Note: This case study describes work conducted by Evolutioned’s founders during their prior government service, before establishing Evolutioned. The experience and methodologies developed during this engagement directly informed our company’s approach to complex ICT portfolio challenges.
Project Background
A government agency found itself struggling with the burden of a fragmented and poorly documented IT application landscape. Years of uncoordinated growth had resulted in duplicated applications, inefficient processes, and a concerning lack of visibility into strategic decision-making.
The future founders of Evolutioned were tasked, as part of their government roles, with helping to centralise application information, streamline application management, and enable data-driven strategic decision-making aligned with policy objectives. The assignment involved developing a sustainable, agile Application Portfolio Management (APM) approach that would foster collaboration and deliver a user-centric solution in the public sector environment.
Initial Assessment: The Challenge of Fragmentation
When the team began working with the agency, they identified several critical issues that needed to be addressed:
- Multiple applications performing similar functions across different departments
- Inconsistent documentation leading to knowledge gaps and inefficiencies
- Limited visibility into the full application landscape, hindering strategic planning
- Difficulty aligning IT investments with broader policy objectives
- Challenges in assessing and managing IT-related risks effectively
The siloed nature of the agency’s operations had created an environment where technology decisions were often made in isolation, without consideration of the broader organisational context. This resulted in unnecessary complexity, increased costs, and potential security vulnerabilities.
The Journey: Developing an Integrated Approach
Challenge 1: Balancing Operational and Policy Perspectives
The Problem:
The agency struggled to reconcile day-to-day operational IT needs with broader policy objectives. This disconnect led to investments that sometimes addressed immediate requirements but failed to align with strategic goals, or conversely, policy-driven initiatives that were impractical to implement.
Our Solution:
The team established a dual product ownership model that balanced operational and policy-focused perspectives. This approach ensured:
- Equal representation of both technical and policy considerations in decision-making
- Collaborative solution development that accounted for diverse stakeholder needs
- Well-rounded direction that prevented either perspective from dominating
- Integrated governance that supported both immediate requirements and long-term objectives
This balanced leadership structure created a foundation for more holistic application portfolio management that served both operational and strategic needs.
Challenge 2: Building Stakeholder Alignment and Buy-in
The Problem:
Previous technology initiatives had suffered from limited stakeholder engagement, resulting in solutions that failed to meet user needs and consequently saw poor adoption rates. Without broad support, any new APM approach would likely face similar challenges.
Our Solution:
The team implemented a comprehensive stakeholder engagement strategy that included:
- Extensive consultation with stakeholders across government through structured interviews and workshops
- Regular progress demonstrations to gather feedback and build confidence
- Inclusive requirement-gathering sessions that captured diverse perspectives
- Transparent communication about project progress and decision rationales
This engagement approach fostered strong buy-in from key stakeholders while ensuring the solution would meet the needs of various user groups across the agency.
Challenge 3: Creating a Single Source of Truth
The Problem:
Information about the agency’s applications was scattered across multiple systems, spreadsheets, and individual knowledge bases. This fragmentation made it impossible to gain a comprehensive view of the application landscape, hindering effective decision-making.
Our Solution:
The team developed a single repository of application information that served as a comprehensive source of truth for the IT landscape. This repository:
- Consolidated data from previously disparate sources
- Implemented consistent terminology and classification systems
- Applied standardised metadata to enable effective filtering and analysis
- Created relationships between applications, infrastructure, and business capabilities
- Established ongoing data governance processes to maintain accuracy
The centralised repository provided unprecedented transparency into the agency’s IT application portfolio, enabling more informed decision-making at all levels.
Challenge 4: Enabling Risk-Based Decision Making
The Problem:
The agency lacked effective mechanisms to assess and communicate IT-related risks, making it difficult to prioritise investments and allocate resources effectively.
Our Solution:
The team prioritised user-centric design by developing customised dashboards that catered to the specific needs of business owners. These dashboards:
- Provided portfolio-level IT risk insights in accessible, non-technical language
- Visualised application health metrics and dependencies
- Highlighted potential consolidation opportunities to reduce complexity
- Tracked alignment between applications and policy objectives
- Enabled scenario planning for future investment decisions
These purpose-built visualisation tools empowered decision-makers to understand complex IT risk information and make more informed strategic choices.
Results & Transformation
The implementation of the integrated Application Portfolio Management approach delivered significant benefits for the agency:
- Unprecedented Transparency: The centralised solution offered comprehensive visibility into the agency’s IT application portfolio, revealing previously hidden dependencies and redundancies.
- Enhanced Operational Efficiency: Reduced application duplication and complexity led to streamlined processes and more effective resource allocation.
- Improved Strategic Alignment: Decision-makers gained the risk-based insights needed to align technology investments with policy objectives, ensuring better value for public funds.
- Stronger Stakeholder Confidence: The project’s proactive communication and progress updates built robust rapport with stakeholders, increasing their overall confidence in both the process and outcomes.
- Reliable Information Foundation: The repository became the authoritative source for infrastructure information, improving project planning, security assessments, and disaster recovery readiness.
Legacy of Learning
This Application Portfolio Management initiative created lasting impact for the agency in several important dimensions:
Responsible Resource Management: The approach facilitates more effective budgeting by identifying opportunities to consolidate applications and reduce redundancy. This contributes directly to the agency’s ability to demonstrate responsible stewardship of public resources.
Enhanced Risk Management: Increased IT risk visibility enables better preparedness and more effective mitigation strategies, potentially reducing both the frequency and impact of technical failures and service disruptions.
Adaptability to Change: The flexible design of the solution allows it to accommodate future policy shifts and technology changes, extending its lifespan and protecting the agency’s investment.
Environmental Sustainability: Potential for reduced resource use through application optimisation contributes to more environmentally conscious IT practices, supporting broader government sustainability objectives.
Scalable Growth Foundation: The structured approach to application management supports future growth and expansion plans, ensuring that the agency can evolve its technology landscape in a controlled and strategic manner.
Throughout the project, the team maintained a strong focus on ethical considerations, ensuring regular updates and open communication to cultivate trust and accountability. By gathering input from diverse stakeholders and emphasising accurate information management, they helped the agency create a solution that balanced operational needs with policy imperatives, delivering lasting value to the organisation and the public it serves.
The methodologies and approaches developed during this government engagement formed a foundational part of Evolutioned’s service offerings when the company was later established. This experience continues to inform our work with clients facing similar challenges in complex ICT environments.
