Programme proposal · For the attention of Simon Lacey

Six months to make it One McConnell.

The One McConnell Intranet is complete and in daily use. Training and microsites are in UAT. Find it Win it is a deep working demo, ready to prove. The Utopia planner is built and heading for UAT. This programme takes all of it - plus the full Utopia platform - to complete, adopted and running as one system: Dan building, Katie managing the programme and everyone's way into it.

£10,185 a monthFixed programme fee, six invoices
Three months to buildDevelopment complete by end of month 3
Three months to land itUAT, rollout and tuning with your teams
Pause at any month endNo lock-in, nothing further to pay
A quick word first

Everything below already exists. That is the point.

Over the past months McConnell has commissioned a set of applications one at a time: the intranet, training, project microsites, bids, and now the Utopia planner. All of it exists as working software today: one system complete and in service, two in UAT, a bid engine built and ready to prove, and the planner heading for UAT. What the estate has not had is what Beth's One McConnell picture asks for: one sign-in, one plan, one front door, and someone whose job is to run it all properly. That is what this programme buys. Not new licences and not a restart - everything finished, integrated, adopted by the people it was built for, with a managed service wrapped around it.

The estate today

Real software at every stage - and one programme to land it all.

Everything below is already built and running on McConnell's own Cloudflare and AWS accounts in the UK, signed into with your normal Microsoft accounts. Shown honestly, stage by stage - because the programme's whole job is to take every one of them to complete, adopted, and running as one system.

🏢
Complete · in service

One McConnell Intranet

Built, delivered and in daily use across the business. Ongoing enhancements are currently quoted piece by piece - inside this programme they are simply included.

Your Microsoft 365 tenant
🎓
In UAT

Training and Competency

The matrix, certificates, bookings and weekly HR sync, in UAT now with tweaks landing as they surface. And the scope has grown: a per-employee portal and McConnell-authored course delivery (LMS) are part of this programme.

mcconnell-training.pages.dev
🏡
In UAT

Project Microsites

Resident community sites with updates, email notifications and unsubscribe, in UAT. The programme closes UAT out and cuts production over onto the McConnell projects domain.

mcconnell-projectmicrosites.pages.dev
🏆
Demo built · deep

Find it Win it

A working demo with serious depth behind it: a tender radar, drafting with citations from 17,000 of McConnell's own bid documents, scoring and Word export. Completion and bid-team rollout sit inside this programme - the walkthrough is being scheduled now.

mcconnell-finditwinit.pages.dev
🧭
In build · UAT next

Utopia Project Manager

Your Utopia model and all ten working-group action plans, live in the planner with owners, dates and a cited assistant. Heading for UAT - and the full platform grows through the pipeline below.

mcconnell-utopiapm.pages.dev
The destination

Your own picture, built for real.

The Utopia document you shared draws one integrated platform: a project questionnaire that generates a real project plan, and one place where documents, safety, quality and training meet. That is exactly what this programme delivers - and because the pieces already exist and work, six months is enough.

  • 1
    One sign-in. Every application already uses your Microsoft accounts. The programme finishes the job: one account opens every door, and joiners and leavers are handled automatically.
  • 2
    One set of people. A read-only feed from your HR system keeps people, roles and sites in step across every application - no list is ever retyped again.
  • 3
    One front door. Shared navigation across the estate, so Utopia, training, bids and microsites feel like one McConnell system rather than five websites.
Utopia PM Training Find it Win it Microsites Intranet
One McConnell

And the assistant you met in the Utopia planner extends across the estate - grounded only in McConnell's own data, running on McConnell's own AWS, in the UK.

The plan

Three months to finish the build. Three months to make it stick.

Months 1 to 3 complete development across the estate - by the end of month 3 every deliverable is built and demonstrated. Months 4 to 6 are structured UAT, rollout and tuning: pilot groups first, then everyone, with the final month for polish, documentation and handover. UAT is where we finalise and tweak, with your people using the real thing.

Build · months 1 to 3
UAT and rollout · months 4 to 6
Build
Month 1
Foundations
Month 2
Core releases
Month 3
Build complete
UAT
Month 4
Structured UAT
Month 5
Rollout
Month 6
Finalise
Development complete - end of month 3

The fee is the same every month, and the programme can be paused at any month end. The detail of each month is below.

