1. For more information Email felicity.mcleister@theorsociety.com Pro Bono O.R. (Operational Research) for the Third Sector

2. What is O.R? O.R. is the discipline of applying appropriate analytical methods to help those who run organisations make better decisions. By using techniques such as problem structuring methods and mathematical modelling to analyse complex situations, operational research gives those who run organisations the power to make more effective decisions and build more productive systems based on: More complete data Consideration of all available options Careful predictions of outcomes and estimates of risk The latest decision tools and techniques

3. How can O.R. help? Organisations may seek a very wide range of operational improvements - for example, greater efficiency, better customer service, higher quality or lower cost. Whatever the aim, O.R. can offer the flexibility and adaptability to provide objective help. Most of the problems O.R. tackles are messy and complex, often entailing considerable uncertainty. O.R. can use advanced quantitative methods, modelling, problem structuring, simulation and other analytical techniques to examine assumptions, facilitate an in -depth understanding and decide on practical action.

4. O.R. in the Third Sector Third Sector organisations face extremely complex decisions about the direction they should take and how to allocate scarce resources. Without the tools to model different scenarios and understand the consequences of them, it isn't surprising that many organisations, tend to rely on gut feelings. An O.R. practitioner comes armed with an array of analytical tools plus the skills and experience to identify the critical factors and issues, explore the different options and explain the impact of them in real terms. O.R. won’t make the decisions for you, but it provides some of the head to your organisation’s heart and, when you combine the two, you are more likely to act in the interests of your organisation and its beneficiaries.

5. O.R in the Third Sector Some of the problems third sector organisations are faced with: ‘We have lots of different options for the future but it’s impossible to decide which to choose in such uncertain times.’ ‘We’re under huge pressure to do more with less, and we don’t know how we’re going to do it.’ ‘It’s hard to stay objective when we’re faced with such emotionally charged decisions.’ ‘We know we’re doing a good job – but how can we prove it?’

6. Here is what a few of the organisations who’ve received Pro Bono support had to say: Crimestoppers: ‘We’ve benefited hugely from your work and support in all areas of the project, and from an organisational perspective you’ve enabled us to take a highly professional approach to increasing the efficiency of our charity.’ (Performance Manager) Participle: ‘I have just started to digest the work you did for us and wanted to say a huge thank you. This will be so critical to our growth and I am very grateful indeed for your time and expertise. The team have described you as "a joy to work with”.’ (Principle Partner) The Cardinal Hume Centre “We valued the opportunity to work collaboratively and without doubt benefited from the analyst’s expertise and commitment to the project.” (Operations Director)

7. Case studies The following slides provide examples of case studies where Pro Bono O.R. has been applied.

8. Improving performance by redesigning shifts The client: Crimestoppers: the charity which helps solve crime through members of the public providing information anonymously. The client’s problem: How to take on new business and improve performance without a big increase in staffing costs The solution A simulation model of the call centre using PRISM software, used to try out different staffing patterns Thorough data analysis to understand variation in demand Recommended staffing levels for different demands The benefits Better performance without increasing cost, through new shift patterns Ability to continue to improve, and to adapt to changing circumstances, into the future “We’ve benefited hugely from your work and support in all areas of the project, and from an organisational perspective you’ve enabled us to take a highly professional approach to increasing the efficiency of our charity” (Performance Manager) The approach Two OR Society volunteers specified data requirements and analysed data on demand for Crimestoppers services both via phone calls and online forms. They summarised arrival patterns by time of day, day of week, and time of year. They built a simulation model of the call centre, using PRISM software, based on three separate staff groups: call handlers, online staff and shift leaders. The model allowed phone calls to be diverted from call handlers to other staff at busy times. They validated the model using actual data on arrivals and staffing for a specific week and then used it to explore the impact on KPIs of different proposed staffing patterns. They produced a report recommending new shift patterns which improved performance without any increase in staffing costs.

