Product CoE
A centralised function that guides through expertise, builds capability in domain teams, and creates the cross-domain visibility that no single team can achieve alone.
The CoE exists to improve the performance and value of Ampol Group's products for customers and the organisation. It will address three key business problems and drive increased product performance across Ampol Group.
A common model for how Ampol Group defines, organises, and views its product portfolio.
Not everything the CoE works with is a Product. Some are systems that enable products to function. Others magnify the reach and value of existing products. Understanding these three layers matters because the CoE's involvement, recommendations, and lifecycle expectations differ depending on what type of item is being assessed.
Products are grouped into four customer experience domains. These provide a portfolio lens for organising and aligning product work across the business, not a change to reporting lines.
Secure digital and payment experiences that unify mobility and energy offerings.
Convenient and predictable experiences across fuel, EV charging, food and amenities.
Reliable fuel, lubricant and energy solutions that prioritise safety, continuity and uptime.
Integrated mobility solutions that optimise cost and simplify fleet operations.
In this charter, domain refers to one of the four experience domains. Portfolio refers to the collective set of products across all domains, viewed at group level.
The CoE is here to help products perform. It advises, coaches, and connects, and raises visibility when something needs broader attention.
The CoE shares frameworks, provides coaching, documents observations, and reports insights. Domain teams decide whether and how to act.
Support is always accompanied by a specific action plan: what will be done, by whom, by when.
When a product needs attention beyond what a single domain can provide, the CoE connects the right people, evidence, and resources to help that product perform.
The CoE works to establish clear ownership and to make sure portfolio-level risks have the right visibility and accountabilities.
Discipline is expected to increase progressively over time as trust, evidence, and shared language are established.
When the CoE is live and working well, this is what the business will see, hear, and experience.
Ownership of products remains with business units. The CoE works with the business and does not take over accountability for product performance.
| Area | Authority | In practice |
|---|---|---|
| Dashboard metrics & reporting | Decide | Defines what gets measured and how it is reported at portfolio level. |
| Template & artefact design | Decide | Owns design and maintenance of lifecycle artefacts, stage transition templates, and assessment tools. |
| Lifecycle gate criteria | Decide | Defines what each lifecycle stage transition requires. Domain teams apply the criteria to their products. |
| Product classification | Decide | Determines what counts as a Product, Enabler, or Magnifier. |
| Cross-domain coordination | Decide | Convenes domain teams when dependencies or overlaps are identified. |
| Portfolio prioritisation | Recommend | Provides evidence-based recommendations at group level. Decisions sit with domain leadership and executive forums. |
| Lifecycle stage transitions | Recommend | Proposes stage changes (including launch and retirement) based on evidence. Domains decide. |
| Owner assignment | Recommend | Identifies ownership gaps and recommends named owners. Domain leadership decides. |
| Capability assessment | Recommend | Evaluates product maturity and recommends capability interventions. |
| Day-to-day product delivery | Out of scope | Operational product management remains with domain teams. |
| Domain commercial decisions | Out of scope | The CoE provides evidence; domains make commercial decisions. |
| Technology platform choices | Out of scope | Technology decisions sit with Technology, Digital and Data. |
| Customer research execution | Out of scope | The CoE supports the use of evidence in decisions but does not conduct customer research directly. |
| Product & CX design execution | Out of scope | Design execution sits with domain teams. |
The CoE provides an enterprise view, connecting decisions to evidence and coaching the business on language, process, and discipline. It indirectly strengthens Ampol Group's four customer domains.
At each lifecycle stage, the CoE has a typical level of involvement. These were agreed in the second CoE design workshop.
The level shown for each moment is a starting position. The CoE may step up or step back depending on the domain team's needs.
The following activities form the CoE's initial operating rhythm, prioritised by the workshop participants for the pilot phase.
The following summarises what would be seen if the CoE is successful.
Ambiguity about who owns products and Enablers in target domains has measurably reduced. Named lifecycle owners exist where they did not before.
Lifecycle terminology and the Product / Enabler / Magnifier model are used consistently in governance forums, reviews, and everyday conversations.
Domain teams proactively request CoE help, facilitation, and input into product decisions rather than the CoE having to insert itself.
Cross-domain risks and dependencies are identified through CoE activity, business stakeholders are acting on them, and the CoE is consulted early in product-related decisions.
CoE tools and artefacts have been designed, developed, launched and are in use across the business.
Ownership in forums and decision-making is clearer with artefacts being used to reconcile accountabilities.
The Product Playbook is being used to guide development and management decisions across the business.
There is overall increased evidence of customer domain performance. Understanding of customers has deepened and product performance across Ampol Group has improved.
This charter is endorsed by the following signatories, confirming the mandate, scope, and authority of the Product Centre of Excellence.