Union. In October 2006 a project is set-up to deliver an ambitious brief.

The following case study presents in outline a project conducted in 2007 for Norwich Union. Note that all the details set out below are now fully in the public domain.

The Cambridge-based premises of Lifetime are to be closed by July 2007. All of its Business Operations, including Call Centre, Client Administration, HR will be relocated to York - around 250 business staff - whilst its entire IT department and infrastructure will move to Norwich – around 200 staff. At the same time, Norwich Union also want to improve the business continuity provision for Lifetime and will establish a new disaster recovery centre in Wakefield. The planned integration will yield efficiency savings of around £3Million per annum. The project has a £6M budget.

October 2006 - Actionwide Consulting are brought on-board to deliver the project.

We identify a number of challenges to address and bring under control:

1. Logistical: much of the supporting systems infrastructure (servers and comms) is actually located on-site at the Cambridge premises. This will need to be moved without disrupting BAU activities.
2. Time: the project is time-constrained by the agreed surrender of the lease on the Cambridge premises due in July 2007. Any extension to the lease would reduce the financial benefits detailed in the business case.
3. People: staff in Cambridge have largely chosen not to relocate to York or Norwich preferring instead to seek alternative employment in the vibrant local economy in proximity of the capital. An entirely new team of Operations and IT staff will need to undergo knowledge acquisition training.
4. Technical: Lifetime and Norwich Union operate different desktop platforms which will require extensive analysis before integration is envisaged.
5. Geographical: the project stakeholders and participants are distributed in three locations: Cambridge, York, and Norwich. Suppliers are also geographically dispersed.

With less than 8 months to deliver the entire project, Actionwide sets out to produce detailed delivery plans for each of the work-streams. Actionwide also marshals the dozen or so key suppliers into an effective working group driven by weekly planning and review sessions. The key supplier team is composed of a cross-functional group of telecoms providers, cabling specialists, logistical operators, hardware suppliers, electricians, data-centre specialists etc.

Actionwide decides to bring onboard two additional project managers to act as work-stream leaders. Both have extensive experience of managing complex and interdependent work-streams. The project will be run as a product-driven, PRINCE2 framework. Given the tight schedule imposed by the July 2007 deadline, Norwich Union are keen to maintain a direct line of sight to the project team and agree with Actionwide a weekly progress reporting regime.

In addition, Norwich Union operate their own bespoke project governance framework and a series of project audits have been agreed to take place throughout the duration. A Project Management Office is set-up in York to maintain records of all the project’s business and technical artefacts. With large numbers of stakeholders and detailed documents it is essential that the Project Management Office handle the configuration management activities with utmost care. Particularly, sign-offs are documented for every key output.

The project plan is designed as a series of phased deliverables punctuated by operational readiness sign-off reviews. Staff from York and Norwich work alongside existing Cambridge staff to achieve the necessary knowledge transfer. The business functions will be migrated first, while the IT functions and physical infrastructure will be the last to move, in mid-June 2007.

April 2007 - All Business activities are successfully relocated to York.

Throughout the project, Actionwide maintain a close working relationship with Norwich Union’s senior project stakeholders, winning their confidence as the project deadlines are met without fail. A strong emphasis is placed on minimising disruption for business staff and ensuring that throughout the relocation customers continue to enjoy unchanged service levels. By June 2007, Actionwide are ready to complete the final phase of the project and relocate all remaining infrastructure to Norwich as per the original schedule.

By end of June 2007, the Cambridge premises are finally decommissioned and shut.
In the duration of the project, Actionwide completed three successful office moves, they set-up a new call centre in York, a new business continuity centre in Wakefield and migrated all IT infrastructure from Cambridge to new premises in Norwich.

By mid-July 2007 Actionwide complete their detailed technical handover to the Norwich Union IT team. The delivery was achieved within the assigned budget and to the original timetable with no overrun.

"In March [2007] we announced that the Lifetime Customer Experience Operation had gone live in York, as part of the transfer of the Lifetime business from Cambridge. I’m delighted to be able to let you know that the final phase of the move out of Cambridge has gone live with the transfer of all IT employees and equipment from Cambridge to Norwich. This will now enable the complete closure of the Cambridge office. This has been a major exercise with many technical complexities. The fact that it has been delivered on time and to a timetable agreed in last September’s announcement is a credit to the hard work and dedication of the delivery team."
 
Angela MacDonald
Norwich Union – Director of Wrap Propositions
(July 2007)