Oakland Group

Network Rail: a journey of digital transformation

Network Rail is involved in some of the most ambitious and diverse ventures in Great Britain – A transformation in anybody’s book. Richard Corderoy, CQP MCQI, explains in the attached Quality World Article how the Oakland Institute helped support the Infrastructure Projects Business Group (IP) to address governance, assurance and improvement.

The group’s governance is now aligned to the core value chain of the business – there is increased clarity on accountability and responsibility. The governance approach is something that enables the
business rather than constrains it. There is a new confidence that the business is moving in the desired
strategic direction and that there will be no surprises. The executive is now presented with a much more rounded set of information, routine reports, audits and investigation reports, which are generated from a robust and well-operated system. And improvement activity is now focused on the most critical parts of the business, mitigating the most significant risks or realising the greatest opportunities.

During the period of the engagement IP’s delivery has improved significantly. Since December 2014 there has been a marked reduction in engineering overruns and the delivery portfolio continues to plan and budget.  The group has a credible, self-sustaining, second line assurance team that is well placed to
continue the journey.