Case Study: ERP Project Recovery at a Major Financial Institution
- Philip Cutcliffe
- Jul 17, 2024
- 3 min read
Most of our case studies including this one are anonymised for Privacy.
Summary
A major national bank was facing a crisis with its core Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) modernization program. The project was 9 months behind schedule and had exceeded its budget by $3 million, with no end in sight. The project suffered from complex legacy dependencies, scope creep, and a delivery model that lacked visibility and adaptation. Add Agility was engaged to stabilize the program through a targeted Agile Transformation and the deployment of a seasoned Release Train Engineer (RTE). We rapidly reorganized the work, introduced structured planning, and established clear metrics, resulting in the project being brought back on budget and delivering its first major release increment just 4 months after our engagement began.
Background
Client: Tier 1 National Financial Institution Project: Implementation of a new, centralised ERP system (Total Budget: $5M) Challenge:
Cost Overrun: $3 million above the original budget.
Schedule Delay: 9 months past the target launch date for the initial phase.
Delivery Dysfunction: The traditional waterfall approach failed to manage scope changes and cross-team dependencies inherent in a complex banking environment. Stakeholders had low confidence due to a complete lack of predictive metrics.
The bank needed an intervention that could not only fix the current crisis but also embed sustainable change to prevent future failures.
What We Did
Add Agility implemented a four-pronged strategy focusing on structure, leadership, visibility, and empowerment:
Agility Review and Restructure: Our first action was a rapid Agility Review to diagnose the systemic issues. We identified that the primary problem was the chaotic flow of work and lack of synchronized planning. We immediately proposed and executed a shift to a Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe)-like structure, organizing over 150 project members into five distinct, value-stream-aligned Agile Release Trains (ARTs).
Expert Consultancy (RTE Deployment): We placed an Expert Consultant (Senior Release Train Engineer) on site to lead the transformation from the delivery side. This individual was responsible for establishing the operational rhythm, including daily synchronization meetings, iterative planning, and most critically, the inaugural Program Increment (PI) Planning session.
Visible, Value-Driven Planning: We trained the Product Management and Stakeholder teams on how to prioritize based on Business Value and Weighted Shortest Job First (WSJF). This immediately cut the non-essential "nice-to-have" features that were driving the scope creep. The PI Planning event synchronized the five ARTs, creating a transparent, committed, and de-risked delivery plan for the next 12 weeks.
Agile Tool Configuration: Leveraging our expertise in Agile Tool Configuration (specifically Jira), we implemented program-level dashboards and reporting. This provided the Portfolio Lead and Executive Sponsors with real-time visibility into velocity, dependencies, and feature completion—metrics they had never had before.
Results
The intervention yielded immediate and measurable success, stabilizing the project and restoring stakeholder confidence:
Metric | Before Add Agility | After 4 Months | Improvement |
Budget Position | $3M Over Budget | On Budget | Complete Stabilization |
Feature Completion Rate | ≈20 features/month (Unreliable) | ≈45 features/month (Predictable) | 125% Increase in Flow |
First Major Increment Launch | Projected to be 9 months late | Launched on Time (4 months after engagement) | Project Timeline Recalibrated |
Team Agile Adoption | Low, inconsistent practices | High (SAFe principles implemented) | Sustainable Improvement |
Stakeholder Confidence | Red (Critical) | Yellow/Green (Stable/Achieving) | Confidence Restored |
The program is now operating under a predictable cadence, delivering value incrementally, and is positioned for a successful final deployment on its newly reset schedule and budget. The cultural shift towards synchronized planning and value-driven delivery has been permanently embedded within the bank's technology department.
