Management
Diversifying & Strengthening Regional Supply Chains
About the client
The Industrial Solutions Hub (iSH) is a collaborative innovation and skills centre based in West Cumbria. It provides a space for industry, academia, and the community to work together on solving complex engineering challenges, supporting business growth, and driving skills development across the region.
iSH connects local expertise with national and international opportunities, fostering partnerships that deliver practical solutions for sectors including nuclear, clean energy, advanced manufacturing, and robotics. By offering flexible workspaces, specialist facilities, and tailored business support, iSH plays a key role in building economic resilience and creating high-value employment in Cumbria.
📍 West Cumbria, UK
💼 Regeneration
⚙️ P3 Management
Co-Lab has been an invaluable partner to the Industrial Solutions Hub, providing both strategic oversight and innovative thinking to strengthen our operating model. Their expertise is helping us develop a sustainable framework that enhances our regional impact while ensuring long-term resilience beyond single-source funding.
Their positively provocative approach challenges conventional thinking, driving efficiency and streamlining our processes. The team’s cross-sector experience and agnostic, solutions-driven mindset bring a fresh perspective to complex challenges.
We highly recommend Co-Lab to any organisation seeking Strategic Management and P3M consultancy. Their ability to challenge, innovate, and deliver impact makes them an essential partner for any transformation journey.
- Gary McKeating, Managing Director, Industrial Solutions Hub
Challenge
The Need for Measurable, Aligned Performance Tracking
As the Industrial Solutions Hub began to expand its programmes and partnerships, the leadership team wanted a clear and consistent way to track progress against their strategic objectives. Multiple initiatives were running in parallel, involving different stakeholders, delivery partners, and funding streams.
Without a unified performance monitoring system, it was difficult to bring together information on activities, outputs, and outcomes in a way that supported timely decision-making and demonstrated impact to funders and partners. The organisation needed a framework and tools that could provide a single view of progress across projects, measure the benefits being delivered, and maintain alignment with their long-term vision for skills, innovation, and economic growth in the region.
Solution
Implementing a Performance Management System (PMS)
Co-Lab designed a Performance Management System (PMS) integrating KPIs, OKRs, and real-time reporting tools to deliver data-driven insights into progress and impact.
This system enables iSH to manage its organisation and activities using P3M principles, fostering stakeholder confidence and ensuring structured, transparent governance.
Process
Designing and Embedding PMS to Drive Outcomes
We began by working closely with the Industrial Solutions Hub’s leadership and delivery teams to build a shared understanding of what success looked like. Through a series of structured workshops and interviews, we explored the organisation’s strategic objectives, priority outcomes, and the value it aimed to deliver to partners, funders, and the community.
From this, we developed a Benefit Map that clearly linked activities to outputs, outcomes, and long-term benefits. This visual framework provided a single, agreed view of how each initiative contributed to iSH’s overarching mission, creating the foundation for measuring impact.
With the benefit map in place, we identified the key performance indicators (KPIs) that would track progress at each stage of the benefits chain. We ensured these KPIs were measurable, relevant, and aligned with both operational needs and strategic reporting requirements.
We then designed supporting data collection processes, ensuring consistent, reliable input from all programmes and partners. Finally, we integrated these into reporting dashboards that presented real-time performance against the benefit map, enabling the team to monitor progress, review impact, and refine delivery with confidence.
Benefits
Tangible Business Impact and Stakeholder Alignment
Clear Line of Sight from strategy to tactical delivery, ensuring alignment across all levels.
Single Source of Truth for all project reporting, enhancing transparency and decision-making.
Dynamic Stakeholder Engagement Tool, adaptable to the diverse needs of various stakeholders.
