Project Management

Client: Logan City Council - Relocation of Library Branch

Background:

Owing to major repairs required to the roof of the Logan Central Library building the Council needed to relocate the library and community meeting facilities temporarily but still provide continuity of service. This was a large undertaking and required well coordinated project management of the many aspects involving different stakeholder groups.

The relocation also involved multiple locations and even arrangements to provide a courtesy bus service between the closed facility location and alternative venues during the hiatus. As a great deal of stock was to remain in the facility during the repairs, arrangements needed to be made for its protection from damage during the work. Of course the fundamental logistics of engaging removal contractors and integrating services temporarily in other library facilities were central to the project.

The Council needed a capable project manager to assist.

What we did

Reinforcements provided a detailed project management framework to cover each of the essential tasks necessary to permit not only an organised and efficient relocation of furniture and equipment but to ensure all considerations as to service continuity were catered for. Library services incorporate a great deal more than book lending and the project plan required components to achieve successful relocation of IT and telephony; local history resources; children’s and special interest activities; rescheduling of courier and maintenance services; displays and art works.

Our role was to coordinate the ten Library teams established to plan and execute the relocation. This required regular communication and liaison across all teams to identify and eliminate duplication and conflict of tasks, and to identify and manage risks associated with this complex project. Project Meetings were scheduled at appropriate intervals and initially a whole of team workshop was held to ensure all participants were briefed on the importance of coordination and to align critical actions and time frames.

Our Project Manager then worked with the teams to compile an integrated project plan and risk register which was used as the basis for continual monitoring of task execution through weekly updates and reporting.

Results

The outcome of this project was a highly successful relocation which also produced valuable bi-products for the Council, including:

Knowledge sharing between business units which do not necessarily interact frequently;
The Team structure and willingness of all involved to contribute and take on tasks demonstrated positive culture;
Increased appreciation of the value of formal project management and risk assessment.

Some good lessons emerged for operational staff who initially had unrealistic assumptions about the level of complexity of such an undertaking and the importance of having contingency plans to anticipate issues and responses.

The involvement of a highly professional project manager independent of the operational area was also a significant contributing factor to the smoothness of the process and its ability to provide the level of detailed scrutiny required of the sub-plans.

What The Client Said

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