9. Improving processes, increasing impact The client: Reach: an organisation matching skilled volunteers to charities that need them The client’s problem: to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of matching processes, free up resource, develop more value adding activities The solution Identified short term efficiency improvements Recommended additional value adding activities Identified ways of measuring impact Recommended a roadmap for moving to a new service delivery model The benefits A new perspective on current processes, helping develop, challenge and validate internal thinking Skilled staff could be freed up to deliver more value, through early implementation of one process improvement, and planning for more Reach services can be better targeted and marketed, through improved impact measurement “Consultants approached the issues from a holistic point of view and homed in on key issues. Very thorough and professional. Some very useful new ideas which we will explore.” (Director of Services) The approach Two ORS volunteers spent a day interviewing staff and facilitating focus groups with teams of matching staff and IT support. They work shadowed one of the ‘matchers’ and the Foundation Services Co-ordinator, and discussed potential measures of impact with the Research and Business Analysis Manager. They examined available documentation, collated and distilled the information, and discussed issues identified with a process improvement expert. They produced a report with clear recommendations for process improvements and potential value adding activities that could be developed with the released resource. These recommendations were phased into short, medium and long term.

10. Managing risk, ensuring sustainability The client: a community youth venture The client’s problem: to ensure sustainability; management needed a risk management plan which had the involvement and backing of trustees. The solution define and prioritise the key factors necessary to sustainability of the venture identify key risks to its continuation assign mitigating actions to specific individuals to ensure risk reduction provide an Excel spreadsheet for the organisation to take over the process The benefits trustees were fully involved in risk identification, enabling them to play their proper part in risk management and oversight risks were reduced through sensible and proportionate mitigation the venture’s ability to remain in business was significantly improved “This work was very beneficial..” (Chair of Board) “Risk management is now coming from the top down..” (Chief Executive) The approach Blue Link Consulting started by eliciting individual board members' initial thoughts and combining these into an 'influence diagram‘. This gave them a visual and intuitive display of the connections and interplay between all aspects of a complex environment. We then provided expert facilitation to enable them to reach a jointly-owned and robust view of the key risks, consequences and mitigation. By grouping the risks into three main areas - factors affecting the wood itself; personnel issues; finance issues – we made it easier to assess the risks, and plan for their mitigation. Finally, we converted this into an Excel spreadsheet showing risks, level, impact, and actions assigned to mitigate them, so that the organisation itself could take over the process going forward.

11. The client: a small new community-based charity aspiring to develop supported housing The client’s problem: the group, mostly of carers, wanted to act to address the local shortage of housing options for adults with learning disabilities, and needed some research to help decide how to proceed The solution enable group to understand the challenges it faces, and their scale provide a stock of research material that it can use in a variety of contexts support lead trustee to build her experience of discussions with council and grant or loan providers, and facilitate group in taking decision on timing of further work The benefits the group has a better chance of longer term effectiveness, because it is better able to formulate strategy with confidence, and to plan how to deal with the current uncertain environment the group is armed with information to support fundraising, awareness-raising and future service delivery, giving it capacity to be more influential, as well as more effective the group is better able to negotiate effectively with important partners all of these factors mean that the group is more attractive to funders and commissioners and more likely to be able to achieve its goals “We now have a stock of valuable research material which we can put to a variety of uses” (Lead trustee) The approach At the start, the group knew that it needed to know a lot more about a lot of things, but couldn’t easily prioritise this. The analyst began by taking an incremental approach using presentations and initial papers to board meetings aimed at helping the group to identify and clarify what it already knew and what it needed to know. This developed into a gradually evolving set of papers and reports which could form the group’s evidence base. By providing hands-on support, after the initial work, to the lead trustee in developing a financial plan and business case, and in approaches to possible funders and the local council, the group was helped to develop its capacity at making use of the research material in practice, and to identify its further information needs.. For more information Email Or tel Getting started: what to do first in a complex world

