Business Planning Guidance


Our Priorities

  • We will provide a good start in life for all of our children.
  • We will prepare our young people for adulthood and employment.
  • We will care for our older and vulnerable people.
  • We will support and stimulate our local economy.
  • We will maintain the safety and security of our region.
  • We will protect and sustain our environment.

Our Principles

  • Protection – for our most vulnerable people – pre-birth and early years, children and adults at risk, transition periods, those experiencing deprivation and poverty, and older people; and places.
  • Prioritisation – at a time of financial challenge we need to maximise the impact of spend on positive outcomes for our people and economy and invest in those areas of greatest need.
  • Prevention – we need to intervene early at the key stages of peoples’ lives and make our region confident and resilient.

Our Values

  • Putting the Customer First
  • Continuous improvement
  • Equality and diversity
  • Local decision-making and service delivery
  • Openness and communication
  • Teamwork and partnership
  • Trust and honesty

1

Contents

Introduction / Page 1
Business Planning Context / Page 2
Developing a Business Plan / Page 7
Roles in developing Business Plans / Page 8
Appendix 1 – Content of Business Plans / Page 9

Introduction

1.Effective business planning and performance management are essential elements of every manager's job, and are crucial in supporting our Council to achieve Best Value and deliver Council Priorities and Values. The purpose of business planning is:

to agree clear expectations with Elected Members on how each Department contributes to Council Priorities and Values,and how they will work with others to deliver these.

to set the overall aims and objectives for Departmentsagainst which performance can be measured, and to develop a plan to achieve them, linked directly to the Dumfries and Galloway Single Outcome Agreement and Council Priorities and Values.

to allow managers to look ahead, allocate resources, focus on key targets, and prepare for risks and opportunities.

2.Business planning ensures that Departments set objectives and key performance indicators which are realistic, linked to Council priorities, properly resourced and effectively monitored. This ensures that our Council uses its resources effectively and efficiently and can readily manage change or challenges.

Business Planning

3.ThisBusiness PlanningGuidance is intended to support Directors and managers in the preparation and delivery of their Business Plans. It is important that Departments ensure that the right amount of time and resources are allocated to business planning, and focus onfour fundamental questions:

Where are we now?

Where do we want to be?

How will we get there?

How will we know we have got there?

4.Business plans must be easily understood by our service users, stakeholders and, crucially, all members of staff. They must be developed through engagement with Elected Members, staff, partners and other key stakeholders.

Business PlanningContext

5.Business plans are a key element in the overall strategic planning and delivery of our Council priorities and values, because they ensure Departmentsfocus onshort, medium and long term priorities to achieve outcomes and make service improvements. Business plans are intended to support improvement across our services; better co-ordination between Departments; assure the delivery of our Council’s priorities and our Single Outcome Agreement, and ensure team and individual development plans directly link to these. (Figure 1- Business Planning Context illustrates the ‘links and context for our Business Plans.)

Managers are responsible for the effective deployment of resources within their Departmentsand their teams look to them for leadership and direction. This reinforces the importance of having clear business plans that can be communicated to staff in a way that makes them meaningful to their work and helps them understand their contribution to ourCouncil’spriorities and values. Teams and individuals must have work plans which reflect the key activities they carry out, and clearly demonstrate that achieving good performance is absolutely essential to the delivery of the business of our Council. This, in turn, links directly to the individual Performance andDevelopment Review (PDR) process.

Planning & Reporting Cycle

6.Business planning is a continuous process involving reviewing the performance and progress of Department delivery. Business Plans are produced for a three year period but reviewed and updated annually, to align with the budget setting process (Figure 2).

7.Directors and their Department Management Team will prepare (or update) and agreebusiness plans before presenting them to the Corporate Management Team for review. Corporate Management Team will ensure that plans are co-ordinated and aligned. Directors will then present their draft business plan to the relevant Service or Management Committee for their scrutiny and agreement. This is set out in Figure 3.[1].

Figure 2 - Planning and Reporting Cycle

Figure 3 - Planning Activity

Year 1 (2012/13) / Year 2 - refresh / Year 3 - refresh
Dec-Feb /
  • Officer review and preparation of information
  • Analysis, including staff engagement
/
  • Officer review and preparation of information
  • Analysis ofchanges within current plan, including staff engagement on the changes

Feb - Mar /
  • Following Budget decisions, development sessions with Committees on:-
objectives
service improvements
risk
performance measures
indicators /
  • Following Budget decisions, development sessions with Committees on any changes to:-
objectives
service improvements
risk
performance measures
indicators
Mar /
  • Department Management Teams develop draft business plans based on outputs from analysis and development sessions.
/
  • Department Management Teams refresh business plans based on outputs from analysis and development sessions.

