Driving digital transformation at the AA with Business Analysis.

In the most recent engagement, Assurity has provided senior business analysts in support of several initiatives, including the AA Connect app, website, and the development of a process and underlying spreadsheet for improved resource management across the VDO. This last piece of work is considered crucial in project management, as prioritising allocating people and funds to competing projects is essential to their orderly delivery and, therefore, the creation of value.

Stevens stresses that while several tools are in place for PPM, the spreadsheet is, in effect, a ‘bridge’ taking the AA to a formal companywide software solution supporting the VDO and its various initiatives. “The immediate issue is uneven information across multiple initiatives and divisions. This renders planning and resource allocation difficult from the ‘coal face’ side of the project. It also makes executive reporting challenging.”

He says Assurity engaged directly with his team, on-site and remotely, effectively becoming indistinguishable from AA employees. “It was expertise on tap; Assurity’s consultants have a clear methodology which starts with discussing the scope of our requirements, playing it back for confirmation, and then getting on with the work. They put a lot of effort into being clear about progress and deliverables – and something which proved perhaps a bit scary, but ultimately invaluable, was their ability to anticipate and deliver on requirements we hadn’t asked for, but which brought us to where we need to be.”

This latter point reflects the depth of experience offered by Assurity’s seasoned consultants, Stevens explains.

Furthermore, he notes that Assurity engaged fluently with both IT and financial teams, pulling together essential information from both domains, which project managers and company executives require in their efforts to deliver, on the one hand, and report on the other. “The work has helped in articulating a portfolio, with the appropriate metrics and information on each project, then putting it into a Gantt chart for executive reporting. That’s invaluable.”