Finding Hidden Value through Workforce Optimization Solutions Enabling evidence-based decision-making
Police services today face escalating demands for efficiency and effectiveness from citizens and governments against a backdrop of diminishing public safety funding and an economic climate that continues to appear gloomy. To balance these pressures, police services must look across the enterprise at their people, processes and technology to find the best path to austerity while continuing to fulfill their core mission of protecting the public. For police services around the world, it is the workforce the officers and civilian staff that are the most vital and publically visible, accounting for upwards of 80 percent of operating costs. It is in the size, shape and deployment of a police service s human assets where many of the opportunities for organizational change exist. 2
TAKING MEASURES TO DO MORE FOR LESS WHILE DELIVERING ON PUBLIC SAFETY OUTCOMES In the new austerity paradigm when public expectations must be managed against increasing pressures on the fabric of community safety, workforce optimization is no longer a choice for police services, it is a necessity. In identifying measures for austerity through the organizational workforce, police services must ask themselves: Do we have the right mix of functions and capabilities in our organization? Is the mix of sworn versus civilian resources optimized? Have we taken advantage of opportunities to organize around cross-functional shared services? Is our number and deployment of officers sufficient to carry out the priorities of the service? Do we have the resources to meet future changes in demand? Do our processes and technology support officers and enable them to most effectively do their jobs? Can we track and manage performance at the organizational, team and individual levels? What impact do our strategic decisions and policies have on the number of officers we require to deliver the service? Continuous evaluation of a police service against these questions will help to determine the most efficient, effective and economic approaches to delivering on public safety mandates and strategic priorities in the current socio-economic climate, and also for the future. While most police services recognize the indelible link between the effectiveness of a service and its workforce, few have access to solutions that provide a comprehensive means to right-size the organization with quantifiable correlations between the strategic direction of the service, the size of the organization and the outcomes delivered. 3
WORKFORCE OPTIMIZATION CAN BE A VALUABLE TOOL TO BETTER DRIVE DELIVERY OF OUTCOMES Accenture s Workforce Optimization Solution for Policing enables the objective assessment of a police service s strategic priorities to determine the steps that can be taken to make it more effective, efficient and economical across its people, process and technology dimensions. Made up of component parts that may be used individually or taken together as a whole, the Workforce Optimization Solution for Policing will uncover quick-wins and longer-term opportunities for transformation. The Workforce Optimization Solution for Policing provides the framework to evaluate and improve upon the design of the structure, providing field-tested guidelines that help identify opportunities for shared services, new capability enablement, civilianization, and optimized governance. Following lean approaches, the Workforce Optimization Solution for Policing includes guidelines and frameworks that support a police service in the assessment and simplification of processes that can lead to measurable benefits and improved delivery of outcomes. While optimizing the organization structure and operational processes are necessary steps these steps aren t enough and won t necessarily correlate to improved delivery of outcomes and operational cost savings. For the biggest impact, police services must examine the workforce and right-size it s human assets to best deliver on mandates and strategic priorities in the context of the socio-economic climate. Greater Insight Using the Workforce Optimization Solution for Policing framework provides greater insights into how your police service works. It enables you to understand: Adjustable levers that impact the number of civilians and officers within the service. Socio-economic factors and their impact to the workforce strategies for the service. Impact of various strategic priorities and decisions to the resources and budget of the service. Opportunities to optimize through different deployment strategies. 4
Uncovering the levers that drive the size and cost of a Police Service The Workforce Optimization Solution for Policing includes a capacity planning and modeling tool that demystifies the impact of strategic decisions and socio-economic crime factors on workforce capacity requirements. Want to improve target response times but don t know how many more officers you ll need to put on the street? Want to adjust the amount of proactive community policing and know the impact on operational costs? Wonder how your officers should be deployed to meet operational load demands? The Workforce Optimization Solution for Policing Capacity Planning and Modeling tools can help answer these questions and many others that are relevant in right-sizing the workforce of a police service revealing the impact to your bottom-line and enabling evidence-based decision making. To close the loop on the path to high performance, the Workforce Optimization Solution for Policing provides frameworks and guidelines that assist a police service in managing its performance. Once the organization is realigned, processes are simplified and the workforce right-sized, it is imperative that operational and performance management measures, metrics and dashboards are available to assist in the constant evaluation of the service. These tools enable evidence-based adjustments that serve to deliver the strategic priorities and outcomes of a police service. Figure 1. Accenture Workforce Optimization for Solution for Policing Benchmark Organization Assessment Organization Structure Review to optimize the mix between Civilians and Sworn, with recommendations for Shared Services. Capacity Planning Adjustable dials linked to socio-economic crime factors, strategic priorities and operational realities of policing derive the optimal number of police officers and civilians in a service by area/unit. Process Review Police Logical Operating Model that describes the high level process platforms (down to the process flows of activities), along with Key Performance