12. The client: a housing-related charity running community development projects The client’s problem: the charity wanted to improve its exploitation of externally available statistical data and other information in its work The solution provide a reference document and guidance on the range of possibilities, with illustrations provide specific step-by-step guidance on exploiting a particular information source that should be of frequent value work with individual staff to make and demonstrate practical contributions to current projects provide 2 in-depth seminars on specific complex subjects, to illustrate some more extensive uses of data The benefits the organisation has greater capacity to exploit external statistics and other information in the different aspects of its work, eg overall planning and prioritisation, fundraising, project management and evaluation, and so to improve its effectiveness some existing projects have already improved their planning, fundraising and evaluation, improving the organisation’s impact and reputation staff and partners have improved knowledge about some relevant complex issues, improving their personal credibility and authority and leading to greater effectiveness and influence for the organisation as a whole The approach The analyst began with a scoping study of the organisation’s work programmes, past and present, to propose options for how the work should proceed. After discussions with the senior managers, a two-pronged approach was chosen. This involved: firstly, producing detailed research, reference material and guidance on the different types and sources of information available which could be useful to the different stages of the organisation’s work (from high- level planning and fundraising, to project planning, operation and evaluation); and secondly making practical contributions during the course of the project, both to make useful real-time contributions to existing projects and to demonstrate possibilities. The latter included in-depth seminars on 2 complex subjects to all the organisation’s staff, and specific analytical contributions to a few current projects working with individual staff.. External data: making it work for you

13. Improving performance management The client: A media sector charity supporting freelance newsgatherers worldwide The client’s problem: In a small organisation where everyone has to be flexible about their roles it’s easy to get bogged down in daily operations and not devote enough time to strategy and growth. The solution A review of business processes and analysis of how everyone in the team was spending their time A re-design of roles and responsibilities to enable the Director to focus her time on Fund-raising and Strategy Implementation of a CRM system with performance metrics and reporting The benefits By understanding where everyone spent their time, it became clear that the Director was over-loaded with operational matters that could be better dealt with by other team members Freeing-up the Director’s time and re-structuring everyone’s roles and responsibilities has enabled the Trust to focus its efforts more effectively on fund-raising The CRM system has provided an effective way to manage relationships with donors and beneficiaries and provides up-to-the-minute performance reports on fundraising The approach Facilitated by Improvement Skills Consulting, the organisation’s key business processes were defined and broken down into key activities. Staff were asked to identify how their time was spent against each of these activities. The analysis revealed a mis-match between what the Director felt was needed and how the team actually spent its time. Several options were developed for restructuring roles and workloads; these were presented to the Trustees and a preferred option was selected. The analysis of processes also highlighted the need for a single CRM system (to replace four separate databases), with integrated performance reporting. A cloud-based CRM solution was implemented and has been tailored to the Trust’s requirements, enabling them to eliminate data duplication and to create timely and accurate performance reports.

14. The client: a small international ‘umbrella’ charity for street children The client’s problem: the new fundraising manager wanted to improve the arguments and evidence for why the group’s work should be funded The solution construct logical and graphical descriptions for how the group achieves its impacts provide systematic analysis, of extensive unstructured written material, about group’s past work and its actual and possible impacts develop new logic-based impact-focussed processes for the grants scheme, and then test and refine via analysis using past grants applications and consultation The benefits the fundraising manager has been assisted in reformulating the fundamental arguments for the funding of the group’s work, increasing its chances of securing funding the organisation has improved evidence on what its has done and what it has funded others to do in the past and on what may have been achieved, plus clearer appreciation of where its evidence is limited and why, enabling it to improve the effectiveness of its future planning and fundraising the organisation has been enabled to improve the effectiveness of its grants scheme The approach The analyst began with a scoping study of the group’s work programmes, past and present, to propose options for how the work should proceed. Two strands of work were agreed: firstly, to draw together and analyse existing information held within the organisation about past projects that could be used as supporting evidence to arguments for funding the organisation’s different work programmes; and, secondly, to review, and propose a redesign to, the operational processes of the group’s small grants scheme, with the aim of giving these a much greater focus on impact. This required, in both cases, a systematic analysis of a large quantity of unstructured written material, followed by a consultative approach with the group’s staff and relevant trustees to agree new processes for the grants scheme.. Fundraising: getting the evidence, telling the story

