Performance Improvement Case Studies
Performance Improvement
Berkshire was responsible for the performance improvement of a significant Government department. This department had been set up very swiftly some four years ago as an urgent response to situations at the time. As such, the focus since then had been mainly on output quality, rather than looking at how efficiently that output was achieved. We were asked to examine their current procedures and assess if there could be any efficiency savings made to the department.
After an initial diagnostic process, it was felt that processes could be changed or put in place to make efficiency savings of approximately £1.5 million pounds and these plans were approved and initiated. Understandably there was much concern from the department’s staff about both the security of their own jobs as well as fears about potential drops in the quality of output. However, by working alongside the client as part of the project team, we were able to manage the changes effectively by informing and consulting staff throughout as well as ensuring we developed all people throughout the organisation, from the very top and down, to be able to utilise new skills that enabled them to adapt to the changes and manage the new process efficiently.
As a result of the performance improvement initiative, we achieved the targeted savings of £1.5m, with the cost of the project providing a return on investment ratio of 3:1.
Process Review and Improvement for a Central Government Body
We worked with a central government department who required support to identify and close weaknesses in their current processes and to define future processes, in line with the provision of limited extra resources. The objectives were to;
· Develop future, or ‘To-Be’, business processes, to facilitate the adoption of efficient and effective standard approaches to unit activities, and support their effective control and management
· Provide early implementation support to help deliver sustained performance improvement benefits
· Help provide the unit with an operational process
· Provide robust assurance to ministers, and enhance the unit’s reputation amongst external stakeholders
· Minimise the number of extra staff required whilst significantly increasing the thoroughness of regulatory policing.
We worked in collaboration with the department’s staff and the wider agency’s internal Consultants to help them define the most appropriate future processes, and the associated measures of performance, help define resource requirements and to develop the implementation programme.
The benefits of this project included the following:
· Transferring process improvement skills to the unit’s staff and internal consultants
· Streamlining processes enabling output efficiencies of approximately 30%
· Reducing backlogs enabling work to be dealt with more cheaply and quickly
· Smoothing workflow reducing staff stress and management burden
· Enabling senior staff to focus on non-transactional strategic higher value added work
· Providing justification for decisions on staff numbers and roles.
Ultimately this work has supported the unit’s transformation into a pro-active, strategically focused authority with the necessary competencies to provide an efficient and effective service to its customers and stakeholders.
For further information on our Performance Improvement programmes please email allen.knight@berkshire.co.uk or call a member of our team on 0118 932 3580.
