Case Study
How Numbero helped secure funding for the Transforming Demographic Data Programme
January 2022 – June 2022
Objectives
Demographics is at the forefront of how the NHS and its partners identify and communicate with the English population. It is therefore vital that we have a Demographics service that ensures health and care professionals can accurately and efficiently identify and communicate with the population when needed.
Demographics is integral to the NHS Transformation Directorate (previously NHSx) Data Strategy for Health and Social Care, in the drive to change the relationship between patients and their data; enabling them to see their data, update it and correct it.
Improving Demographic data will improve patient safety and improve patient experience.
NHS Digital and NHS Transformation Directorate identified the Transforming Demographic Data Programme as a key strategic programme, but required a Full Business Case to secure funding to be able to deliver it’s objectives.
Challenges
The Programme needed to develop full HMT 5-case (green book compliant) Business Case for Transforming Demographic Data Programme to secure funding.
The Programme team had no experience of producing HMT 5-case business cases.
The Programme needed to secure funding for ~£24m in order to continue pas the end of the current financial year (only 3 months remaining when Numbero were engaged).
The programme was competing for funding amid a climate of funding cuts and consolidation of services across NHS Digital and NHS Transformation Directorate, so needed to deliver a compelling business case to secure funding.
NHS Digital did not have internal resource with the capacity and experience required to deliver the business case within the required timeframe.
Solutions
Numbero quickly established a structure and plan to deliver business case on time
After an initial appraisal of the situation, Doug Smith, Numbero’s Director very quickly got to grips with the key issues the programme faced with regard to securing the necessary investment, putting in place and managing a structured process to develop the case.
Due to the challenging timelines, Doug ensured that key stakeholders were engaged in agreeing the deliverables and timelines, and where neccesary escalated as issues arose.
Numbero engaged with all key stakeholders to ensure business case was developed in line with expectations
Doug identified the key stakeholders who would be required to support the production of the business case, including:
- Programme delivery leads
- Product owners
- Benefits realisation team
- Economics advisor
- Commercial advisor
- Finance controller
- Service delivery leadership
Doug engaged with all the key stakeholders to ensure they understood the deliverables and benefits of the programme, and to ensure their individual needs would be assured within the business case.
“Doug was a self-starter from day one, getting up to speed with the large background and reasons for change quickly, engaging with a myriad of stakeholders across multiple organisations to put together a comprehensive case.
Doug sought SME knowledge as needed, often holding extensive dialog with these stakeholders to deliver a case which met their needs and ultimately could be approved by the appropriate governance.
He was also very financially competent, handling the complex benefits and financial case calculations required by the five case business case model.
I would not hesitate to look up Doug again if I was in need of a business case development expert.”
Stewart Fishman, Lead Product Manager, NHS Digital
Numbero developed all financial modelling to high standard and in line with HMT green book requirements
The Programme required a 10 year ‘Whole life cost’ for the business cost, which included 3 years of Programme development and implementation.
The financial modelling needed to cover both Capital and Revenue expenditure, and ‘Cash Releasing’ benefits.
The Programme was being delivered through a combination of traditional Waterfall and Agile methodologies, and contained a mix of defined deliverables and Discover elements that would see requirements evolve during the programme. Doug worked with the Programme team to develop a series of financial model scenarios, and a subsequent ‘most likely’ cost estimate based on a set of assumptions, to ensure a realistic and transparent investment cost was sought.
Doug worked with the programme team and the financial controller to ensure the correct accounting assumptions around cost and revenue accounting which is critical to NHS funding.
Doug worked closely with the programme, the NHS Digital Benefits realisation team and Economics advisors to ensure a robust set of benefits were included in the financial modelling, identifying case releasing, non-cash releasing and enabled benefits which would be key to showing the value of the investment sought by the business case.
Numbero developed a "robust and thoughtful business case"
Doug led the business case development, ‘holding the pen’ for large sections of the business case, and delivered a fully compliant, yet succinct, business case as required to secure funding for the Programme.
Doug ensured that the business case was delivered on time and the respective review boards in line with NHS Digital and NHS Transformation Directorate governance processes.
Doug led the responses to any queries raised as part of the review process, further engaging with respective stakeholders to ensure that that the final version of the business case was submitted for final approval with support from all stakeholders.
“Thanks Doug was great to work with you and really appreciate your work on making this a really robust and thoughtful business case.”
Stephen Koch, Executive Director of Platforms, NHS Digital
Final Result
Funding secured to enable transformation programme to deliver cash releasing benefits of ~£70m
Programme will enable benefits to be realised by multiple other workstreams
Doug came into NHS Digital at very short notice to lead development of a c.£25m Programme Business Case for our Transforming Demographics Data Programme.
Doug very quickly got to grips with the key issues the programme faced with regard to securing the necessary investment, putting in place and managing a structured process to develop the case.
The PBC was developed and presented for approval against a challenging timeframe; the high standard to which the case had been developed drawing positive feedback from both reviewers and the approval body alike and setting a benchmark for future business case developers to aspire to.
My thanks go to Doug for his professionalism and hard work throughout the process and I would certainly look to engage him again in the future for similar work.
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