Indicators. Capacity Modelling What-if scenario analysis that supports strategic decision making on Enablement Capabilities and Deployment Strategies. Performance Measurement Indicators that measure performance of the organization against defined targets with analytically driven Executive Dashboards to support decision making. Diagnostics IT Fit/Form/Function Assessment of IT portfolio to measure the functional, technical and financial health (technology renewal diagnostic), including the fit, form and function of technologies in optimizing the effectiveness of offices & civilians. Analytics Reports/dashboards that support police operations and performance management, analytics that drive trend analysis, big data management and data mining for intelligence led policing. Complementing the people and process assessment and design components of the Workforce Optimization Solution for Policing toolkit are technology assessments and diagnostics that support the identification of equipment, technology and architectures to further improve the efficiency, effectiveness and economy of police services delivery. Analytics and industry benchmarks underpin all of these Workforce Optimization Solution for Policing components to enable evidence-based decisions. Using Workforce Optimization Solution for Policing, police services and public sector leaders are able to transparently make evidence-based decisions; informing short-term tactical planning and long-term strategic planning; facilitate transparent negotiations on strategic priorities, demystifying that link between priority decisions and the balance sheet; allowing for the agile adaptation of a service to address changes in the socio-economic environment; benchmarking against other police forces and measuring the performance of one s own police service over time. 5
Taking a strategic approach Policing is complex and critical to the public health of communities. As such, the approach to delivering, organizing and sizing a police service must be done through a strategic lens. Globally, police services and public sector governance boards are engaging in difficult conversations; negotiating on the best ways to deliver public safety priorities against a stressed socio-economic climate where austerity measures are required. Given the impact of the workforce on the cost side of a police services balance sheet, tough conversations on the size and shape of the police service s workforce are inevitable. The Workforce Optimization Solution for Policing offers rigorous methodologies, comprehensive tools and evidence-based approaches to support police services and public sector governance boards in making strategic decisions to optimize the people, processes and technology of a policing organization. WHAT MAKES THIS UNIQUE Traditional piecemeal approaches have not worked for police services striving to meet today s operational pressures. Through the Workforce Optimization Solution for Policing, Accenture delivers a holistic picture of how to optimize the organization for future operational success. What makes the Workforce Optimization Solution for Policing unique is that it recognizes the differences in priorities, strategies and legal processes of different police services and law enforcement agencies. The Workforce Optimization Solution for Policing wasn t built in a lab or vacuum it is realistic and rooted in reality. In developing the Workforce Optimization Solution for Policing, we ve drawn on our 25 years of public safety experience and we ve complemented this experience with organizational and workforce effectiveness domain expertise drawn from field-tested practices across the public and private sectors. The Workforce Optimization Solution for Policing is field-tested with police services and has been validated as unique and valuable. For example, leveraging the Workforce Optimization Solution for Policing at the Toronto Police Service (TPS), Accenture completed an Organizational Structure Review, Capacity Planning and Capacity Modeling exercise which has enabled the Toronto Police Service to initiate a change program that drives the realignment of functions to take advantage of opportunities for a more effective and efficient delivery of policing services; reducing spans of control; identifying new opportunities for civilianization; providing the Toronto Police Service with an understanding of the number of officers required to meet current demand; and enabling the Toronto Police Service with the ability to draw correlations between strategic decisions and the size of the organization with a direct impact on the operational cost of the service. 6
Prepare for the future with confidence Tough times call for a tough look at what is required to be a successful police service. The Workforce Optimization Solution for Policing helps you assess your people, your processes and your technology to identify opportunities for transformation. Equipped with that information, your leaders can make strategic, sustainable decisions that address the most complex challenges and prepare your police service for today and into the future. 7
About Accenture Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company, with approximately 275,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries. Combining unparalleled experience, comprehensive capabilities across all industries and business functions, and extensive research on the world s most successful companies, Accenture collaborates with clients to help them become high-performance businesses and governments. The company generated net revenues of US$28.6 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2013. Its home page is www.accenture.com. Disclaimer This document makes descriptive reference to trademarks that may be owned by others. The use of such trademarks herein is not an assertion of ownership of such trademarks by Accenture and is not intended to represent or imply the existence of an association between Accenture and the lawful owners of such trademarks. Note: The views and opinions in this article should not be viewed as professional advice with respect to your business. Contact For more information, please contact: Ger Daly Managing Director Accenture Defense & Public Safety ger.daly@accenture.com +353 1 646 2171 Tim Godwin Managing Director Accenture Policing Business Service tim.godwin@accenture.com +44 (0) 207 844 8402 Wai-Ming Yu Managing Director Accenture State, Provincial and Local Policing and Public Safety wai-ming.m.yu@accenture.com +1 613 719 9086 Copyright 2013 Accenture All rights reserved. Accenture, its logo, and High Performance Delivered are trademarks of Accenture. 13-3482