UK Government Tax Authority:
Legacy Migration to Cloud-Native

A UK central government tax authority needed to replace a legacy alcohol duty processing system — non-compliant with GDS digital service standards, incapable of iterative delivery, and dependent on third-party suppliers with no performance accountability built into their contracts. The mandate: replace it with a cloud-native platform without disrupting live tax collection. A severity-one production defect was not just a technical problem — it was a ministerial one.

Agile adoption across delivery teams stood at approximately 20% at engagement start. Teams understood the vocabulary but had not adopted the practice. Sprint ceremonies were inconsistent; retrospective actions were not tracked; planning meetings produced commitments that were not managed as commitments.

Supplier contracts had no performance management mechanisms. Suppliers were billing against time and materials without measurable delivery obligations. No benefits tracking framework existed — the programme had no baseline against which it could demonstrate value to the programme board or to the department's senior responsible owner.

AmehX led as Senior Agile Delivery Manager across the full programme lifecycle, working directly with delivery teams, suppliers, and senior stakeholders simultaneously.

Agile transformation: Ran all agile ceremonies — sprint planning, stand-ups, reviews, and retrospectives — with direct facilitation rather than coaching from a distance. Designed and delivered an enterprise-wide agile transformation programme with defined maturity milestones and measurable adoption targets. Agile adoption moved from 20% to 85% over the engagement.

Supplier performance management: Established a multi-vendor performance management framework with defined delivery metrics, escalation paths, and contractual linkage. Suppliers who had previously operated without performance accountability were brought within a structured governance regime that tied payment to demonstrable delivery progress.

Benefits realisation: Built a benefits tracking framework from baseline measurement through to regular reporting to the programme board. Defined each benefit category with a measurement methodology, an owner, and a reporting cadence. Benefits were tracked against the baseline throughout the programme — not assessed retrospectively at closure.

Agile adoption moved from 20% to 85% across the programme. Benefits realisation reached 115% of the target — exceeding the programme's original business case. Zero severity-one defects reached production throughout the programme lifecycle. The supplier performance management framework became a template for subsequent government programmes.

Client name withheld as standard. UK Central Government department. Full disclosure available under NDA for due diligence.