2015 the Year of the MSP Course

2015 the Year of the MSP Course

September 27, 2017

Whilst 2015 may lack an event the same scale as an Olympic Games, Jubilee or Men’s Football World Cup, there are still plenty of programmes happening throughout the UK and the rest of the world. In the world of sport, Britain plays host to the Rugby World Cup, IPC Swimming World Championships and the World Artistic Gymnastics to name but a few, and major engineering programmes are expected to be completed such as the £600m Birmingham New Street Station redevelopment and the $3 billion redevelopments of the World Trade Centre site in New York City will have fully opened.

The planning and coordination of a programme are essential whether your programme is large or small, public or private, whatever your industry is. Take the London 2012 Olympic Games for example by the time of the Opening Ceremony there were approximately 100,000 people working on the games, which included 3,000 staff members, 70,000 volunteers and a vast number of contractors. With the public sector funding package worth nearly £10 billion it was imperative for Britain’s reputation that the games were delivered successfully and on time. That's why many of those involved in heading up the 2012 Olympic Games underwent MSP training.

With a programme the size of the Olympic Games, the management of it is extremely important and a one size fits all approach cannot be taken.  It is vital in these situations that you have the right stakeholders involved in the planning process so that interdependencies can be understood. It was also important to look back at other programmes that are similar, where there any gaps or issues that needed to be resolved? It's important to look ahead and identify pitfalls early so they can resolve in good time. When looking at a large scale programme it's important that everyone’s roles and responsibilities have been throughout so everyone knows that they are responsible for, good communication is key for this part to be successful. The main processes that were key to managing the construction and development of the Olympic park were: 

• Setting a smart baseline and staying transparent by planning projects to support the development of the project.
• Regular monitoring of the programme and managing any required changes.
• Collaborating with sub-contractors, staff and volunteers at the project level so everyone is aware of responsibilities. 
• Aligning the objectives of all parties including, contractors and the Government.

Okay, so you may not be managing a programme quite as big as the Olympic games this year, but MSP can be tailored and adapted to work for programmes of all sizes. MSP consists of a set of processes and principles that are founded upon best practices, so no matter what your programme is MSP can provide the correct framework for managing any challenges. If you're heading up a programme this year, then why not take up a MSP course? In 2015 an MSP training course will help you to develop a clear view of your programme's aims and identify its benefits, it will also work towards defining the programme and show you how that programme will affect and change your organisation. 2015 is going to be a competitive year for organisations, so it's essential that project managers get things right to secure a successful and viable future for their organisation.