National Project Management System Continual Improvement Process

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Process

The National Project Management System (NPMS) continual improvement process forms the basis of a quality management system and offers Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) the opportunity to become a world-class leader in effective and accountable project management. The process is designed for use by the project management community, as well as those in other business lines and encourages their participation. The continual improvement process is:

  • compulsory
  • user friendly
  • accessible to all
  • accompanied by sound document and record control
  • equipped with a central repository for change activities
  • linked to other project management initiatives
  • evaluated regularly
  • rigorously maintained and well supported

Enhancements to National Project Management System Documentation and Web Content

The NPMS documents are considered as 'living documents' and are subject to change. All NPMS documentation updates, including input to the NPMS Web site, are reviewed by the NPMS continual improvement team Leaders of the Advisory & Practices (Project Delivery) Directorate within Real Property Branch (RPB) and the Project Delivery Office (PDO) in Information Technology Services Branch (ITSB). The following describe continual improvement governance for changes or updates to the NPMS:

  • In the case of changes which are considered consistent with the current intent of the NPMS documentation, the RP and ITS NPMS continual improvement team Leaders can authorize updates to the NPMS
  • In the case of practices which remain solely within the mandate of a specific Directorate, with no cross-cutting implications, the associated Project Delivery Director in RP or ITS can approve documentation updates on the NPMS Web site
  • In cases where updates would have cross-cutting impacts, approvals are required from the RPB Project Management Improvement Steering Committee
  • In the case of approval of changes and improvements to the NPMS Directive for Real Property Projects, the RPB Policy Management Framework is applied

In addition, in order to ensure consistency and to benefit from lessons learned, the RP and ITS NPMS continual improvement team Leaders ensure that changes and improvements to the RP stream or IT-Enabled stream are submitted to the Project Management Advisory Committee for review and input where they impact cross cutting NPMS framework and/or principles.

Real Property Regional Representatives are dedicated to the project management users of NPMS in their regions, while HQ Representatives (the NPMS Team Leaders, Content Managers and Web site Coordinator) are dedicated to content as it applies on a national basis. The vast majority of new or amended documentation can be quickly incorporated into the Web site.

National Project Management System Web site and Users

The main tool to facilitate the continual improvement process is the National Project Management System Web site and most changes are initiated by Web site users sending suggestions and feedback to the NPMS Content Managers in RP and ITS who maintain a 'Comments and Actions' report for continual improvement suggestions.

NPMS Web site users include all project management stakeholders involved in the delivery of real property projects and IT-enabled business projects who will use the NPMS Web site and model for regular project management activities. Users will keep abreast of NPMS developments by regularly visiting the National Project Management System Web site and reviewing recent developments, amendments and proposed changes. Users participate in the continual improvement process by providing suggestions and proposing improvements and recommendations for further consideration through their Regional Representative in the case of RP, or by sending an email to:

Recommendations for Improvement

Real Property User-initiated Recommendations

Real Property National Project Management System User

  • Requests the regional representative or Content Manager to consider an opportunity for improvement on a topic, process, task, etc.

Real Property National Project Management System Regional Representative/Content Manager

  • reviews request, assesses its merit and ensures its applicability to the NPMS
  • consults with other regional/branch stakeholders, regions or national staff as required and obtains regional manager concurrence
  • tables the request with the RPB Team Leader to seek a national review
  • where the request is deemed to have national impact, the Content Manager has the proposal translated and initiates action to obtain comments from all team members
  • where the request is approved, the Web site is amended accordingly by the Content Manager and Team members are notified of the revisions so they can revise other documents or processes affected by the change
  • where the request has a cross-cutting impact, the RPB Team Leader consults with the IT-E Team Leader who ensures other documents or processes are not affected by the change
  • in cases where the request is rejected/accepted at any stage, the regional representative notifies the user of the decision

Information Technology-Enabled User-initiated Recommendations

Information Technology-Enabled National Project Management System User

  • Emails a request to the NPMS IT-E Team Leader to consider an opportunity for improvement on a topic, process, task, etc.

Information Technology-Enabled National Project Management System Team Leader

  • reviews request, assesses its merit and ensures its applicability to the NPMS
  • consults with NPMS PDO Director and PMAC as required and obtains concurrence to make the suggested improvements
  • where the request is approved, the Web site is amended accordingly by the IT-E Content Manager
  • where the request has a cross-cutting impact, the IT-E NPMS Team Leader consults with the RP Team Leader; RP Team members are notified of the revisions so they can revise other documents or processes affected by the change
  • in cases where the request is rejected/accepted at any stage, the IT-E Team Leader notifies the user of the decision

Department-initiated Recommendations

The RP and IT-E Team Leaders will present the CI team and PMAC with a request for improvement or change as a result of a departmental organizational initiative, revised legislation etc.

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