# Managing a Smart City Integrated Model through Smart Program Management
## 6 Smart Program Management  
Smart projects are an opportunity to build new strategic hypotheses for the future of individual cities and offer a credible and stable perspective over the medium term to private and public investors. These visions must be reconciled and brought back to a common strategy and benefit by using an integrated governance. In such a scenario, there is a need for \"Smart program management\" which should involve a systemic logic able to encourage the integration among various initiatives regarding the reuse of common services and replica of successful experiences. Unfortunately, what currently seems to occur in Smart cities is a little bit different. There are several projects implemented that are often redundant in the functionalities and services delivered, that do not share any common asset between each other and that design and develop functionalities and services which may already be available from previously executed projects. These projects (very) often lack integration between application domains (vertical dimension) and technological layers (horizontal dimension). Consequently, program management may help to manage the interdependences between projects and the correlation between a defined strategy and its execution. Moreover, if we consider the two dimensions of the Smart city integrated model, adopting program management in the horizontal  
Figure 3: The interaction between application domains and technological layers. Figure 2: Vertical dimension of a Smart city. dimension may allow to obtain common and reusable assets, for any layer, where some elements from the layer below are used by the layer above, generating high value outputs. The layer \"n\" thus becomes an enabling platform for the layer \"n + 1\". Similarly, the use of program management along the vertical dimension allows integrating and optimizing project execution and maximizes the overall benefits (Figure 4). Rather than having several self-consistent and autonomous projects that appear like independent silos, with program management more can be done starting from already existing reusable pieces or artifacts that are produced in other projects. Program management within a Smart city context needs to be smart too. As so, Smart Program Management represents an evolution of program management able to deal with the bi-dimensional complexity of a Smart city: application domains (vertical dimension) and technological layers (horizontal dimension). Therefore, each of the five performance dimensions need to be further specialized in order to be effective:  
1. Program Strategy Alignment * Vertical alignment: identifies program outputs and outcomes, also in terms of macro functionalities and business services, with respect to the different application domains of interest (related to the smart projects included in the program) to provide benefits aligned with the Smart city strategic goals and objectives. * Horizontal alignment: identifies program outputs and outcomes, in terms of ICT solutions adopted, enabling platforms and architectural components for each technological layer  
Figure 4: Smart program management in a Smart city. impacted by the projects included in the program, to provide benefits aligned with the Smart city technological vision and objectives. 2. Program Benefits Management * Vertical benefits: identify the overall benefits to be provided for each of the application domains impacted by the smart projects included in the program and further achievable benefits thanks to the domain integration. * Horizontal benefits: identify the technological benefits obtainable for each of the technological layers impacted by the smart projects included in the program and further achievable benefits thanks to the reuse and integration between layers. 3. Program Stakeholder Engagement * Vertical needs: identify and evaluate application domains-related stakeholder needs, mitigate the resistance to organizational changes; manage customer and user expectations, and communications to encourage stakeholder support.