The Finnish Tax Administration reports to the Ministry of Finance and collects about 95% of taxes and tax-like charges. Predictive guidance, good service and credible tax control ensure that tax revenue is accumulated to the greatest extent possible. The goal is to make customers act independently and correctly. (www.vero.fi)
Thinking Portfolio moulded effortlessly to the Tax Administration’s needs
The technical part of the Tax Administration’s project for deploying the Thinking Portfolio project portfolio is completed. This means that the Thinking Portfolio project portfolio is parametrised to correspond to the needs of the project activities of the Tax Administration and it is ready for use.
The project was implemented in compliance with the agile project model of Thinking Portfolio deployment. Thinking Portfolio prepared a prototype portfolio for the first project workshop, which helped specify and largely parametrise a project portfolio tool compliant with the Tax Administration processes in three workshops. Both face-to-face workshops before Covid-related restrictions and later remote workshops were successful, the issues were dealt with as planned and on schedule, according to participants of the Tax Administration project, Marjo Hosionaho and Harri Fogde.
After completion of the workshops, the parametrisation was finalised. Approximately two months after project kick-off, the project portfolio was ready for use, that is, it could be used to administer real projects. At this point, the Thinking Portfolio consultants trained the Tax Administration key users, followed by a fine-tuning phase of four weeks. During the first three weeks of the fine-tuning phase, it was still possible to request finalising changes to the portfolio. Such changes included, for example, addition and removal of fields and the presentation order of data on the tabs. In the fine-tuning phase, changes to the project portfolio views could be made neatly without disturbing the project data already in the portfolio.
– The Thinking Portfolio platform for portfolio management is technically well implemented, and the operating model has been honed. I really appreciate it – it was nice to carry out the project in this way.
– Well scheduled and it was good to always know in advance what was processed and when.
– Thinking Portfolio consultants did the job smoothly.
The future was visible already in the deployment phase
The next phase in the Tax Administration’s project portfolio involves expanding the use by adding user groups. Two user groups are selected in the first phase and expansion takes place gradually. This ensures that guidance is available to new users.
Establishing connections with other systems was also part of the early stages of implementation. These system integrations are agile and fast: Thinking Portfolio provides specific instructions on what needs to be done at the client end to implement integrations and supervises their testing.
The satisfied Tax Administration project team says that Thinking Portfolio’s modular approach seemed appropriate from the beginning. They liked the fact that during the project, they were able to see the application’s further usage opportunities.
– It is good to know what can be easily deployed later on and, on the other hand, unnecessary features and fields can be hidden from the user interface.
– It is beneficial to continue the cooperation and initiate further development from this.
The deployment project for the Tax Administration’s Thinking Portfolio project portfolio was discussed by:
Marjo Hosionaho, Head of PMO
Harri Fogde, Development Specialist
Tax Administration, Project Office
Development and Information Management Unit