Mar-Apr /
  • Corporate Management Team review draft or refreshed business plans, for start of financial year, to assure quality and consistency

Apr-May /
  • Previous year’s annual performance information collated and reviewed for reporting as comparator information within new/refreshed business plans.

June-July /
  • Further development sessions with newly appointed Committees.

June-July /
  • Directors present three year business plans, with comparative performance information to Committees, for approval
/
  • Directors present refreshed business plan update, with comparative performance information to Committees, for approval

Performance Management

8.Business planning is a major building block in developing and supporting improvement inperformance management across our Council. It helps us embed performance management and provides a common framework for doing this across all Departments. It asks us to identify what we intend to do and how we will know when we have got there. It ensures that we affirm our objectives and commitments and, importantly, how we will measure and report our performance.

9.Business planning and performance management are based on the cycle of “plan-do-review-revise”. Elected Members have a lead role in ensuring that Departments plan properly, deliver what they say and through this, learn and improve. Figure 4below outlines the performance reporting structure which the Council operates:

Figure 4: Performance Reporting

10.The format of performance reporting to Committee is aimed at assisting Elected Members to focus on delivery against business plans and any exceptions. Separate guidance has been developed to support Elected Members scrutinise and officers report on business plan performance.

11.Performance reportswill be prepared forCommittees as follows:

on an annual basis a report will be prepared for Full Council which details progress made on the Councils’ key strategic priorities

halfway through the operating year - to provide a progress report to Elected Members on delivery of individualbusiness plans;

at the end of the operating year the business plan or refresh will include reporting on prior year performance; and

Area Committees will receive performance reports each month on a rolling basis as per an agreed schedule.

12.Each Department will use Covalent to record performance information and ensure this is maintainedon a regular basis.

13.Key Performance Indicators: Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) will form the basis of Committee and public reporting on performance. KPIs will also be reported, as part of the Area Framework, where they can be segmented on an Area basis. This will be clearly set out in business plans.

14.Supporting Performance Indicators: Teams within Departments will have a range of supporting performance indicators relating to the operational management of their services. These will be monitored by Department Management Teams. Supporting performance indicators will be developed and maintained on Covalent for operational and management review.

Developing a Business Plan

15.Business plans provide details of:

TheDepartmentandactivities it hasresponsibilityforandthecontext in which they are delivered.

TheaimsandobjectivesoftheDepartmentexpressed in a way that can be understood by Elected Members, staff, partners and thepublic.

Howsuccesswillbemeasured,thetargetsthataretobeachieved and comparisons (benchmarking) ofotherproviderswhoareconsidered market leaders.

TheimprovementactivitiesthattheDepartment will undertake to improve service delivery.

16.The broad structure of business plans will follow the outline below and should reflect the contents and shape of the template provided. Each Department may augment and develop the template to reflect their particular needs and its functions.

17.There are five main sectionsto our business plans:

1.Executive Summary

2.Where we are now

3.Where we want to be

4.How we will get there

5.How we will know we have got there

18.More detail on the content and context of these sections are set out at Appendix1.

Roles in developing Business Plans

19.The following describes the contribution that each individual within our Council will make to ensure our business plans are developed appropriately.

a.All Elected Members:

Provide strategic leadership and set priorities.

Approve budget and allocation to Departments and priorities.

Propose changes to priorities through scrutiny of performance at Service, Management and Area Committees.

b.Service and Management Committees:

Approve Departmentbusiness plans.

Scrutinise the delivery of business plans.

Hold Directors and Department Management Teams to account for the delivery of their services and to ensure business plans are guiding their work.

c.Scrutiny & Performance Committee: Ensure quality assurance is applied to the development of business plans.

d.Area Committees: Hold Directors and local Service managers to account for the delivery of services in their area, within the context of the commitments and objectives in business plans.

e.Corporate Management Team:

Review draft business plans to assure alignment and co-ordination and ensure they reflect guidance and quality required.

Ensure cross-cutting and partnership work properly and are consistently reflected.

f.Directors and Department Management Teams:

Accountable for preparation and delivery of business plans.

Provide leadership to staff to deliver on objectives.

g.Area Based Teams:

Monitoring performance against the Area suite of KPIs

Development of proposals to address underperformance and to achieve service improvement, particularly in relation to cross cutting services.

h.Team Managers:

Accountable for preparation and delivery of team and individual work plans.

Ensure all team members contribute to the development of business plans.

i.All Staff:Understand how their activity contributes to their Department objectives and deliver on personal targets.

1

Appendix 1 – Content of Business Plans

Executive Summary

1.Every Business Plan should begin with a clear statement which links Department objectives directly to the Council Priorities, Single Outcome Agreement and National Context.

