Powered by Altus: Maturing Project Management at The Lottery Corporation
Looking to elevate the maturity and performance of its Project Management Office while simultaneously introducing a fit-for-purpose software system, The Lottery Corporation teamed up with Sensei to implement Altus, a future ready Project and Portfolio Management solution. After a demanding but successful implementation of project management principles described as ‘building the plane in flight’, Australia’s leading lottery operator today runs better initiatives thanks to standardised ways of working. As a result, people across the organisation, from project managers to senior executives, benefit from more accurate timely information, supporting better resource allocation, budget tracking, and project delivery.
The Lottery Corporation (TLC) was created following the Tabcorp demerger in 2022 and is now home to The Lott and Keno – brands and games that have been adding excitement to Australians’ lives for decades. Operating in every state and territory except Western Australia, TLC offers exciting games that not only deliver life-changing wins to our customers, but make a meaningful difference in the community.
Situation
TLC had a strong track record of program and project delivery; however, a lack of embedded, standardised frameworks, methodologies and tools made successful delivery more complex than is necessary and failed to support efficient delivery and value realisation. Following the demerger from Tabcorp, TLC sought to elevate its project delivery capabilities. An independent baseline assessment of PMO maturity was conducted to confirm the key challenges and form a baseline for uplift, TLC was rated 1.5 on the 5-level scale.
To achieve the desired maturity uplift, the PMO was formed in July 2024. It was acknowledged that to address the identified challenges, not only were process improvements necessary, but a suitable companywide software solution supporting those processes was required.
Fragmented systems, manual processes, and siloed knowledge led to unreliable reporting and poor decision support. The method for combining, collating and reporting on data was sometimes very inefficient and required extensive manual intervention to ensure data integrity. Files were scattered across SharePoint sites, Teams, and OneDrive locations, making it hard to access the necessary information to create consolidated reports.
This fragmentation led to inefficiencies: contradictory data, wasted time sourcing information, and limited stakeholder visibility. Risks were insufficiently untracked, budgets opaque, and accountability elusive.
The PMO’s mandate was ambitious: the achievement of a maturity target of 2.5; requiring the consistent application of good practices by at least 50% of the project community. Therefore, the bold decision was made to upgrade the processes and technology simultaneously, with the go-live coordinated to be just prior to the commencement of the next financial year – a less than 12-month endeavour.
Solution: Selecting Altus and forging a collaborative partnership with Sensei
To gain a deeper appreciation of the functions and features required, TLC elected to deliver the tools in over two stages: Pilot Starting with an RFQ (Request For Quote) proving deeper clarity of the requirements and features following by the full implementation. TLC shortlisted the product selection down to three options; Altus, another external tool, and the expansion of their existing Microsoft Project Online environment. Ultimately Sensei was selected as the implementation partner of choice, based on a comprehensive and collaborative engagement. It was the partnership ethos of Sensei, which proved a key partnership relationship criteria. With a demanding schedule and a lot at stake, they needed more than a ‘take it or leave it stance’.
“Sensei’s people ‘got’ what was ahead of us and committed to work alongside.”
The commitment was borne out in practice, with Altus configured and rolled out to 20 project managers, all while TLC’s teams established and rolled out best practice processes in parallel.
This is not to say the implementation wasn’t something of a high-wire act: deploying methodologies and the tool simultaneously was a big ask. Strong change management was paramount;, the changes impacted the entire project management community across the three primary focuses: people, processes, and technology. They partnered with experts where necessary, applied a ‘blanket approach’ to training, and focused on quick wins such as centralised data, supporting clearer status reporting, to show value.
“Altus has fundamentally changed how we see, govern and deliver our work.”
Kylie Ryan, Head of PMO, The Lottery Corporation
Results
Five months post-go-live, TLC is putting runs on the board. The big picture result is an independently assessed leap in PMO maturity score to 2.6.
With Altus centralising project files in a single repository, the previously confusion around file location and access has been alleviated, and when a project manager changes, their replacement picks up the baton easily, without wasted effort on administration challenges. Health check dashboards surface any issues with ongoing projects, with every initiative assigned sponsors, budgets, and departments.
Through integration with their primary finance system, budgets and actuals now update live within Altus, replacing previously manual uploads. Additionally, standardised management of risks and mitigations foster consistent practices at the controls level, helping boost the overall maturity and confidence in the system and the initiatives delivery.
Project managers, once burdened by manual administration activities, are seeing direct benefits resulting in growing enthusiasm for adopting and using Altus. Centralised status reporting has replaced weekly exceptions meetings, giving time back; now just 10 minutes spent updating information in Altus instead of previously spending an hour in a room. And with the support of the guiding features in Altus, they are being provided direction and being “shown what good looks like.”
With key functions such as change requests and budgets available in real time, project managers can focus on delivery rather than chasing information. This tangible reduction in administrative burden has driven steady adoption, with users valuing Altus for its clarity, simplicity, and responsiveness.
Enterprise-wide uplift in project confidence and performance
By modernising both processes and technology in parallel, TLC has established a scalable, future-ready project and portfolio management capability that improves confidence, accountability and performance across the
Leadership is impressed, too. Executives now have the ability to review the centralised data, and provide feedback and direction. Altus also provides a direct link from initiative to strategy, highlighting the expected benefits and contribution to key objectives. They are now planning to mature further in this area, into prioritisation, proposals, and annual planning.
TLC’s project and portfolio maturation is ongoing. With Microsoft’s Project Online discontinuation, phase two integrates scheduling, estimating, and resourcing into Altus by June 2026, simplifying workflows further. A.I. features such as auto-generating status reports promise to further reduce administrative overhead.
But it is the partnership with Sensei that TLC believes underpins the entirety of the benefits. “This value exceeds the software. They’re responsive, respectful, and invested in our success. And that’s really made all the difference.”
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