
Client: a major national network operator | Sector: Telecoms / Network Infrastructure | Service: Programme & Project Management
The Challenge
A critical national network transformation programme at a major national network operator had fallen 14 months behind schedule and was facing significant budget overruns. Governance structures had broken down across a multi-supplier delivery chain, milestone reporting was unreliable, and escalating risks were not being surfaced in time for effective intervention. The programme threatened both the operator’s regulatory commitments and its commercial relationships with major ISP customers.
Our Approach
DSK Solutions was brought in to rescue the programme at a critical inflection point. We immediately established a Programme Recovery Office, rebuilding the governance model with clear accountability at every tier — from workstream leads to executive steering. A forensic schedule analysis identified the 23 critical path interdependencies that had been mismanaged, and a revised baseline was agreed with all delivery partners within six weeks.
We introduced a weekly rhythm of integrated programme reporting, supplier performance scorecards, and a structured risk and issue escalation protocol. Embedded project managers were placed into the highest-risk delivery workstreams to provide direct oversight and real-time course correction.
The Outcome
The programme recovered its 14-month schedule slippage and completed delivery of 32,000 network sites on the revised baseline. SLA compliance reached 99.3% in the final two delivery phases. The governance framework developed during the recovery was subsequently adopted as the standard programme model across the operator’s infrastructure portfolio, and DSK Solutions was retained for ongoing programme assurance.