15. The client: an NGO and social enterprise running a health centre in rural Uganda The client’s problem: the NGO had run into severe problems with keeping on top of its financial position and short-term planning, partly as a result of the complexities of the local reliance on non-cash transactions. The solution provide one-to-one guidance and support to finance manager on technical solutions to financial processes set-up and facilitate participative short-term budget planning sessions develop locally suitable technology to support this, eg using of home-made blackboards as ‘spreadsheets’ to record and display the agreed budgets evolve use of participative planning sessions, once working, to start to address planning beyond short-term The benefits the organisation is now in much better control of its use of resources, and is better able to manage the variety of financial complexities and risks that have caused problems in the past, improving its current effectiveness the organisation understands better what it needs from its local manager, and also is looking beyond short-term problems to start more strategic planning, enabling it to improve its future effectiveness the local finance manager has increased personal capacity, for current and future jobs “I now understand better what I need from a local manager” (Director) “The monthly planning sessions are a very useful way to do this” (Finance manager) The approach The analyst began with conversations with the different staff, plus analysis of files, to try to understand the state of play in the organisation. It was clear that it was not on top of its recent financial performance and current position, but it required detailed analysis of the various (incomplete) bookkeeping records from recent years to understand why. The main problems had arisen because financial recording processes and financial management overall were not dealing adequately with a wide variety of debts and credits that arose normally because of the frequent lack of cash in this local rural subsistence economy. A variety of lines of analytical and facilitation work were required to overcome this, including technical fixes to record-keeping guidance, coaching of the new finance manager, use of home-made blackboards as spreadsheets for recording budgets, and crucially monthly participative financial review, budgeting and short- term planning sessions. The latter also provided a useful forum for starting longer-term planning.. Controlling costs and spending in a non-cash economy

16. Supporting a Homeless Charity’s Annual Client Survey The client: A Westminster-based charity supporting homeless people sleeping rough and families in need. The client’s problem: The Cardinal Hume Centre needed to know its impact on its clients and ensure that their voices were heard. The solution A well designed survey with a representative sample of online, phone and face to face client input. Well presented results which provided maximum impact and insight. A well written, professional report completed to a tight deadline. A standard and framework established for future surveys. The benefits Provided the charity with crucial intelligence and insight. Enabled the charity to deliver an evidence-based report for current and potential funders. Helped the charity continue to refocus efforts in order to meet the changing needs of a diverse client group. The approach The analyst attended meetings with staff and volunteers to understand key requirements for the survey and to ensure that all involved were working towards a common goal. Roles and timescales were determined in order to deliver a survey to the Centre’s deadline. The survey was designed and refined, before being launched online and through a ‘survey day’, where clients were interviewed in person and by phone. The analyst led in extracting initial key findings from the data and delegating sub-tasks to a team. Closely liaising with the client, the findings of the evaluation survey were written into a report which was completed to a tight deadline. “We valued the opportunity to work collaboratively and without doubt benefited from the analyst’s expertise and commitment to the project” (Operations Director)

17. Developing trustee financial confidence The client: a developing home care co-operative The client’s problem: a new social enterprise’s progress to date had been much slower than assumed in original financial plans; re-planning was needed, but trustees had limited understanding of original plans. The solution develop accessible graphical ways of presenting complex financial plans use existing meeting agenda items as training opportunities once group’s basic understanding develops, find opportunity to trigger fuller discussion of key issues if possible, move to simpler financial planning model to enable broader trustee ‘ownership’ The benefits clearer medium term plans have been developed, based on simpler more realistic growth targets, which the trustees can understand and ‘own’ trustees understand much more what the business needs to do in order to reach a position of financial self-sustainability trustees can see much better what part their efforts, eg in promoting the business, can play in helping the move towards financial self-sustainability “We now understand this all much better” (Trustees) The approach The analyst began by analysing and developing accessible ways of presenting fairly complex original financial plans to enable understanding and discussion, using graphics to talk through at meetings. He used a incremental approach of using agenda items at successive board meetings as opportunities for board training, eg budget setting, mid-year report against budget, and discussion. This led to the triggering, at a later meeting, of a discussion about the need to redraw financial plans and revise assumptions, and the suggestion of a simpler medium term objective to analyse and present at next meeting. At the next meeting, a financial plan based on the simpler objective and assumptions was presented, and the trustees were able to feel they had a good overall understanding of this. This enabled a constructive discussion of key assumptions and risks, and the trustees were better able to see how their own efforts could contribute to the ‘whole’..

