Rules that vary from team to team
Each department invents its own method, tools and criteria.
Center of Excellence
The keystone of an organisation that lasts.
A Center of Excellence holds, for a given domain, the rules, methods, skills and decisions. It keeps business, technical and governance together, and it keeps existing after projects end.
“Without a keystone, the arch collapses. Without a Center of Excellence, every project starts from scratch.”
FIG. 01 — THE WAICE KEYSTONE
Center of Excellence
- 01Governance
- 02Standards
- 03Portfolio
- 04Skills
- 05Operations
- 06Continuous improvement
Business
Technical
Governance
- 01Understand
- 02Structure
- 03Build
- 04Maintain
↻ Improvement loop
Why
Without one, every project starts from scratch.
Decisions that get lost
Trade-offs are neither recorded nor shared, so they are made again.
Scattered skills
Experts are pulled in every direction, with no organised succession.
Deliveries nobody maintains
Once the project ends, nobody is in charge of it.
Definition
A light, permanent structure.
It is
- a light, permanent structure
- a living set of standards
- a place where decisions are made
- a service to the teams
It is not
- ×one more committee
- ×a project team
- ×a topic reserved for AI
Six components
What every Center of Excellence is made of.
Whatever its domain, a Center of Excellence rests on the same six components.
01Governance
Question : Who decides what, and how?
Deliverables : Bodies, roles, responsibility matrix, decision path
02Standards
Question : Which rules and methods do we apply?
Deliverables : Standards, procedures, usage rules, document templates
03Portfolio
Question : What are we working on, and in what order?
Deliverables : Request intake, prioritisation criteria, roadmap
04Skills
Question : Who knows how, and how is that knowledge passed on?
Deliverables : Skills map, training paths, communities of practice
05Operations
Question : How does what is in place stay reliable?
Deliverables : Monitoring, support, operating procedures, service commitments
06Continuous improvement
Question : How do we learn from what happens?
Deliverables : Lessons learned, periodic reviews, indicators, watch
Three ways to work with us
Build it, run it, or rely on ours.
- 01
Build your Center of Excellence
We design the six components, set up governance, train your teams and support the first months.
You keep an autonomous center.
- 02
Run your Center of Excellence
We run it with you: governance bodies, portfolio, operations, continuous improvement.
You keep the decisions.
- 03
Rely on the WAICE Center of Excellence
Our method, our standards and our experts, available per assignment or on demand.
You save time without creating a structure.
Domains
One Center of Excellence, one or several domains.
Method & organisation · Governance & programmes · Systems & applications · Data & AI.
- A quality Center of Excellence for a pharmaceutical site
- An architecture Center of Excellence for an industrial IT department
- A data & AI Center of Excellence for a multi-site group
- A governance office for a programme with several partners
What you get
A domain that holds together.
- Clear governance and written responsibilities
- Shared rules and methods
- A prioritised portfolio and a roadmap
- Mapped skills and organised succession
- Deliveries that are operated and maintained
- Indicators to steer
How we set it up
The method, applied to your Center of Excellence.
- 01
Understand
Maintainability diagnostic of the target domain.
- 02
Structure
Missions, governance, initial standards, portfolio.
- 03
Build
Governance bodies in place, first services, team training.
- 04
Maintain
Periodic reviews, indicators, evolving standards.