Managing one large software development project is hard enough; but IT solutions developer, gedas UK, takes on between 700 and 1,000 IT projects each year, presenting a formidable management challenge.

A wholly-owned subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group, gedas operates in 50 locations across 13 countries and employs 5,000 staff. Annual worldwide revenue is over ∑600m, 80 per cent of which comes from development work for the automotive industry.

Eight years ago, gedas was spun off from VW’s IT department to create a separate development company which would continue to serve the VW Group and expand into new areas. The 350-strong UK arm of gedas quickly found that the external expansion brought new demands – both technically and managerially.

“The IT focus in the UK is on application development for logistics in the motor industry. Volkswagen is still the main part of our work – about 70 per cent – but we are expanding into the retail space,” explains Kevin Roberts, chief information officer at gedas UK.

In 2004, gedas UK embarked on a programme to introduce formalised IT governance, which would improve its control over development projects and support its growth plans. “We have to manage our existing workload while, at the same time, chasing after external work. Increasingly we are focusing on external customers,” explains Mr Roberts.

Historically, gedas UK relied on manually prepared spreadsheets to manage IT projects. While this had seemed adequate, it became clear that the approach was tying up valuable resources and taking too long. Furthermore, it did not give gedas UK a consolidated view of the large number of projects it was running and did not provide measures of performance.

“It is common in IT that Excel still rules when it comes to project planning,” explains Mr Roberts. “But we did not have a common format for defining projects. Nor did we have a way to measure performance properly. We had to consolidate many spreadsheets down to one to get an answer.” The industry trend towards greater accountability and the need to tie IT investment to perceived improvements in the business also demanded greater visibility and control over IT development projects. Thus, gedas UK decided to install an automated IT governance system.

It chose Mercury Interactive’s IT Governance Center (ITGC). The package integrates a wide range of IT governance tasks from demand management, through portfolio, programme and resource management, to change management. It also provides a “dashboard” to give senior executives a real-time view of the progress and performance of current developments. And it takes account of wider corporate governance regulations, such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. More importantly, Mercury says that ITGC supports all the major quality control programmes.

Of course, formalised IT governance relies on the willing participation of staff to keep up-to-date records and to give honest assessments of progress and performance. Mercury ITGC encourages this through a workflow processing system, a feature about which Mr Roberts is especially enthusiastic. As each stage in a project is reached, the system automatically prompts for input from project staff to ensure an accurate reflection of progress.

The result is that gedas UK now has a complete picture of all its development projects and whether they are meeting expectations or not. Mr Roberts says the new level of control enables gedas UK to provide much richer financial information, both internally and for customers. “Internally, we can track expenditure across the whole group,” he explains. “We can give better information to customers and tell them what they are spending.”

He goes on to say, however, that the big picture is not the only view he needs – the detail is important, too. “The whole focus of portfolio management is on big strategic projects. But good governance is also about the small changes and managing segmentation of requirements.”

Now the Mercury ITGC software is installed, Mr Roberts is concentrating on refining the system. “We are actively evolving the process. When we started, we had a closely focused scope to put in the processes and the requirements. The next step was to work on segmenting the requirements.”

Mr Roberts says the introduction of a formal system of IT governance offers gedas UK a golden opportunity to build on its reputation as an IT developer. He acknowledges the hard work that has gone into creating a new development environment and points to the benefits that are already evident. “Prioritising, managing and assessing our IT initiatives is a considerable challenge. Mercury has enabled us to provide a standard process for consolidating, evaluating and delivering on client requests. From the CEO down, Mercury ITGC provides a precise measurement of financial performance, while enhancing customer service and cementing a culture based on sound governance principles.”

Gedas UK is typical of a large organisation that faces a new set of challenges in the modern business environment. It needs control, visibility and real-time feedback on performance. By formalising its IT governance process, it has achieved all these goals – and more.

“IT governance is about far more than just gaining a tighter grip on IT investment. Mercury ITGC helps our customers ensure that all IT investments are justified, executed efficiently and will deliver the right business result,” comments Alex Lobba, vice-president of IT governance at Mercury.

“By working with Mercury, gedas UK has been able to introduce optimal IT governance systems to the benefit of both the IT team and senior management.”