18. Facing up to uncertainty The client: A medium-sized charity supporting women affected by domestic violence The client’s problem: All the main funding sources were due to terminate within the next six months, and funder decisions on new or replacement sources would not be made until the last minute The solution A spreadsheet model to support ‘what if’ analysis of different combinations of income and projects A facilitated workshop to help Director and Trustees to explore different futures Identification of priority actions and contingency plans The benefits By being able to see clearly the combined consequences of different sets of events, the Trustees and Director could think realistically about how they could respond or prepare for them This enabled them to take difficult decisions about timing of service closure, to prioritise fundraising, and to lay contingency plans This in turn enabled them to survive and continue to provide their core service in the face of a bleak and uncertain funding environment. The approach The organisation’s total set of activities were broken down into direct project work, and central overheads, some of which were fixed and some of which varied with the scale of particular activities. All possible sources of funding were identified; some ‘restricted’ associated with particular projects, and some ‘unrestricted’. The spreadsheet was set up so that users could ask the questions ‘what if’: what if certain sources of funding materialised, what if certain projects were cut, what if salaries were increased, what if staff numbers were changed… with the answers in terms of: the overall surplus/deficit; the amount of additional funding needed to break even; the number of clients helped and the overall contribution to the organisation’s objectives. This was then used in a real-time session with Trustees and Director, giving them insight into the relationship between cost and income, and allowing them to test different management approaches.

19. Prioritising Action The client: Kaleidoscope Enterprise Ltd (KEL) supplies services to black and minority ethnic groups in the Welwyn – Hatfield and wider areas with aims to empower disadvantaged people and groups KEL also runs the Kaleidoscope Festival to celebrate diverse cultures (http://www.kaleidoscopefestival.org.uk/) The client’s problem: KEL faced increasing pressure with reduced funding and loss of staff. The organisation sought support to the manager to develop a sustainable plan to deliver services The solution Identifying strengths and weaknesses and exposing issues Supporting an open dialogue Developing a focus on what is achievable The benefits The organisation has greater clarity of priorities KEL has a developing action plan The organisation is emerging from potential decline and re-establishing its presence “Very empathetic and honest. An objective outsider who could add to my own knowledge and skills in understanding my organisation’s needs.” The approach The consultant met with the manager and the Trustees to discuss the issues and ran a workshop to which Trustees, staff and stakeholders were invited. The workshop identified issues around what worked well and not so well and began an open dialogue where information was shared and a greater level of common understanding developed. The output from the workshop was used to develop a report for wider dissemination to key people unable to be present. It also enabled the development of an initial action plan for the manager to discuss with the Trustees and prioritise the organisation’s activity to those likely to make the greatest impact upon their aims and objectives. The intervention also provided a mentoring opportunity for the manager.

20. To find out more/ to request Pro Bono support For more information please see my blog, webpage, twitter or LinkedIn page. Webpage: http://www.theorsociety.com/Pages/Probono/Probono.aspxhttp://www.theorsociety.com/Pages/Probono/Probono.aspx Blog: http://probonoor.blogspot.co.uk/http://probonoor.blogspot.co.uk/ @FMcLeister Felicity McLeister I look forward to hearing from you. For more information Email felicity.mcleister@theorsociety.com