Commercial

The commercial services we provide are designed to assist organisations at key stages of an initiative’s lifecycle as well as undertaking evaluations and audits.

Reviews may take into consideration the broader perspective such as the development of new or enhanced strategies, reviewing the strategic alignment of initiatives or responding to community needs. Conversely, reviews may be focussed such as reviewing performance, effectiveness, efficiency, compliance, value for money, commercial contracts, the realisation of benefits and so on.
We also undertake reviews of policy and procedures to assess the currency and applicability as well as the efficiency and effectiveness.
AOT Consulting can be commissioned to undertake independent reviews, which may be triggered by external events such as government policy or where there is provision in legislation to undertake periodic reviews.

This service is designed to assist organisations develop and plan for new initiatives or review the opportunities for the improvement of existing initiatives.

There can be many dimensions to this service such as developing enterprise wide strategic plans, business modelling, commercial structuring, sourcing strategies, and strategies for delivering community services. This service can also have a specific focus such as developing strategies for online services, information management, business systems, business processes and digital technologies.

AOT Consulting has developed an 8-stage methodology, which is applied to provide a structured framework to guide the development of strategic plans, business cases and supporting plans.

Feasibility Studies

Undertaking feasibility studies has some similarities to strategic planning, business case development and business planning from a research and assessment perspective, though often take a broader view in the first instance to consider if an initiative is worth pursuing further.

Two notable studies we undertook that have withstood the test of time is ServiceNet and the Shared Land Information Platform (SLIP).

Business Case Development

We have assisted many organisations with the development of business cases covering a wide and varied range of initiatives and sectors. We are cognisant when developing business cases that the supporting evidence must substantiate a need whilst clearly setting out the outcomes, benefits and objectives that align to an organisation’s strategic direction. We keep in mind that a sound business case not only needs to demonstrate a need, evaluates options, and substantiate a preferred option but also enables initiatives to be implemented irrespective of who undertakes the next stage.

A key element of developing a business case is to substantiate the benefits and return on investment. Our qualitative and quantitative analytical methods take into account the essential elements to ensure a sound business case is prepared to a level that is proportionate to the opportunities and risks.

We are well familiar with various business case frameworks and know what is required to address the essential requirements.

Market Research

Our market research service is undertaken to consider trends, opportunities and influences and designed to research factors created by external environmental issues and to identify commercial and sector specific trends.

For strategic sourcing our market research services considers market viability, commercial offerings, services, solutions and technologies, which could present opportunities or influence plans. Market research can entail stakeholder engagement and communications, surveys, desktop research, facilitation and inter-jurisdictional comparisons.

We employ a range of research techniques according to what we consider most appropriate e.g. customer surveys, stakeholder interviews, desktop research, publications and references, etc.

We have undertaken small, medium and large market research involving stakeholder consultations at a local, national and international level.

Our financial modelling service is designed to assist organisations with the development of models that vary in complexity. The service is often included as part of another service such as business case development but can be provided as a standalone service.

The financial models we develop presents the analysis clearly and succinctly irrespective of the level of complexity.

For complex data analysis, we make use of contemporary approaches such as infographics and geomodeling to succinctly present complex data sets.

We have developed a comprehensive service designed to evaluate options that take into consideration qualitative assessment, quantitative assessment and risk assessment. This service draws upon various elements of other services we offer such as analysis, financial modelling, market research and facilitation.

The benefits realisation planning and review service AOT Consulting provides is an efficient and effective way to make sure that benefits are identified and can be qualitatively and quantitatively tested.

Benefits realisation is an integral part of developing business cases, which is often when a benefits realisation plan is developed. Developing a benefits realisation plan has many benefits in itself because:

The other stage in an initiative’s lifecycle where benefits realisation is considered is after the benefit has reached the point of realisation. Considering the realisation of benefits is therefore part of undertaking reviews.

Benefit realisation is also undertaken to evaluate the success of an overall program and/or project.

The scope for undertaking analysis of requirements can be wide and varied, depending on its purpose. One of the most intensive stages of an initiatives’ lifecycle following the endorsement of a business case when detailed specifications of requirements are developed.

Developing new or enhanced capabilities will often necessitate business analysis of processes to be modelled and functional requirements to be identified and considered.

The form in which requirements are documented can also vary and can be positioned as high-level outcomes based requirements or conversely, detailed, prescriptive requirements. We use a range of tools to assist with the design, analysis and development of requirements.

Designing and developing requirements also involves another service AOT Consulting provides – stakeholder engagement and communications, which includes facilitated workshops. Gathering information is an essential ingredient to identifying requirements and engaging with stakeholders individually or through facilitated workshops.

The development of requirements is an integral component of strategic sourcing and designed to not only to document what is required but also designed in a way that is conducive to issuing the market.

Our process modelling service is often used during efficiency and effectiveness reviews as it provides a reasonably fast way to establish a baseline and gain consensus on the current environment.

From an operational perspective, we usually undertake business process modelling first and map the existing business processes using cross-functional process mapping techniques to provide a baseline.

The next stage is to assess the opportunities for improvements and where required, quantify and qualify the opportunities.

Where there is a step-change required to implement new or enhanced capabilities, there is also a need to prepare for the change, especially if it involves changes to the business model, service delivery, commercial structuring, or outsourcing because such changes can materially affect areas of the business such as organisational structure, human resources, culture, policies and business processes.

This service is often an integral part of other services provided such as developing business cases, which should consider the business impact and changes required or when planning an implementation.

Preparing for change can also be a service in its own right.

This service is founded upon years of experience in managing a broad range of projects. As an independent consulting firm, our sole focus is to achieve successful results for our clients in delivery of their projects and our track record is founded on fulfilling our commitment to success on each individual program or project.

Our approach to program and project management is to capitalise on a totally integrated set of skills, expertise and experience that provides a combination of services, which is broader than the conventional management role. This is because we believe that in addition to the traditional elements of project management such as project schedules, resource management, etc., there are other dimensions that are equally important and need to be managed to ensure the overall success of the project. We believe scaling program and project management proportionally is important so that it is fit-for-purpose and not over resourced or overly burdened with process and documents that add limited value.

An important element is to ensure there is appropriate governance and oversight that is proportionate to the scale of the initiative.

The essential controls such as schedule, budget, quality, benefits and risks are integral to planning and managing programs and projects.

Managing risks is another important element that should be integrated into a program or project to ensure that risks are identified and managed in the context of what is to be achieved. We ensure that project risks are not just an isolated product of risk assessment but are able to be translated into something that needs to be planned for and be able to be dealt with should an event occur that triggers a risk situation.

With some projects we have assisted agencies with the transition planning / service-take-up planning. This service is framed around a combination of project management, change management and contract management.

We have experience in various frameworks including PRINCE2®, MSP® and P3®.

We have also assisted organisations to design and develop Program Management Offices.

Reviewing programs and projects is part of our Review service, though is undertaken using criteria specifically designed to assess programs and/or projects. There can be different types of reviews that can focus on the management and governance and/or what the program / project is chartered to deliver.

Some of the reviews we have undertaken have been checkpoint reviews at specific stages of a program/project such as end stage reviews.

We also have experience with Gateway Reviews and can align program and project reviews to the Gateway stages:

•  Strategic Assessment.
•  Business Case.
•  Readiness for Market.
•  Tender Decision.
•  Readiness for Service.
•  Benefits Evaluation.