Navigating Outcome Delivery Plans: The New UK Reporting System

In an effort to improve planning and spending, the British government recently instituted regulations around strategy reporting. The goal, according to the Public Accounts Committee, is to better define how planning and performance information is central to not only ensuring funding, but to proving out the long-term sustainable value of any money spent.

The new framework, known as Outcome Delivery Plans, or ODPs, was devised following the government’s year long Spending Review (SR) of its own internal programs and initiatives. What resulted from the SR was a recognition that in order to better track spending and outcomes, it is critical to evaluate progress along the way. 

At first blush, these new regulations and reporting requirements may seem daunting. Departments who are not used to having to map activities directly to goals can find it time consuming and may even struggle to see the value. There may even be concerns about whether your organization can provide the right kind of information, with the right kind of value, that will pave the way for necessary budget.

For over 10 years, StrategyBlocks has been helping organizations of every size, and at every level, better manage strategic outcomes. We work frequently with local and national governments, many of whom are highly dependent on outside authorities to secure budgets and approve activities. Rather than hamper progress, we’ve found that organizations who rely heavily on strategic management and reporting are markedly more successful.

The structure of the ODPs, instead of being restrictive, is meant to be informative – not just for an outside evaluator but internally for the team as well. At the highest level, the ODP requires a list of Priority Outcomes, each with their own set of metrics. The next level includes a number of sub-objectives that can be linked to each Priority Outcome and should indicate the key levers of change. Finally, the last level includes a list of major activities, projects and programs that can be connected to each sub-objective.

StrategyBlocks was designed to be highly visual. Our SaaS platform is fully customizable and features a quick-glance system of cascading ‘blocks’ that offers easy-to-digest snapshots of your data, your plan, your execution and your results. Moreover, the visual nature of the platform supports RAG status monitoring (green for progress or success, amber for potential obstacles or challenges and red for any areas that need improvement) make it easy to track the “health” of your strategic initiatives and monitor and mitigate risk in real time. 

StrategyBlocks’ block style approach to strategic management is ideal for ODPs. Starting at the top, with Priority Outcomes, you can easily add cascading blocks to represent metrics, sub-objectives and the activities that feed each of those sub-objectives. Quickly and painlessly, your organization can see how Priority Outcomes can be achieved, one block at a time. 

One of the realizations to come from the SR Commission’s report is that government departments struggled to clearly define and understand the relationship between inputs, outputs and outcomes. This is not uncommon among any type of company or organization – as the business grows, as priorities change, as people and roles shift, it can be easy to overlook how daily activities are contributing to broader business goals. 

This is why strategic planning is such a key element to building successful, repeatable results. Contact us today and let us provide a free, 30 day trial that will help clearly define your department’s ODPs and set up a pathway of strategic planning and execution that will yield optimal results.