Mead Perry Group Newsletter

Resourcing critical decision support

In our work with a range of Councils across Australia we constantly see organisational performance impeded by a lack of quality information to support decision making. The challenge for managers is to find the resources to get day to day operations carried out as well as collecting and analysing the data (business insight activities) that will provide quality decision support.

In this article I want to explore options for organisations to find the resources necessary provide excellent decisions support.

The observations of MPG consultants â€œin the fieldâ€ are supported in the results of surveys conducted in the â€œLocal Government Operational and Management Effectiveness Programmeâ€ which is a cooperative undertaking by PricewaterhouseCoopers and Local Government Professionals, Australia NSW.
In the â€œNew South Wales Local Government Operational and Management Effectiveness Report - FY14â€ which was published in April 2015 it was reported on page 4;
â€œFinance - business insight activities - We continue to see a concentration of finance effort on transactional tasks (67%), with less effort allocated to business insight activities (17%).â€

The report for the 2015 financial year showed finance business insight activities effort had increased to 20%.

These survey findings support our view that in many instances organisational performance is being impeded by resource hungry transactional tasks which leaves limited resources for data analysis. This then has a direct impact on the availability of quality decision support for management. We see many organisations caught up in this vicious cycle where the resources required to conduct quality data analysis to inform quality decision making and to build decision support capacity are simply not available.

In most cases Councils do not have access to additional or external resources to be applied to business insight activity. So how can the cycle be broken?

The perhaps obvious and achievable answer is to free up existing resources through improved systems, processes and practices. If we can amend our business processes in a way which continues to deliver services while creating capacity within existing resources, those resources can be directed to business insight activity.

Easy. But how to make the necessary change occur?

Business process improvement
MPG has demonstrated its skills and capacity in the area of Business Process Improvement (BPI) in working with a number of Councils in a variety of functional areas to make positive changes that free up resources and builds capacity. This can take the form of an external review or be achieved through a structured exercise with clear aims and timeframes. With either approach we have been able to work with staff to deliver improved systems and processes that have also freed up resources.
Examples of the positive outcomes include;

Reduced duplication and double handling.
Reduced data entry.
Identification of processes or activities that are not required.
Responsive structures to better manage workflow fluctuations thereby freeing up underutilised resources.
Use of mobile functionality to improve efficiency and service delivery.

This process invariably identifies new and better ways of doing things and often delivers improved service delivery outcomes with a reduced resource demand. i.e. Doing things better with less.
When resources are freed up staff can be applied to data analysis and other business insight activity that promotes and informs better decision making. For example, after the introduction of electronic time sheeting, payroll staff that had previously spent the majority of their time inputting timesheets can now analyse payroll data to identify workforce issues or trends that can be managed proactively.

Quality information and decision support
Good information allows management to identify real issues and target resources at addressing them.
Some examples of the operational areas that have benefited from having quality information and the resources to analyse it include;
Rating - Allow for complex methodology modelling to better understand the current situation and how it can be enhanced to match Council strategic aims and deliver equity.
Fleet - Provide for a better understanding of plant performance to inform decision making on critical matters such as optimum changeover periods, optimum utilisation targets, operator performance, whole of life costing and purchasing decisions.
Financial forecasting - Giving Council accurate information ensures an understanding of the implications of various decision scenarios and supports quality decision making.
Risk management â€“ The capacity to analyse data collected in areas such as insurance claims, complaints, WH&S incidents etc can provide insight into current circumstances and may perhaps identify areas, activities or individuals in the organisation that need attention. For example, this could be:

A particular slasher operator that causes more damage to private property than other operators.
A particular branch office that generates a high level of complaints from customers.
A particular work group that has a high level of workplace safety incidents.