Prioritization and Portfolio Management in the Public Sector is a complex task. Unlike commercial organizations there is no single unifying goal of profitability to act as the final arbiter on difficult choices. In the public sector there are typically multiple strategic goals – often very diverse in nature.
GenSight PPM in the Public Sector
A broad range of public sector and not-for-profit organizations benefit from the GenSight approach, including:
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Central Government
Local Government
Charitable Organizations
Health Authorities
Education
The GenSight approach recognizes that multiple goals must be built into the prioritization process. These goals usually are multi-dimensional in nature – encompassing social, political, economic, environmental and other aspects. It is tempting to say these divergent goals cannot be considered alongside one another – however, when you have a budget to allocate across competing activities that span such diverse goals then you must compare them.
The following case study illustrates the process of applying Portfolio Management in a large government department.
Defra manage £4 billion portfolio of projects with GenSight Project Portfolio Management (PPM) solution.
Defra (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) is a UK Government Department. The overarching challenge for Defra is to enable everyone to live within our environmental means. This is most clearly exemplified by the need to:
tackle climate change internationally and through domestic action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and
secure a healthy, resilient, productive and diverse natural environment.
A Diverse Portfolio
Defra have used the GenSight Enterprise Portfolio Management software to help to manage the prioritisation of a diverse portfolio of projects and activities including flood management, fuel poverty and environmental initiatives, which can run from a few months to many years.
The GenSight software includes advanced web-based reporting systems and dashboards that use graphical, numerical and tabular displays to provide analysis and reporting on key performance metrics. Based on the scoring system chosen by Defra, GenSight provides an objective visual overview of each project’s overall contribution to strategic goals, based upon numerical and qualitative data.
Priority Based Approach to Budget Allocation
The PPM application helps measure the strategic value and other benefits of each project, as well as the level of commitment to each activity. It highlights projects that have significant cross-cutting benefits to multiple strategic goals, and helps assess the probability of their success. GenSight also analyses resource allocation and spending and provides a prioritisation based approach to budget allocation.
Chris Hix, head of finance for climate change at Defra said: “The department deals with crises such as animal disease emergencies and floods, but also has long-term commitments including the objective of climate change mitigation and adaptation. The department must balance multiple and diverse priorities whilst also taking into account Ministerial, legislative and European Union requirements. We therefore need a tool to support strategic decision-making. Prioritisation and criteria based decision-making helps to get to balanced views and create consensus on the level of contribution of each activity. We are looking at the contribution of individual projects, and also assessing the full portfolio of the Department.”
The benefits provided by GenSight to Defra include:
- The provision of a project portfolio view across the department
- A greater focus on alignment with objectives
- A systematic comparison between activities
- A framework for budget and resource allocation decisions
- Analysis of the balance of costs vs. benefits across the departmental objectives
David Munt, managing director of The GenSight Group said: “As well as its public accountability and pressure to fulfil political objectives, Defra needs to contend with the management of a large budget, which must still be divided between a vast number of projects with conflicting interests and levels of emergency. Prioritising spending and strategic decision-making on this level, taking into account the complexity of data and interests of different stakeholders, can only be carried out objectively with the support of a flexible PPM application such as GenSight. ”
Renew Defra
For the past 18 months, the Renew Defra programme has aimed at transforming the way in which Defra does business to make the department more effective, responsive and accountable. One of the Renew objectives is to prioritise activities to match the overall level of resource. Where projects and the funds allocated to them were previously kept in silos, the focus is now on the overall outcome of the department and the value it provides to the taxpayer. The GenSight approach reflects Defra’s objective of prioritising its portfolio according to the level of contribution of each of the 600 activities across the department.
About Defra
The overarching challenge for Defra is to enable everyone to live within our environmental means. This is most clearly exemplified by the need to:
tackle climate change internationally and through domestic action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and
secure a healthy, resilient, productive and diverse natural environment.
Central to achieving these goals will be reducing the environmental impact of the lifestyles we lead, the products that the country’s economy produces and consumes, and the waste we produce. We also need to reduce the global impact of our food production and consumption, improving the contribution that a profitable and competitive farming industry in this country can make to our environment.
These challenges can only be met by a respected department, making it vital that we focus on delivering to the needs of our many customers efficiently and effectively. Defra will do this while maintaining high levels of protection of human, animal, and plant health and ensuring the economy is resilient to risks such as those from flooding, disruption to food or water supply and the consequences of a chemical, biological or nuclear incident. Defra is also responsible for enabling adaptation to the inevitable impacts of climate change.
Defra champions Sustainable Development, helping Government as a whole to deliver economic, social and environmental sustainability. Defra is also the focal point for rural policy, supporting strong rural communities and ensuring that dispersed rural needs are reflected in social and place-based policies across Government. The Department has a strong international dimension, with a critical role in both European Union and global policy making. http://www.defra.gov.uk/
