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ITEM CG10 - ANNEX 2
CORPORATE
GOVERNANCE SCRUTINY COMMITTEE – 27 JULY 2006
EFFICIENCY
SAVINGS
Developing
Business Process Re-engineering (BPR) and Productivity Capacity in Oxfordshire
BMG
is recommended to:
- Approve the
proposal in this paper and commission the Business Development Team
to take the work forward
Background
In
August 2005 BMG commissioned the Business Development Team to explore
in detail the potential for developing BPR trained officers and expertise
in Oxfordshire. This was undertaken through bi-lateral meetings with each
Business Manager and discussions with Dr Steve New of Said Business School.
This paper introduces a proposal for how this should proceed.
Existing
Arrangements
BPR
is currently being delivered through a partnership agreement with Said
Business School. The partnership is designed to deliver discrete BPR exercises
whilst raising awareness of the potential benefits of BPR across the organisation,
giving staff involved in the BPR exercise the opportunity to learn essential
process mapping and design techniques and to provide training materials
for continuous improvement.
Feedback
and the results from exercises to date have been positive and demonstrated
valuable learning. The recently completed BPR exercise in the Pensions
Service has shown the potential for BPR to improve productivity and efficiency.
Interest in the application of BPR has increased significantly since the
seminars at Said and requests for assistance with BPR applications currently
outstrips capacity. As a result opportunities to make process improvements
and significant efficiencies are not being fully utilised.
For
the full benefits of BPR to be realised as a management tool, we must
now build the capability and capacity to deliver these techniques in practical
situations.
Proposal
for future development of BPR expertise
Implementing
the application of BPR principles has the potential to achieve a culture
of continuous improvement and produce a flow of efficiency savings for
both directorates and the county council.
It
is proposed that BPR capacity is developed in three strands:
- Continued awareness
raising of the principles of BPR – through the delivery of BPR exercises,
workshops and seminars
- BPR training for
managers on general principles and its application (in similar vein
to the two-day training sessions previously delivered)
- Delivery of BPR
exercises in service areas – facilitated by Oxfordshire County Council
staff trained as BPR consultants
The
first two strands are currently being delivered through the existing partnership
with Said Business School. Awareness raising seminars can be delivered
with relatively few resources and BPR training will be targeted at senior
managers and strategic middle managers, who have not already benefited
from training
The
third strand will require a development programme, of around one year,
for fifteen staff. A tendering exercise took place during April and May
2006 to determine external support. PA Consulting have been accepted as
the external partner to support this development programme.
Inclusion
in the BPR programme training will be offered to selected staff, who have
been identified by their Directorate Management Team, as a development
and training opportunity. The selected staff will remain within their
directorates, retain their existing job roles and spend an agreed percentage
of time undertaking BPR projects for the benefit of that directorate.
The
core features of the training programme are:
- It will target
staff at junior management level and above who are known to have an
interest in BPR, are recognised as having the appropriate skills for
facilitating BPR exercises, or have displayed the potential to progress.
- Trainees will
be nominated by directorates and selected on the basis of a suite of
pre-determined competencies by Corporate HR.
- Trainees will
agree with their line manager a minimum percentage of their time that
they can give to BPR work that should be no less than twenty percent
of their time. If the member of staff is part time the minimum time
they will be asked to work on BPR exercises will be one full day a fortnight.
- The training programme
will run for one year and will involve a range of learning and development
opportunities including development away days and lunch-time/ brief
discussion sessions. In total this will amount to around one day of
training a month.
- In addition trainees
will be expected to undertake a small amount of reading and research
in their spare time into the theory behind BPR and case studies.
- After initial
induction training into BPR techniques trainees will be expected to
work on BPR projects identified by their directorate.
- Initial projects
will be supported by a small central team from Business Development.
On-going support will also be provided to trainees by this team.
- Trainees will
also be expected to promote the application of BPR techniques by participating
in workshops highlighting the experience gained from completed exercises.
- BPR exercises
will be undertaken using corporate project and risk management guidelines
and be used to contribute to the Annual Efficiency Statement.
Logistical
considerations
It
is proposed that no more than fifteen staff members are trained as BPR
facilitators. This figure allows for some people potentially dropping
out of the programme or changing jobs during the twelve months of training,
without damaging the ability to deliver BPR.
Of
the fifteen trained as BPR facilitators, at least one will work on BPR
full time and will be based in the Business Development Team (Adam Walker).
The will provide a central co-ordination role, facilitate discrete BPR
exercises, support trainees and contribute to the overall development
of the programme.
The
co-ordination role will include ensuring that corporate BPR and project
management disciplines are adhered to In addition it will ensure that
cashable and non-cashable savings are recorded in a consistent way that
enables them to be used to satisfy the requirements of the Annual Efficiency
Statement.
The
training and development programme will be designed jointly by PA Consulting
and the Business Development Team. Delivery will be undertaken by the
provider.
Determining
the programme of BPR projects
Under
proposals made to the Efficiency Savings Steering Group, all efficiency
saving targets, cashable and non-cashable will be allocated to directorates,
principally as part of the annual budget setting process. Directorates
and service areas will determine where BPR expertise can be applied taking
these targets into account. In addition, directorates may seek to develop
efficiency savings for investment to meet changing demands on the directorate
or support directorate priorities.
Guidance
for the type of scenario where BPR will be most successful will be developed
by the Business Development Team. These can be summarised as those service
areas that are process driven, can potentially yield efficiencies (e.g.
areas of high spend or high staffing) and areas that have been subject
to cashable efficiency savings and need to change working patterns to
maintain service delivery.
The
co-ordinator of the programme will agree individual exercises, to ensure
suitability, be able to monitor trainees progress and offer support where
the complexity of the exercise suggests it will be required.
Costs
involved in developing BPR expertise
The
approximate cost will be £60k (plus VAT). However this cost and
the exact details of delivery was subject to tender.
The
modernisation fund signed over £215k in principle to BPR development in
2004, of which £105k has been allocated. The remaining £110k will therefore
comfortably cover the cost of developing BPR expertise.
There
will be scope to include other managers in some of the training courses
for a small additional cost per person to achieve greater economies of
scale.
Additional
two-day senior management training courses will present an additional
cost and the proposals for these are currently being developed.
Next
Steps
- Gain approval
from BMG to this proposal and gain advice on taking this forward
- Business Managers
to begin to consider who may benefit from this type of development opportunity
and what the needs may be of each directorate
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