Many organisations have adopted projects and project management as the vehicle for delivering new or changed business capability. The main objective for a programme is to co-ordinate the delivery of a set of projects so that the entire programme can achieve more than just the outcomes from its individual projects.

Managing Successful Programmes describes how to identify the vision (the Vision Statement) for the programme, which may be to deliver a new service, or to perform the same service but in a more efficient way, or simply to be better than the competition.

Managing Successful Programmes identifies the following principles of effective programme management and suggests how to put them into practice:

Programme Management Organisation

Giving people clear roles, responsibilities, leadership and lines of communication. There is a Sponsoring Group of senior executives including the Programme Director with ultimate accountability

Programme Planning

Using a Programme Plan to ensure that control is established and maintained

Benefits Management

Identifying, optimising and tracking expected benefits to ensure they are achieved

Stakeholder management

Ensuring all interested parties are appropriately involved in the programme

Issue management and Risk management

Having strategy for dealing with current and anticipated problems

Quality management

Ensuring that the end products of the programme are fit for purpose

Configuration management

Keeping monitoring information about the programme up-to-date and accurate

Audit

Ensuring that technical, statutory, contract and accounting standards are use.