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Derby DECATS - Transforming Derby City Council

Overview of DECATS project at Derby City Council

Organisational diagnostic at Derby City Council
Derby City Council agreed to be a pilot authority for the DECATS programme (Delivering Efficient Corporate and Transactional Services). This organisational diagnostic 'scan' has been developed by Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC) and supported by Local Partnerships (formerly 4ps), providing a systematic way to gather process and service information, identify opportunities for savings, and build a case for change.

DECATS takes a ‘whole organisation' approach to operational efficiency, which can provide a key input to a business transformation strategy. It will answer big questions around cost and revenue generation benefits, where they are likely to come from and how much resource transformation is likely to need. It also shows what leading practice should be used, compared to current practice.

This is particularly useful where an end-to-end approach is needed, or if there's a need to justify organisation-wide change management resource or IT rationalisation and investment.

DECATS doesn't provide the same information as the demand analysis stage of a "lean" project (which identifies and measures failure demand), but does provide a useful precursor to understanding where "lean" needs to be focused. "Lean" often focuses on front line services as a priority because that is where performance improvement is most noticeable; the DECATS diagnostic reminds authorities not to ignore back-office areas like procurement, financial management, HR and ICT.

The diagnostic 'scan' is designed to examine the organisation by analysing horizontal processes rather than vertical departments.

DECATS at Derby City - key conclusions
The 20 week diagnostic 'scan' was completed in September, identifying significant duplication in processes across the authority and considerable opportunities for improvement. These opportunities were analysed and prioritised, culminating in 14 outline business cases covering a wide range of areas, from procurement to change management. The overall programme incorporates:

- Potential cumulative net savings of £19.2m over next three years, principally from procurement and staff reduction.
- Steady state budget savings of £21m p.a. from 2014-15.
- Investment of £19m - £11m in ICT and £5.5m in consultancy, project management and resourcing.
- Reduction of 465 fte's over 3 years (approx. 10% of staff) without any compulsory redundancies.

Funding
The diagnostic at Derby City Council was funded by EM IEP (£85k) and Local Partnerships (£25k).

Contact details
Gordon Stirling
Director - Policy, Performance and Communication
Derby City Council
Derby City Council
PO Box 6291, Derby, DE1 2YL

Email: gordon.stirling@derby.gov.uk
Tel: 01332 258 457

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