Goal: A responsive, accountable and high-performing Bureau delivering greater impact and value for Australia.

The Strategy and Performance Group is responsible for identifying growth opportunities, monitoring long-term trends and outlooks, gathering competitive intelligence and driving cross-Program strategic initiatives. It is driving improvement in strategy, planning, change management, enduring project management capability, performance management, risk, resilience and business continuity in the Bureau.

The Group leads the organisation’s efforts in aligning strategy, structure, capability, culture and investment. It provides the frameworks and tools to ensure systematic management of performance across the Bureau, ensuring appropriate governance arrangements to help achieve the Bureau’s goals. The Enterprise Project Management Office (EPMO) provides whole-of-enterprise coordination and guidance across project and program management and supports effective investment decision-making.

The Group supports more effective management of risk and security by strengthening risk assessment, business continuity, internal audit, and physical and protective security capabilities. The Group works in partnership across the Bureau to facilitate and support governance and security arrangements that are necessary to achieve the Bureau’s mission and comply with federal legislative requirements and best practice.

The Strategy and Performance Group consists of three Programs, as illustrated below.

Throughout 2018–19, the Strategy and Performance Group focused on the delivery of three outcomes that support the delivery of the Bureau’s Strategy and purpose. The Group’s achievement in delivering each of these outcomes is discussed below.

Projects delivered on scheduleProject collaboration across Groups

Outcome 1 - Whole-of-enterprise navigation of global and national trends and shocks.

Achieving the outcome

Delivering the Bureau Strategy

Implementing the Bureau Strategy 2017–2022 is the primary focus for the organisation. To ensure momentum on delivering the Strategy is maintained, half-yearly reports on progress in delivering the Strategy’s 21 strategic actions were provided. In addition, Strategy in Action workshops helped the Bureau’s senior leaders to collaborate, connect and learn from each other’s successes and challenges.

Keeping abreast of business risks

Understanding the Bureau’s risks and their potential consequences is a critical component of strategic and operational decision-making. General Managers are responsible for the identification of new risks within their Programs either through formal workshops facilitated by the Risk, Resilience and Security Program or by day-to-day risk awareness, especially as risks emerge.

The Bureau’s business risks were documented in the new enterprise risk management system and risk reports were provided to the Security, Risk and Business Continuity Committee and the Executive Team on a quarterly and biannual basis. .

Monitoring developments in our operating environment

In 2018–19, the Bureau established a strategic foresight or ‘futures strategy’ capability, to support the organisation to navigate changes in our operating environment. The capability includes regular environmental scanning and inquiries into matters of strategic importance. It is designed to:

• identify trends, risks, and opportunities in our external operating environment;
• analyse what these changes mean for the Bureau; and
• explore how the Bureau can best respond to these changes.

Bringing the Bureau’s Strategy into action

Bringing leaders together to collaborate, connect and learn from each other’s successes and challenges is an essential part of implementing the Bureau’s Strategy 2017–2022. Through its Strategy in Action (SIA) meetings, the Bureau brought senior leaders together with a focus on culture, leadership and achieving operational excellence.

The meetings allowed SIA attendees to reflect on how they were leading the Bureau’s staff to deliver the Strategy’s objectives, and to support and contribute to major enterprise transformations including the Public Services Transformation Program, the Aviation Meteorological Services Transformation Program and the ROBUST Program.

SIA has also given Bureau leaders the opportunity to hear from government and industry leaders, who have shared their own inspirational journeys and provided valuable feedback on how the Bureau can continue to make a difference across the nation.

Senior leaders attending the Bureau’s March Strategy in Action meeting at AAMI Park in Melbourne.

Next steps

Key activities to be delivered in 2019–20 to help achieve Outcome 1 include:

• identifying and analysing new and emerging business risks;
• undertaking regular strategic foresight workshops with the Executive Team; and
• monitoring progress in delivering the Bureau’s Strategy 2017–2022.
  

Outcome 2 - A resilient Bureau well positioned for the future.

Achieving the outcome

Establishing a consistent view of our operations

During 2018–19, the Bureau updated its business and operating models to align with its Strategy and introduced a supporting process model to provide a standard enterprise-wide representation of ‘how’ the Bureau delivers its services. The process model introduced a common structure, standards and language for process design activities.

