RAISING SERVICE STANDARDS

A STRATEGY FOR BUSINESS IMPROVEMENT

2003 – 2006

Department of Finance and Personnel

October 2003

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1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 This strategy paper sets out the action being taken by the Department of
Finance and Personnel in its drive to seek improvements in efficiency and
effectiveness during the period 2003-2006 as it takes forward its responsibilities
in support of the Programme for Government (PfG).

1.2 The paper sets a Business Improvement Strategy in the context of other
planning processes; outlines the strategic framework within which actions are
taken forward; and explains the operational arrangements being put in place to
support and drive forward the process of change. It also sets out the targets
being pursued over the rolling 3-year programme under the main categories of
the Strategic Framework.

2. STRATEGIC CONTEXT

2.1 The Department’s 3-year strategic plan comprises 3 broad elements, namely:

• Departmental objectives – the key outputs of the Department in terms of

services to other Departments and the wider community.

• Internal processes - actions being taken to improve services delivered

within the existing policy and resources framework.

• Reform – fundamental transformation of the way services are delivered

primarily to external customers.

2.2 Each year, as part of the Budget process, the Department sets out in its
Business Plan (the Service Delivery Agreement), the actions that will be
taken, in that year, in each of these 3 categories.

2.3 The Departmental objectives and work of the Reform agenda are externally
focused on the customer and are largely a matter of public policy directed by the
Minister. This is the basis for the Department’s Reform Plan. However, they
will only be successful if a similar directing approach is taken on internal
processes and in the way services are delivered to customers. The approach in
this area is largely under the control of officials. It is both the context for and the
purpose of this Business Improvement Strategy.

2.4 Placing a priority on improving internal processes in pursuit of better services

and internal processes is not new. In many respects this is already the case with
the Department’s Agencies, which operate within defined management
frameworks requiring Chief Executives to provide for the efficient and effective
performance of their organisations and allowing them to seek appropriate
delegations in the personnel and financial areas, if required, in order to be able
to do so. The Agencies are also required to meet testing annual Ministerial
targets covering operational and financial performance. However, in other parts
of the Department the approach is less formal and, while acknowledging that
much is already underway, there is a need to set out a framework to provide a

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 focus for these various strands and ensure concerted and co-ordinated approach
throughout the Department.

2.5 The aim of this Business Improvement Strategy, therefore, in progressing the
reform agenda is to provide the necessary strategic framework and supporting
infrastructure that that will identify what needs to be done and support managers
in bringing about improvements as part of a systematic programme. In doing so,
it will ensure that the Department and its Agencies are structured and managed
in such a way that it can respond quickly to the needs and demands of the
Government as set out in the PfG and that it has the best people and processes
in place to meet the challenges it faces. The strategic objective is to meet
customers’ needs in a way which maximises value for money and in an
environment which is consistent with the Department’s core values. However,
this Strategy is designed not only to ensure that the Department operates in a
way which maximises value for money in its operations. It also focuses on the
on-going effectiveness of core policies themselves.

2.6 The Strategy has 3 broad elements, namely:

• A Strategic Framework consisting of the 3 key themes to be pursued by

business units in their individual improvement plans.

• An operational framework to integrate improvement planning into the

strategic planning and reporting processes and which provides support to
business units in the development and implementation of their individual
plans.

• A 3-year rolling programme of actions that will be taken to pursue

improvements in the context of the agreed Strategic themes.

3. THE STRATEGIC FRAMEWORK

3.1 An effective strategy to improve business performance must:

• focus on providing services which meet the changing needs of customers;

• challenge and improve the effectiveness of structures and processes and

maximise the return on the use of resources; and

• ensure that policies achieve the purposes for which they were designed,
reflect best practice and comply with relevant extant legislation.

In this context, this strategy for ensuring on-going business improvement is

based on a framework consisting of 3 themes. These are:

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i. Meeting Customers’ Needs

Ensuring that:

• the Department and its Agencies meet the needs of its customers
through the delivery of customer focused services within the context of
the PfG. The priority is to respond flexibly to changing customer
needs but to manage expectations within what is possible in practice;

• in meeting customer, needs the Department will optimise the use of

current and emerging technologies to deliver valuable, timely and
accessible services which support the Department’s e-Business vision
of providing services which offer choice, convenience, simplicity and
inclusiveness.

ii. Securing Effectiveness and Value for Money

There are 2 dimensions to the Department’s approach to securing

effectiveness and Value for Money. The first relates to the management
of resources while the second dimension deals with the effectiveness of
the organisation and processes.

