Advanced governance

How we helped the client

The client, part of a major public authority, had for some years had problems in being able to take quick decisions relating to governance and the general way forward. The national audit office had also continually noted shortcomings in terms of the client’s recording of taxes, etc.

Actea was entrusted with creating the requisite operational and organisational conditions prior to a new approach to governance and monitoring of the authority.

How we did it

Actea began by interviewing key people within the organisation, in order to identify the current situation and what was needed to achieve the desired outcome. Then we proceeded by means of two parallel steps:

• Work on a benefits plan to identify and evaluate the benefits the client was anticipated to achieve with the change, the implementation costs that would be required, and the risks that the change would entail.
• A supplier and product analysis to identify and evaluate the supplier best placed to meet the client’s requirements for decision support systems.

What we achieved

Actea’s preliminary report, presented to senior management, was found to be thorough and careful in its execution. It also had a good empirical base, as over half the management team had participated in several of our workshops.

We also delivered some carefully designed objectives and a clear strategy for the change programme that was needed to realise the benefits in future years. These also involved a basis for measuring and monitoring progression of benefits and costs throughout the entirety of the change project.

In short, the client felt that it had been provided with a carefully conceived foundation on which to base its decisions, where revenue, internal and external implementation costs, and potential risks were all weighed against each other.