Better financial improvement plans with Prochainmatrix

09 October 2020 Paid content

Financial challenges and risks to organisational budgets are very real issues. And with a heightened need for agile working and collaboration across the system – wouldn’t it be prudent to ensure financial improvement is managed more effectively?

NHS bodies are constantly looking for improved outcomes. But too often people justify continuing to do the same thing with excuses such as: ‘we’re busy’; ‘this is a known pain’; ‘my spreadsheet tells me everything’; or ‘change is too difficult’. 

Paid content portrait_prochainmatrix_204x307A wholesale step-change in the processes used to manage financial improvement is a big task. But you can take incremental and logical steps to improve pivotal processes.

The digital agenda in the NHS should enable the transformation of service delivery and there is an opportunity to capitalise on the momentum gained in the response to Covid-19.

Increasing virtual outpatient appointments and remote monitoring of intensive care patients are just two of the key achievements during this period1.

But the drive for improvement should also flow into corporate functions including the management of FIPs. There are numerous challenges that could be addressed – superficial annual plans, lack of ownership or succession planning, working in isolation and silos, paper and email based weak governance and the use of numerous spreadsheets by multiple business functions to enter and report on benefits.

An additional issue that organisations face is the lack of transparency around spend and agreements. This has a direct impact on the organisation’s financial health. There is often no coherent repository for organisation-wide agreements (contracts). Or if it does exist, it is not complete and is dealt with in silos. This means executives often do not have an overview of the potential opportunities available to the organisation or the risks they should be aware of.

The trend among public sector organisations is for only 15%-20% of the total non-pay costs to be easily identifiable against a ‘credible’ contract. Furthermore, the management of contracts is seen as a procurement department function, whereas it should be the responsibility of all the major service delivery business units. Management of the organisation’s contracts should not be seen as an extension of a sourcing exercise.

The 10 minimum objectives for a digital solution to deliver the effective management of  FIPs.

1. Provide a real-time system accessible by all staff over the web, anywhere, anytime.

2. Provide an organisation-wide solution that ensures robust, auditable governance in the development and management of initiatives and cost improvement programmes (CIP)/FIP schemes and that allow clear accountability and transparency.

3. Provide web-enabled software through a secure infrastructure. This should cover the complete pathway to capture ideas, convert them to plans, monitor their delivery and provide adjustments to budgets. This in effect allows the numbers to flow from service lead to the programme management office to finance (with a proactive feedback loop).

4. Reporting should be transparent with full drill down capabilities.

5. Provide readily available reports that are accessible 24/7.

6. System should support and promote collaborative working across departments.

7. Promote ownership of ideas and leadership among service heads in delivery of planning and benefits of CIPs/FIPs.

8. Offer a multi-year forward view of CIPs/FIPs and the challenges of delivering CIPs/FIPs.

9. Provide a credible organisation-wide contracts repository, which reduces risk, supports operational, transformational and cost-control plans.

10. Initiate positive change within the organisation and support an enhanced organisational culture.

Prochainmatrix has helped its clients to address the challenges by providing a cloud-based solution, with a structured methodology.

In response to Covid-19, we continued to provide our services and enhanced our engagement through remote support, which included training, strategy execution and implementation of solutions. 

Prochainmatrix provides organisation-wide and web-enabled software through a secure infrastructure. Our suite of modules covers the ability to capture ideas, develop these into plans, monitor delivery and have an impact on bottom line. Our suite of modules support collaboration, enabling service lines to drive improvements and efficiencies across the organisation. By deploying our solution, tracking of FIPs will be more credible and transparent but also more efficient.
 
Its use can act as a catalyst for change by supporting a full review of operational day-to-day business processes. This can ensure benefits such as improved productivity and delivery in the right place at the right time. 

 



Get in contact for a chat about how our solution can help. For more information visit the website or contact the team.

1 https://nhsproviders.org/a-new-era-of-digital-leadership/introduction