Resource Management

Ensuring that:

• human resource management arrangements properly reflect the

business needs of the Department and its Agencies on the one hand
and its customers on the other. The aim is to have the right people
with the right skills available at the right time to deliver objectives. The
priority will be to integrate people issues into the Departmental
strategy, thereby generating enthusiasm and commitment in an
environment of continuous personal and organisational development;

• financial resources are applied in a way that is consistent with the

Department’s strategic objectives. The priority will be to ensure that
activities essential to the pursuit of those objectives are adequately
resourced, but no more than that;

• maximum return is secured from the Department’s investment in its

physical assets. The priority will be to ensure that the decision making
process pays due regard to the true cost of capital and that the
effective long-term management of physical assets is embedded in the
administration of the Department and its Agencies; and

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 • information, both paper-based and electronic, is regarded as a vital
asset that needs to be managed, protected and exploited in support of
the Department’s objectives. The priority will be to ensure that a
strategy is in place to make effective use of information in all areas of
the Department’s business.

Organisational Effectiveness

Ensuring that:

• the structure of the Department and its Agencies provides the best fit
with what is needed to meet the priorities of the PfG. The priority is for
the organisation to be responsive in a dynamic and changing
environment and to ensure that its constituent parts make a
meaningful contribution to the goals of the Department as a whole;

• the processes delivering the Department’s PfG commitments and

other priorities make the most effective use of resources, including the
potential application of new technology. The priority is to challenge
existing practices and seek out ways of innovating and improving
business processes.

iii. Policy Effectiveness

Ensuring that:

• best practice is followed in designing and maintaining policies so that

they impact positively on the DFP communities and achieve the policy
and associated programme objectives. The priority is to ensure
on-going reform of the way services are delivered to maximise positive
outcomes.

3.2 Critical success factors applying to this strategic framework will be the extent to
which it addresses a number of important cross-cutting themes. The actions to
implement this strategy will need to ensure the promotion of equality of
opportunity and good relations, the protection of human rights and the targeting
of social need. Importantly, they will be set in a working environment which is
consistent with the agreed Departmental values and associated behaviours that
encourages, recognises and rewards positive leadership at all levels by working
to a common purpose, shared values and a core competence framework.

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4. THE OPERATIONAL FRAMEWORK

4.1 The operational framework underpinning the development and outworking of the
strategy has 2 main elements:

• Integration with the strategic business planning and monitoring processes;

and

• An internal Business Improvement capacity to support business units with

their improvement plans.

Integration with Corporate Planning

4.2 The Department’s Strategic Planning process takes as its starting point the
Strategic Steer from the Minister. In committing business units to bring forward
draft proposals for the Department’s strategic business plans in the context of
the Steer, the Board of the Department also makes the specific request for
business units to demonstrate in their draft plans how they are to pursue the
main themes of the Business Improvement Strategy over the rolling 3-year
planning period. The Department’s annual Business Plan, in particular, the
Service Delivery Agreement (Part 2) sets out each year the specific actions to
be taken in that year in pursuit of the Strategy and the monitoring arrangements
which are in place measure progress against targets. The Business
Improvement Committee, chaired by the Director of Corporate Services will
manage and bring together the various strands of the Strategy and will provide
the Board with regular monitoring reports on progress.

Supporting the Strategy

4.3 The Department has established a Business Improvement Team as part of the
Finance and Information Services Division. This Team provides direct support to
business units in the development and implementation of their own improvement
plans. In particular, the Team provides resources in the areas of:

• Business improvement tools such as Charter Mark, EFQM, Balanced

Scorecard, IIP and other approaches.

• Routine appraisals of new and existing posts using JEGS and JESP.

• Strategic, organisational and business process reviews.

