BRC Business Planning Flashcards
What parts of BP approach will remain the same as last year? (3)
Timelines
BP process will run to the same timelines as previous years. We will input to the BRC wide business planning process which remains the same timeframe
Submission dates
Draft business plans will need to be submitted by mid-August (1 week later for partner teams) and draft budgets by beginning of September
Collaboration
We will have moments for collaboration and looking at the directorate view through DMT and FLG sessions
What new approaches are there this year? (5)
Concentrate & Focus
BRC-wide our planning imperatives are concentrate and focus. This means doing less, better – being courageous about what we should stop doing and focusing on activities where we can have the greatest impact.
BRC planning principles
4 planning principles will inform planning. All directorates in BRC plan with a similar lens to enable strategic decision making. Organisation wide planning moments will be held over the summer.
New FRSE objectives
5 FRSE overarching 2024 objectives have been agreed by DMT at the beginning to help teams use as a framework when planning
Shorter CSO sessions open to FLG
The CSO review sessions will be shortened (each team will have 10 mins to present business plan and budget and 20 mins for discussion) and be opened up to the whole FLG to join to promote transparency and collaboration
DMT workshop
DMT will have a half day planning workshop to further scrutinise the plans, budgets and discuss workforce plans and look at the directorate view as a whole
June Planning Dates (3)
12th – 14th June
Planning guidance and template sent to FLG and discussed in at FLG session
Mid June to mid August
Teams start early planning based on approach agreed by DMT member and their heads of teams
30th June
Budgeting guidance issued from corporate finance
July Planning Dates (4)
July to October
BRC organisation-wide planning – org-wide guidance and joint support (from Strategy, Finance, Workforce Planning) shared to all directorates in early July
Mid July –moment to share early thinking and look at cross cutting themes and direction of travel (format TBC)
July
Workshops for Workforce Planning
(pre-read will be made available)
- reviewing last years plans
- looking ahead to future requirements.
Late July/early August
FLG moment to for collaboration between relevant teams (format TBC)
August Planning Dates (3)
11th August
Deadline for draft business plans for income driving teams
14th August
Budgeting templates made available
25th August
Deadline for draft business plans for partner teams
September Planning dates (4)
6th September
Deadline for Staff and Activity Budgets to be loaded in the planning system (Anaplan)
25-Sept (?)
FLG planning sessions spanning 1.5 days
18-Sept (?)
DMT half day planning session
End September
FRSE directorate plan submitted to the central planning team
September Review (1.5 days for presentation of plans by relevant FLG member)
Intended Outcomes (3)
Intended outcomes
Heads of teams to come together to
a) demonstrate how objectives are being met
b) demonstrate how they are driving the budget
c) to understand other teams’ plans
September Review (1.5 days for presentation of plans by relevant FLG member) format (5)
Department exec summary
Each department to have scheduled time to present an exec summary plus time for questions / discussion
Online
To be held online to enable a smooth transition between team plan
Required Attendance
Attended by CSO, DMT, Budgeting & Workforce Planning Lead
Optional Attendance
FLG can join for any parts of the 1.5 days (although not mandatory) to encourage collaboration and provide visibility
Pre-read
Plans to be shared in advance with time to read and prepare thoughts, comments & questions – this will be expected of attendees to enable efficient discussions
September DMT review (0.5 days)
Intended outcomes (3)
Format (3)
a) provide a space for more rigorous scrutiny of the plans
b) review the overall budget and workforce plan requests
c) look at prioritisation
Required Attendance
Attended in person by CSO & DMT
Discussion
Round table discussion of key themes from FLG plans
Directorate Position
Review the directorate level position
What is the intended outcome of the July session?
What is the proposed format? (4)
To come together to:
a) understand direction of travel
b) understand potential areas of overlap or collaboration that is an input into building the plans
- 2 hours online
- Each department is given a slide to populate beforehand summarising their early thinking
- Member from department has a short time to present early thinking, talking to their slide
- Time allowed after each presentation for group discussion / immediate questions
What is the August session for? (2)
What is the intended outcome? (2)
What is the format? (4)
A Q&A of draft plans; a moment to ‘check in’
A forum predominantly for partner teams (but open to all) to
a) understand plans
b) have an opportunity to engage and ask questions
- 1 hour in person
- Teams to have read plans prior to session
- Open drop in session for all FLG
- Speed meeting / parents’ evening style, where income generating teams sit down and partner teams rotate or go and speak to those they have questions for
What should the 2024 business plan include? (7)
- what your department will do in 2024 (your deliverables)
- why you will do it (intended strategic outcomes)
- how you will do it (what resources, capabilities and inputs will you need)
- when will you do it by (what is the timeframe and sequencing)
- what the dependencies are (what assumptions and risks have you considered)
- a clear link and narrative to the financial figures being submitted, to explain how the budget will be achieved
- detail how performance against your objectives and budgets will be monitored
What should all BP work contribute to delivering?
The FRSE objectives
Should FTP and resulting changes be included in the plans? Why?
Yes. We must ensure we plan to deliver the transformation.
Why should plans be realistic? (2)
- We’ll all be accountable for delivering what we put in our plans
- we will review our performance metrics against plans over the year.
