ASX Adds Special Review Recommendations in CHESS Replacement

ASX has expanded the actions it will undertake to further improve delivery capability across the organisation following a review of its delivery frameworks. The review was conducted to inform a special report published today which assesses ASX’s Portfolio, Program and Project Management frameworks. The special report was delivered to ASIC on 29 September 2023 and was audited by EY.

The special report included a maturity assessment by independent expert PM-Partners which benchmarked ASX against internationally recognised standards. While PM-Partners identified areas for improvement it also determined ASX has strong foundations, capable people and has applied dedicated resources over the last two years to uplift processes, frameworks, people and capabilities.

PM-Partners identified six areas for improvement and made 32 recommendations to assist ASX reduce change risk exposure, 12 of which are either already underway or are planned as part of ASX’s existing delivery uplift roadmap (“Delivery Roadmap”). ASX will implement all of the recommendations.

The special report is the final of three special reports requested by ASIC in a notice issued on 21 February 2023.
ASX Managing Director and CEO Helen Lofthouse said: “ASX has been very focused on improving its project delivery capability over the last two years and today’s report underscores the progress we’ve made, and demonstrates how we will expand the Delivery Roadmap to incorporate the new recommendations to further strengthen our approach.”

“Many of the recommendations from PM-Partners are already in operation in the CHESS replacement project as this review builds on the work ASX has been doing to implement the 45 recommendations from the external review on CHESS replacement from last November.”

The special report notes ASX needs to further develop its program management frameworks and capability which aligns with the historical emphasis ASX has had in using projects as the primary structure to deliver change. As part of the Delivery Roadmap, ASX is developing a common approach to program delivery, and the design is due for completion by the end of 2023 with implementation and deployment due by end of June 2024.

The special report was independently audited by EY and it found ASX had fully addressed 15 specified matters in ASIC’s notice and partially addressed three. The EY audit report made three recommendations which ASX will implement. These include additional detailed planning, effort estimations and integrated resource views for some medium- to long-term items on the Delivery Roadmap, and development of a Program Management Framework.

Both the special report and the EY audit report can be found on the ASX website.

Source: ASX