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5. STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES 2003-2006

5.1 Over the period 2003-2006, the Department will take forward programmes in
pursuit of the strategic aim. Much is already underway in terms of cross-cutting
programmes aimed at supporting improvement in all business units. An
overview of the current position for each of the themes is presented to set the
context. However, much of the work over this period will be informed by an initial
programme which is to be carried out in the first year to identify the potential for
business specific improvements. Therefore, the actions set out in this first
version of the Strategy include an initial series of strategic objectives consistent
with the Strategic Framework and which will provide the foundation for the
remainder of the programme.

Meeting Customer’s Needs

5.2 There is an overarching priority to ensure that services are delivered to meet the
needs of customers, both internal and external, and not the needs of the
Department. Arrangements are already in place to monitor and improve
performance in this area, mainly with regard to external customers, but more
needs to be done for internal customers which represent the greatest proportion
of expenditure.

5.3 First, there is a need to ensure that all service providers are aware of customer
needs and the extent to which they are addressing these. However, the
challenge is to ensure that services are provided in a way which is appropriate to
the needs of customers by giving them greater control over service level and
quality. In this way, support services will adapt to the changing needs of
Departments as they implement their own programmes. The key to achieving
this will be to examine the existing arrangements for charging for services,
quality of service provision and the Service Level Agreements with customers.

5.4 The Department is also committed to ensuring its key citizen-facing services are
delivered in a manner which affords maximum accessibility to customers. As
part of this, work is underway to ensure that by the end of 2005 all such services
can be delivered electronically. The Department is also working with the
Department of Regional Development and the Department of Enterprise, Trade
and Investment to pilot the Northern Ireland Citizen Interaction Centre (NICIC)
which will provide the potential for the citizen to access government services
through a single multi-channel point of contact, including telephone, email and
fax. In addition, the Department will be working with other Departments to take
forward the Julia Schofield Report 'NICS on the Web'. The e-Government
Strategy sets out a vision and a framework for the transformation of the business
of Government and the delivery of services to citizens and businesses and in this
context the Department will be working with other Departments and public sector
bodies to develop proposals which will make service delivery citizen-centric,
flexible, efficient and responsive.

5.5 Over the period of this Strategy 2003/4 – 2005/6, the Department and its
Agencies will take the following actions:

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 Strategic Objectives Target Date

Establish a baseline for customer satisfaction in March 2004

each main business area where this does not
already exist and develop action plans for
improvement

Implement the Recommendations of the Review March 2006

of Service Provision, including the arrangements
for charging

In the context of the e-Government Strategy, All key services available

implement the Department’s e-Business electronically by December
Strategy, including the delivery of all key 2005
services electronically by the end of 2005

Securing Effectiveness and Value for Money: Resource Management

5.6 At the corporate NICS level, the Department is already taking forward a number
of initiatives to improve resource management. There is also a duty on the
Department to ensure the efficient and effective use of the financial, human,
physical and information resources for which it is responsible. The Department
and its Agencies will ensure that staff are appropriately skilled and motivated to
provide a better and more modern service. Achieving this will require action to
ensure that the Department and its Agencies take systematic account of the
functional competences required for each job and that effective arrangements
are in place to ensure timely recruitment, training and staff development. To
achieve this, a new Human Resource Strategy will be launched which includes
the introduction of a new core competence and performance management
framework. In addition, while the Department as a whole has a level of sickness
absence among the lowest in the NICS, an action plan will be developed to
reduce this further still. In tandem with the work on reducing sick absence the
Department proposes to introduce a workplace health improvement programme
aimed a developing a more holistic and balanced approach to managing staff
well-being. The programme will include the provision of an employee assistance
scheme and health checks for staff.

5.7 On the management of financial resources and physical assets, the Department
is in the process of developing further its resource budgeting arrangements. The
review of charging arrangements aims to put in place effective arrangements for
resource management and decision making in respect of those services the
Department and its Agencies provide to external customers. The on-going
programme of training for budget holders will continue but new management
information and other support systems will be developed to assist managers in
the effective planning for physical assets and capital investment.

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5.8 Accommodation for the Department’s headquarters’ staff is dispersed across
4 sites. This arrangement leads to inefficiencies with a significant amount of
time spent commuting between the main locations. In order to make better use
of available space and to improve communication work is underway to develop
proposals to rationalise the current arrangements.

