Business Planning

Question 1

What is a business plan?

Answer 1

A formal statement of a set of goals and the plan for reaching the goals.

Question 2

What factors must be considered when producing a business plan?

Answer 2

Maim objectives to be achieved
Staffing levels
Budgets
Timescales
External factors eg economy

Question 3

How does business planning work in the VOA?

Answer 3

Individual targets depending on the workstream you are in, number of Challenges to be cleared in a year or fee income in DVS

Question 4

What are KPIs?

Answer 4

Measure how effectively a company is achieving a goal

Question 5

What are the VOAs KPIs

Answer 5

Volume of cases cleared
Timeliness in dealing with work
Quality of valuations
Quality of customer service

Question 6

What is Quality assurance?

Answer 6

Ensures appropriate case processes are in place, undertaken on a sample of work

Question 7

What are SVT targets?

Answer 7

DWP work to be carried out within 7 days for 80% of cases and 12 days for 100% of cases

Question 8

How are fees determined in the VOA?

Answer 8

Services priced on a full cost recovery basis, hourly fees come from the direct cost of the resource requiree

Question 9

What do you find in a business plan?

Answer 9

General statement, objectives, goals and strategies and actions

Question 10

How many levels are there to a business plan?

Answer 10

3

Corporate - affects entire company, long term, broad
Managerial - affects each area of organisation
Operational - affects individuals

Question 11

How does business planning contribute to the achievement of corporate objectives?

Answer 11

Individuals contribute to targets set by management which reflect the corporate goals of an organisation

Question 12

What are service level agreements?

Answer 12

Agreements reached between the agency and its principle key clients normally for a defined period of tim2, details services and timescales required

Question 13

Can you give me an example of an SLA?

Answer 13

SLA with HMRC which covers the requirements of RICS eg TOE, fees, purpose of valuation, service delivery, timeliness, format of report

Question 14

What is the VOAs most recent business plan?

Answer 14

Strategic objectives 2022 to 2023: provide trusted property valuations effectively, deliver an excellent customer experience, be a great place to work.

Question 15

How are you going to help achieve the VOA business plan?

Answer 15

Attend training events to help me develop professionally, embrace new technology which will allow valuations to be produced more efficiently

Question 16

What is a SWOT/PEST analysis?

Answer 16

Strength, weakness, opportunities and threats
Political, economical, social, technological

Question 17

What is business continuity?

Answer 17

Level of readiness to maintain critical functions after an emergency or disruption

Question 18

Describe the most recent VOA Business Plan 2023 to 2024

Answer 18

Published April 2024, same strategic objectives as previously.

Data is a key focus - transformed business IT system to be introduced, developing data capabilities and data literacy.

Collaboration - looking to collaborate more with cross government colleagues to support their policy objectives through sharing of our data where it may help them deliver improved public services

Question 19

What is the apprenticeship levy?

Answer 19

A tax paid by employers to help pay for apprenticeship training costs

Question 20

What is the Reval 2026 timeliness?

Answer 20

Draft list published circa November 2025, compiled list published 1 April 2026