Delivering the Prison Technology Transformation programme

Challenge

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) had a vision to:

"Provide staff across the prison service with modern technology solutions that are a pleasure to use, and which make their duties easier to perform."

To achieve their modernisation goals, the MoJ initiated a large-scale migration project for over 60,000 Her Majesty’s Prison Service (HMPS) users, encompassing staff from both central headquarters and 122 prisons across the estate. The project aimed to transition users to Microsoft Office 365 and related Windows 10 cloud-based solutions.

The comprehensive migration plan included:

deploying new hardware and physical devices
upgrading network infrastructure
migrating email systems
providing on-site training for all users
decommissioning outdated legacy equipment

This ambitious undertaking was designed to overhaul the entire IT ecosystem, enhancing efficiency, and security across the prison service.

Solution

Methods initially placed a team within the Programme Management Office (PMO) and were instrumental in setting up the PMO function, providing knowledge transfer that allowed MoJ to take ownership.

Following this success, the engagement expanded to additionally cover Programme Assurance and Delivery. Based upon the success to date, Methods was then tasked with providing the following capabilities and outcomes:

• Product Management

• Delivery Management

• Business Analysis

• additional Programme Assurance functions.

In total, over 80 resources worked on the programme from February 2020 to March 2023 across 20 different specialisms During the three years of programme delivery, Methods collaborated closely with the MoJ team, demonstrating flexibility and adaptability to support evolving needs and new delivery areas.

Impact

The Prison Technology Transformation Programme (PTTP) was deemed a great success with real differences made to how the end user perceives the IT they work with on a daily basis.

The feedback received endorses that the vision was met and delivered in its entirety.

The one-word survey conducted before the programme commenced was also completed after the PTTP Programme was delivered, and the feedback included words such as 'revolutionary', 'gamechanger', 'fast', 'flexibility', 'supportive', and 'dependable'.