REMIT 20: Successful acceleration of Crown Estate Scotland's transition to autonomy
WHAT: A rapid data migration and structural transformation of the Crown Estate Scotland, separating its activities from the Crown Estate
WHY: To ensure timely delivery of a fully autonomous Crown Estate Scotland, managing over £568 million in assets
WHEN: 2015-16
When the Scottish Government had been promised the control of the Crown Estate Scotland in a relatively tight timescale, the Crown Estate asked Remit Consulting to support splitting out all the Scottish activities which were managed from London – in effect, un-baking the cake. The result was the delivery of a new, fully functional property company, Crown Estate Scotland, to the Scottish Government on time.
The Estate now manages assets in excess of £ 568 million (March 2022 figures), supporting a wide range of industries including aquaculture, seabed initiatives, offshore wind farms, agriculture and forestry.
““We called on Remit because they offer a balance of the skillsets we needed, particularly experience of IT and working in the property industry.” ”
A key element of this immense structural change was moving the data from the Crown Estate’s central system to the outsourced managing agents.
At the start of our involvement, the deadline had been fixed for a two-year project to transfer all data. However, a number of delays occurred and eight months into this timeline, the plans and budgets were incomplete, and Remit Consulting was asked how it could accelerate this process to meet the original, government-agreed deadline.
““With this project, failure wasn’t an option. We had to make it work and Remit helped us de-risk the delivery… I’d recommend Remit to other organisations who are looking for the value of an external pair of eyes, wider specialist information and advice on the property systems and services available out there.” Ronnie Quinn, then Chief Executive of Crown Estate Scotland”
Proof-of-concept saved eight months of delays.
By establishing a plan and budget for a proof-of-concept to transfer data, within three months 10% of the data had successfully been migrated to the two managing agents. This informed a plan for the remaining 90%:
Data for seven sectors was transferred, sector by sector, including some which were previously managed outside the core systems
Processes for the management of outsourced data were defined and implemented successfully to help future-proof the data quality
Transactions were run in parallel across the old and new systems, until the end of the financial year to minimise the impact on reporting
Reports were created which were sector-specific and consistent, enabling integration into one central finance system and reporting for the whole portfolio
As a result of Remit Consulting’s acceleration of the timeline, Crown Estate Scotland asked the firm to manage the selection and implementation of the Document and Records Management System, which had previously been pushed back.
Both projects were delivered on time due to Remit Consulting’s “focused, resolute and fully committed” approach, meaning The Crown Estate Scotland was able to function autonomously by the originally published deadline.
““The project was complex, a large number of competing internal stakeholders with fixed timelines for delivery. You remained focused, resolute and fully committed, ensuring you delivered your areas of responsibility on target.” ”