M1

Foundations

Build
  • Katie stands up the programme in week one: one intake channel, the backlog, weekly status and the steering calendar.
  • One McConnell layer begins: single Microsoft sign-in across the estate and the shared app launcher.
  • Microsites UAT closed out and production cut over onto the McConnell projects domain.
  • Training UAT tweaks continue, and the employee portal foundations go in: every employee signs in and sees their own record.
  • Find it Win it completion begins, with the bid-team walkthrough.
M2

Core releases

Build
  • The archetype questionnaire generates a real project plan on the One McConnell Intranet - answers entered per archetype, straight into the system.
  • Safety Controls aligned with the working group's live rollout, with mandatory vs guidance built in.
  • First McConnell-authored online course delivered end to end: content, completion, evidence straight into the matrix.
  • Find it Win it completed and moved into live bid use.
  • Document control and IMS foundations laid on the ISO path.
M3

Development complete

Build
  • Programme Trackers, Region KPI's and Dashboards, live from the plan data.
  • Training portal complete: my matrix, my certificates, my courses.
  • Suggested team and resource map v1: availability, location and travel from the HR feed, read-only.
  • Customer Care actions and the template library in the platform.
  • The gate: every deliverable demonstrated at the month 3 steering review.
M4

Structured UAT

UAT
  • Utopia Project Manager enters UAT with the working groups; pilot groups run every other application.
  • UAT scripts, defect triage and fix cycles run by Katie.
  • Data verification and a security and access review across the estate.
M5

Rollout

UAT
  • Wave rollout to every employee, team by team, with comms that make sense to site as well as office.
  • Training sessions and short guides for each application; the bid team fully live on Find it Win it.
  • Adoption tracked and reported at steering, with tuning from real feedback.
M6

Finalise and hand over

UAT
  • Final tweaks from live use - this is where the polish goes on.
  • Documentation, runbooks and admin training.
  • Final steering review, service handover, and the beyond-the-programme decisions: Field View and Mango.
Every month, throughout: One McConnell Intranet enhancements (work you currently commission piece by piece - included here), the service desk through Katie, the fortnightly show and tell, and the monthly steering review. These run from week one to week twenty-six.
Everything in Utopia

The whole platform, on one pipeline.

Utopia is not one feature. It is your ten working groups - Safety Controls, Procedures, Systems, Training, Programme Trackers, Customer Care, Commercials, KPI's, Dashboards and General - becoming one platform. Here is the full set from your workbook, your Utopia document and our calls: where each piece stands, and where the programme takes it.

Live now

Already working in the planner
  • All ten working-group action plans: owners, dates, status and progress in one place
  • The archetype grid - four archetypes today, and a fifth drops straight in
  • A cited assistant answering from your own plan data, read-only by design
  • Microsoft sign-in on McConnell's own tenant

Built in months 1 to 3

Everything demonstrated at the gate
  • The archetype questionnaire that generates a project plan - answers entered per archetype, surfaced on the One McConnell Intranet
  • Mandatory vs guidance on every control - your "soft boundaries", built into the model
  • Safety Controls forms and actions, aligned to the working group's live rollout
  • Document control foundations - bespoke, Golden Thread aware, respecting Viewpoint's role
  • Simple quality system and IMS scaffolding on the ISO accreditation path
  • Programme Trackers, Region KPI's and Dashboards, live from real data
  • Customer Care actions and the template library
  • Suggested team and resource map - who is available, who is nearby, who finishes soon, and what to hire for: sites, current workload and home location from the HR feed, read-only
  • The branded assistant, upgraded - creates reports and researches project detail. The mascot is yours to name
  • Commercials view - source system to be confirmed at steering

Proven in months 4 to 6

UAT, rollout, tuning
  • The working groups run UAT on their own areas, coordinated by Katie
  • Pilot teams first, then every employee, wave by wave
  • Finalise and tweak from real use - the polish months
  • Adoption tracked at steering until it sticks

Beyond, when ready

Each becomes its own decision
  • Field View becomes McConnell's own app - incidents, site visits and clean, organic forms on your phones, with no per-seat fees
  • Mango retirement - the full forms, inspections and audits engine
  • The ISO accreditation journey on the IMS the programme lays down
  • Archetype five - nothing hardcodes four
The team

Two people. A build stream and a service stream.