How we contribute to our Council Priorities and Values: /

Show clearly how the Department contributes to Council Priorities, the Single Outcome Agreement, and national policy context. This will link to the Department objectives described below.

Service Objectives: /

Describe your Department objectives– these should contribute to the Council Priorities, the Single Outcome Agreement, and national policy context and direct your Department activity.

These objectives should be clear, understandable and Specific, Measureable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely (SMART) and be shared by staff in the Department.

Service Challenges: /

Describe the environment that the Department operates in including current and emerging issues that will influence decisions about activities.

Where we are now

2.This section provides an overview of the Department as it is at present. This should include:

Purpose and aims: /

General information about the Department.

Structure: /

Department structure chart describing the high level organisation and key activities undertaken. Senior Officers should be identified on the structure chart.

Finances: /

Include approved budget, by Service, for 2012/13 with summary of savings agreed, in format of Activity Based Budget. Indicative budget for 2013/14 and 2014/15 should be included with outline budget developments. Include indicative capital allocations.

Describe how the Department will commit to providing resource to support the budget development for future years; this will involve the identification of savings and the resource to work these savings proposals up through the scrutiny process.

People: /

Include current staff composition is and the people management issues the Department is addressing currently. Human Resources will provide a summary analysis of Department workforce information for inclusion. Include workforce indicators including race, gender, disability and also religion or belief, age and sexual orientation where possible.

The skills and qualifications deployed within the Department workforce should also be set out.
Key focus of existing learning and development plans should also be summarised.
Assets: /

The Department should manage and monitor its land, buildings, vehicles and equipment to ensure procurement and usage is optimised, efficient and sustainable.

Outline the key asset management issues and include a reference to appropriate asset management plans/systems, and resources deployed.
For Carbon Management every Department must detail projects/plans/policies which will contribute to the achievement of the service’s emissions reduction target.
Partners: /

Set out partners the Department works collectively with to achieve shared outcomes. This is primarily focused on co-ordination of resources and activities, achieving shared outcomes and making it easier for customers to access the services they need.

Where we want to be

3.This section provides an overview of what the Service will deliver and how it will improve. This will include:

Values: /

Describe briefly how the Department has built the Council’s Values into the way it works.

Service Improvements: /

Set out the main improvements the Department intends to deliver over the three years of the plan and refer to a more detailed Annex. Improvements will have specific targets and measures. These will be monitored on Covalent as part of performance management at a Department level.

Performance: /

Business planning helps us to embed performance management and provides a common framework for doing this across the Council. This section should describe the Key Performance Indicators[2] which link the Business Plan through the Department objectives to the Single Outcome Agreement.

Departments have identified their objectives in the Executive Summary and they should provide a summary outline of performance measures and refer to a more detailed annex where priorities, objectives, measures, and past performance are set out. Where the Department leads or makes a significant contribution to SOA measures these must be included in the Department Business Plan and hyperlinked to the published SOA.

Each Department will be allocated a carbon emissions reduction target, calculated to contribute to an overall Council target of 20% by 2014/2015 and 42% by 2020. To ensure that targets are consistently met, the process of actively reducing a Service’s carbon emissions must be incorporated into each Department’s business plan.

This will also indicate areas where performance will be reported on an Area basis.

Major Projects: /

Describe any key projects which the Department is leading which have not been described elsewhere.

How we will get there

4.This section provides an overview of how the Service will deliver on its commitments and manage risk. This should include:

Working with Partners: /

Describe plans for joint working and commissions with other Services and partners

Strategic Commissioning is about assessing people’s needs, and ensuring the very best quality of service provision within the resources available. It provides clarity and consistency to the way we secure and deliver services and increases our accountability, so that we can ensure the public receive the right service, at the right time and in the right place.
Strategic Commissions should be set out here.
Developing our People: /

Development and implementation of our Workforce Strategy within our Business Plans will help us to manage our workforce and enable us to develop the talent, engagement and skills of our employees.

In this section, outline the key workforce development issues for the period covered by the Plan. The information contained in this section should be a high level summary of how the Department is contributing to the delivery of the Council Workforce Strategy.This will include a number of initiatives including the Performance and Development Review Scheme (PDR) for every individual member of staff; reward and recognition; leadership and management development; learning and development plans; staff focus groups and surveys.
Engagement & Communication: /

Departments must outline the arrangements they have in place for public involvement and informing and engaging with service users, stakeholders and staff.

Departments need to have clear arrangements for public involvement and stakeholder engagement as part of the development of their key strategies and priorities. Departments must also keep their service users and stakeholders informed about the range of services they provide, their performance and their plans for improvement.