5.9 It is recognised that the Department must do more and be seen to do more to
improve the efficiency and effectiveness of its operations. While this is important
in itself, in an environment characterised by stringent financial control, such
action is necessary to provide the Department and its Agencies with the flexibility
needed to address an increasing workload without, as far as possible, a
requirement for additional resources from other programmes.

5.10 The service which the Department delivers to its customers, whether internal or
external, depends on how well it can create, use and store information to make
decisions and thereby act in pursuit of its business objectives. In order to
manage, protect and exploit these vital information resources the Department
will develop an Information Management Strategy which will provide the
Departmental policy on information management and will also provide a route
map for its implementation.

5.11 The Department and its Agencies must also be able to respond flexibly in a
dynamic environment. In order to meet this challenge, the Department will, over
a 3 year horizon and in line with this year’s draft Budget proposals, deliver
2% annual efficiency improvements in Agencies and in particular service areas
in the core. In addition, a 1% annual reduction in running costs will be achieved
elsewhere within the Department, either through greater efficiency or by
re-prioritising its internal budgets from 2004-2005 onwards. All of the actions set
out in this strategy will support this objective.

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5.12 During the period of this 2003-2006 Strategy, the Department will take forward
the following actions:
Strategic Objectives
Implement the DFP HR Strategy Action
Plan, including action to improve training
and development, performance
management and tackle absenteeism by
March 2006
Implement the Departmental Strategy for
improving Information Management by
December 2006
Deliver annual efficiency savings of 2% in
the case of Agencies and service
providers through internal efficiencies or
reprioritisation
Deliver annual savings of 1% in the core
either through internal efficiencies or
reprioritisation
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Target Date
Introduce a competence linked
performance management
framework, for all grades below
SCS, to be operational for the
year 04/05 and beyond by June
2004
Promote workplace health
improvement and reduce sick
absence levels to 4.8% by
March 2005
All Agencies/Directorates to
achieve IiP accreditation/re-
accreditation by March 2004
Agree Departmental policy on
records management Nov 2003
Integrate paper and electronic
record keeping June 2004
Complete preparations for
implementation of Freedom of
Information Full Subject Access
Rights January 2005
Beyond this, and outside the
scope of the strategy are other
potential milestones such as:
Implementation EDRMS Dec
2006
From 2003-2004 onwards
From 2004-2005 onwards
 Securing Effectiveness and Value for Money: Organisational Effectiveness

5.13 The Department will ensure that it is structured and managed in a way which
best fits the delivery of its aims and objectives by reviewing, on an on-going
basis, its units of business so that all business areas are addressed over a
5-year cycle. It will also establish robust arrangements for corporate governance
and introduce more effective planning arrangements.

5.14 The Department’s Agencies are already subject to periodic organisational review
and this will continue. Moreover, as already noted, the Agencies operate within
defined frameworks which require the Chief Executives to provide for the
efficient and effective performance of their organisation and allow him/her to
seek appropriate delegations in the personnel and financial areas, if required, to
be able to do so. The Agencies are also required to meet testing annual
Ministerial targets covering financial and operational performances.

5.15 The Department is committed to the delivery of a programme of improvements.

However, action is needed to provide a baseline on which to develop an
improvement programme for the core of the Department. The Department
commits to benchmarking common services with those operating in comparable
organisations. In the first instance, a pilot benchmarking exercise will be
conducted to build internal capacity in this area and inform the wider application
of this technique. Other important developments impacting on the Department’s
capacity to improve its effectiveness will be the Accounting Services Programme
and the HRMI programme.

5.16 Using appropriate diagnostic tools it is also possible to conduct rapid

assessments of business areas’ positions, including the issue of Diversity. This
approach will be applied in core Directorates and used to develop Directorate
Business Improvement plans which will then form the basis of the work
programme over the period of this Strategy. In parallel with a programme of
reviews and to address the ad hoc need for process improvement in response to
immediate business requirements, there is a need to strengthen the
Department’s management services capacity in order to provide business areas
with support in the development and implementation of improvement plans.

5.17 Therefore, the Department will establish an internal resource (a Business

Improvement Team) to support managers in the continuous improvement of
operational processes, including the exploitation of new technology, the use of
EFQM and other improvement tools and through seeking to improve the
efficiency of practices and procedures. Arrangements will be put in place to
ensure that the best use is made of all of the Department’s internal specialist
resources in taking this forward.