You are not paying for a bench of consultants. You are paying for the person who built every application in this estate, and a certified programme manager whose job is to make the whole thing run like clockwork - and to be the one person you contact about any of it.

DL

Dan Lewis-Enright

Design and build
  • Designed and built all five applications, on McConnell's own accounts.
  • Knows your environment, your data and your people - no ramp-up time, no handover tax.
  • AI-accelerated delivery: the reason a two-person team can carry a programme this size.
KW

Katie Wannell

Programme Manager & Administrator ITIL 4 certified
  • Your single point of contact: one channel for every request, question and issue.
  • Runs intake, triage and the programme backlog, and publishes the weekly status.
  • Prepares the monthly steering pack and coordinates UAT, training and rollout.
Ways of working

Structured, scheduled and calm.

A programme this size fails when everything is urgent and nothing is planned. So the engagement runs on a simple service rhythm, managed by Katie under ITIL 4 practice. You always know what is happening, what is next, and where your request sits.

📺

Fortnightly show and tell

A 45 minute demonstration of working software every two weeks. Progress you can see, not status you have to take on trust.

🧭

Monthly steering review

One hour with Simon and Beth: progress, decisions, the backlog and the month ahead. The programme's single decision point.

📥

One front door

Every request goes to Katie through one channel. Nothing gets lost in inboxes, and nothing depends on catching anyone at their desk.

⏱️

Next business day response

Every request is acknowledged by the next business day, triaged, and planned into the programme - visibly.

💻

Remote first

Delivery is remote, with on-site sessions planned in advance where they earn their place: UAT workshops and training days.

📋

Scheduled, not on call

Meetings are booked in advance and work is planned into phases. Anything live and broken jumps the queue; everything else joins the plan rather than interrupting it.

New ideas are welcome - here is how they get in

1
A new idea or request arrives - to Katie, through the front door.
2
It is triaged onto the programme backlog with a size, an impact and a recommendation.
3
The monthly steering review decides - trade it in against remaining scope, park it, or shape it as work beyond the programme. The fee never changes.

That is how new ideas get in without a change-order fight, and how the programme stays on its fixed fee.

Investment

One fee. The whole estate.

Fixed monthly programme fee
£10,185 a month
£61,110 across the six-month programme, invoiced monthly. Pause at any month end with nothing further to pay.
Fixed monthly fee Six invoices of £10,185 Pause at any month end Everything below included
Included
  • All six phases: the whole estate, plus everything on the Utopia pipeline above - including the suggested team and resource map.
  • Find it Win it completed and rolled out to the bid team; training's employee portal and course delivery (LMS) built in.
  • One McConnell Intranet enhancements throughout - work you currently commission piece by piece, included for the duration.
  • Dan's design and build, and Katie's programme management and administration, throughout.
  • The service rhythm: intake, triage, backlog, weekly status, fortnightly demos and the monthly steering review.
  • UAT coordination, rollout support, training sessions and materials.
  • Documentation, runbooks and handover.
What we need from you
  • 1
    A named steering pair - Simon and Beth - for one hour a month.
  • 2
    UAT participants for each application in months 4 and 5.
  • 3
    Microsoft 365 admin consent where the One McConnell sign-in needs it.
  • 4
    Content owners for the first McConnell-authored training courses.

Hosting stays on McConnell's own Cloudflare and AWS accounts at their usual low running cost, and AI usage runs under the monthly spending ceilings already in place. Nothing in this programme creates a per-seat licence.

Next steps

How this starts

1
A 30 minute walkthroughDan takes Simon and Beth through this page and the live estate. Questions welcome.
2
Confirm the start monthSign off the fee and the programme calendar.
3
Kick-off weekKatie opens the front door: the intake channel, the backlog and the steering calendar, live in week one.
Why now

The moment is already here

  • The Utopia plans are live and the working groups are moving - the planner should carry that momentum, not a spreadsheet.
  • The applications are built. The remaining cost is finishing and adoption, which is exactly what this programme is.
  • The alternative is licences. Every month of delay is another month of per-seat fees for systems this estate replaces.