3.49 Lessons: Adequate and timely resourcing of industry and DMO project teams is a pre-requisite to successful project outcomes. This is particularly important at the start up phase of a project with the multitude of activities necessary to ramp up the project such as developing and implementing detailed management plans, placing key subcontracts and ensuring long lead design work and equipment procurement is advancing at a pace commensurate with the contract master schedule. Any delay in these preliminary stages of a project life is, in the DMO's experience, very difficult to recover as the project develops.
3.50 At various stages throughout the project the emphasis on activities will change. This will result in corresponding changes to the demand and priority for specialist staff from both the DMO and industry. The test and evaluation phase, for example, requires the DMO to have available both engineering and operational staff from the Services in sufficient numbers to support the verification and validation program.
3.51 Implementation: The DMO's contracts for strategic procurements require contractors to have a detailed Contract Start Up Plan that describes the contractor's strategy, methodology and the activities necessary to ensure an orderly start up of the contract. Progress against this plan is regularly monitored throughout the contract start up stages. The contractor's Project Management Plan and other related management plans and schedules enable the DMO to gain visibility of how planning and resourcing is being managed to meet delivery schedules.
3.52 In the DMO, staff resources are managed at Agency-wide, Divisional and Branch levels through the establishment of workforce plans. At the project level, staffing plans are developed by individual project offices to forecast staff demand and skill requirements over the course of the project.
3.53 The DMO's strategy to address whole-of-workforce challenges focuses on building organisational capability and productivity through effective attraction, retention, and professionalisation of all staff. The corporate recruitment campaigns have targeted critical job disciplines, graduate, cadet and trainee programs, while continuing to develop university partnerships to ensure that graduate programs take account of the DMO's skills needs.
3.54 In addition to initiatives to improve workforce planning, the DMO continues to refine professionalisation and training programs to ensure the DMO staff have the necessary skills and competence. Professionalisation in core skills such as project management, engineering, logistics and financial and contract management disciplines remains a priority. Where no other options are available, the DMO can engage professional service providers to fill temporary gaps; however the DMO prefers to use Australian Public Service or military staff where domain expertise or experience is necessary.