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5.18 As pointed out earlier, the Department is committed to making available the
delivery of all its key citizen-facing services by 2005 and these are being taken
forward in the context of the e-Business Strategy. However, there is significant
potential to exploit the use of new technology in a number of internal business
processes. The Department will evaluate the scope to deliver a range of
corporate financial and personnel services to the desktop through an integrated
corporate programme before rolling out a wider suite of applications over the
period of this strategy.

5.19 During the period of this 2003-2006 Strategy, the Department will take forward
the following actions:

Strategic Objectives Target Date

Develop Directorate Business March 2004

Improvement Plans using
appropriate diagnostic and business
improvement tools

Establish and develop robust Full Statement of Internal Control

corporate governance arrangements to be signed for 2003-2004
in all business areas, including action Resource Accounts.
to safeguard against fraud

Identify the scope for improvement March 2004

by establishing in the first instance a
pilot Benchmarking of IS/IT Services

Demonstrate proof of the concept of March 2004

electronic delivery of corporate
financial and personnel services to
the desktop and bring forward
proposals for a strategic corporate
applications programme

Agree the future strategy for DFP’s April 2005

finance systems in line with the
Accounting Services Programme.

Implement the NICS Human April 2005

Resource Management Information
System in DFP

Carry out a programme of periodic Agree programme by April 2004

reviews of structures and
management arrangements for all
business areas to facilitate the
efficient and effective delivery of PfG,
the Modernising Government agenda
and other cross-cutting issues

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Implementing Successful Policies

5.20 The Department places a priority on developing and maintaining effective

policies to direct and support the services it provides to all of its customers and
to the benefit of the community. It is committed to following best practice in
designing and maintaining current and future policies. To date It has
demonstrated its commitment to ensuring that all policies achieve the purposes
for which they have been designed through pursuing a programme of policy
review in which the impact of the policies against the policy objectives to the
benefit of the community are evaluated. This review process will continue
throughout the period of this strategy and will be refined in the light of best
practice emerging from the Economic Policy Unit.

5.21 The Department will also discharge its responsibilities under Equality of
Opportunity, New TSN and Human Rights legislation and requirements. In
addition it will incorporate Rural Proofing in its policy processes. It will review its
current policies and practices to ensure that it is in full compliance and will
identify and implement any changes needed.

5.22 As regards action on specific policies, the Department is currently taking forward
a wide ranging programme of reforms. The Service Delivery reform has already
been highlighted in the Section dealing with customers’ needs. Other key
reforms being implemented over the period of this Strategy include: the
Financing and Funding of Public Services; Public Procurement; Rating; and
Office Accommodation. The systematic development and reform of aspects of
the civil law continue to be the core concern of the Office of Law Reform.
Although still at an early stage, work is also underway to reform NICS Human
Resource Management and the central support services for the Modernising
Government agenda.

5.23 However, more needs to be done to ensure continuous progress in transforming

the way services are delivered to the customer and in making best use of public
funds. The achieve this aim, the Department will put in place arrangements to
deliver on-going reform.

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5.24 During the period of this Strategy 2003-2006, the Department will take forward
the following actions:

Strategic Objectives Target Date

Implement the recommendations of March 2005

the Procurement Review, focusing
on securing best value for money
while integrating economic, social
and environmental policies in the
procurement process in accordance
with the programme agreed by the
Procurement Board.

Implement decisions arising from Vacant Rating by 2004

the Review of Rating policy,
including the introduction of rating of Industrial de-Rating by 2005
vacant property, the phasing out of
industrial de-rating and the reform Domestic Rating by 2006
of domestic rating March 2006.

Complete arrangements for Agree Action Plan by December 2003

rationalising and managing the
office estate by March 2006 Give vacant possession of IDB Hse and
Churchill Hse as part of the Victoria Sq
Development by June 2004

Monitor progress, keep under On-going

review and further develop the
NICS HR Strategy and associated
rolling Action Plan

Implement a programme of policy Agree programme by April 2004

reviews taking account of agreed
guidance and ensuring all policies
comply with Equal Opportunity, New
TSN, Human Rights legislation and
regulations and Rural proofing
considerations.

Implement the Department’s On-going

Equality Scheme

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