Underpinning our work with clear plans

Group plans that give effect to the Bureau’s Strategy 2017–2022 were updated in 2018–19 and will be presented to the Bureau Executive Team for endorsement in early 2019–20. The plans outline the outcomes to be achieved, paths to impact, performance measures and risks. Program plans were drafted in parallel.

Implementing a project life-cycle framework

The Bureau finalised its project framework and launched its new enterprise project management tool in July. The framework consists of five discrete project stages: proposal, start-up, initiation, delivery and closure, with projects undergoing consistent controlled movement through each stage. Training on the framework was provided to project managers across the Bureau.

Building leadership capability

A 360-degree leadership assessment program was rolled out to Bureau leaders, providing a measured assessment of leadership competencies to help managers identify opportunities for leadership development and receive support through ongoing coaching sessions.

Embedding our resilience framework

The Bureau implemented phases 1 and 2 of its new resilience framework, providing an enterprise approach to managing incidents and crises, and supporting business continuity. Phase 3 will be implemented during 2019–20, rolling out business continuity plans and additional incident management training to achieve the target level of competency nationally.

A national exercise to test the Bureau’s resilience was conducted in October, and competency and scenario-based training has been delivered to State and Territory offices with ongoing training to be completed in 2019–20.

Uplifting our enterprise security

The Bureau has continued to develop its maturity against the Australian Government Protective Security Policy Framework. Enterprise security procedures are guiding staff with respect to onboarding, clearances, information security practices such as protective markings, overseas travel and sharing information with overseas entities.

Next steps

Key activities to be delivered in 2019–20 to help achieve Outcome 2 include:

• delivering online security training courses; and

• building an enterprise master schedule that charts the dependencies between major programs of work across the enterprise.

Outcome 3 - Superior performance through excellence in program and project design and execution.

​Achieving the outcome

Insightful performance reporting

Throughout the year, the Bureau Executive received monthly reports assessing performance against the Bureau’s 19 strategic success measures, as well as a half-year and full-year Annual Performance Statement, and Annual Report that met the requirements of the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013.

All projects report through the enterprise project management tool to provide the Bureau’s senior managers with objective evidence to ensure projects and initiatives deliver outcomes within schedule. More detailed reporting was introduced to provide the Executive with better visibility of the overall portfolio rather than focusing on individual projects, and to enable identification of enterprise level analysis of trends, risks and issues.

Enhancing project management

The EPMO continued to build the Bureau’s end-to-end project and program management maturity, supporting over 100 projects from design to execution through the provision of a consistent operating framework and practical tools to help deliver outcomes that benefit Bureau customers.

Independent evaluations of our performance

In March, an independent panel of five Australian and international experts completed the first in a series of external reviews—of the Science to Services Program—to provide the Bureau and its stakeholders with assurance that its activities are appropriate, effective, efficient and achieving progress towards agreed strategic outcomes. The Science and Innovation Group accepted the review’s recommendations and is implementing five initiatives in response including a partnerships framework, an innovation framework, a workforce plan and an R&D plan.

Uplifting change management capability

The Bureau has developed a standard approach to enterprise transformation using a recognised change methodology program as a foundation to uplift capability. The four focus areas are:

• governance using frameworks, tools and standards;
• capability development through training, 360-degree leadership assessments and culture alignment;
• monitoring and reporting through a master schedule and change impact reporting; and
• engagement through a community of practice, enterprise communication and SIA events.

The Bureau has also implemented change management certification training and tailored training workshops for leaders and project managers.

Maintaining and extending quality management

The Bureau’s quality management systems have been maintained throughout 2018–19, providing assurance for customers that the Bureau’s business processes continue to meet international standards under ISO 9001. Assurance has been determined via external certification audits for the three certified quality management systems. Work has commenced on establishing a quality management system for automatic weather stations observing activities.

Next steps

Key activities to be delivered in 2019–20 to help achieve Outcome 3 include:

• developing quality management system certification for the Bureau’s space weather services, the Joint Australian Tsunami Warning Service and Defence operations;
• facilitating an independent review of the Business Solutions Group by an external panel of experts to provide assurance that its activities are appropriate, effective, efficient and achieving progress towards agreed outcomes; and
• providing online change management training modules to all staff.