Crown Prosecution Service transforms financial insights with Anaplan

The CPS is the principal prosecuting authority for England and Wales, acting independently in criminal cases investigated by the police and others. They decide which cases should be prosecuted – and keep them all under continuous review, in addition to determining the appropriate charges in more serious or complex cases; providing charging advice to the police during the early stages of investigations; preparing cases and presenting them at court; and providing information, assistance, and support to victims and prosecution witnesses.

In the public sector, time is of value not just for the organisation, but for taxpayers as well. To maximise taxpayer value, boost productivity, and streamline operational efficiency, the CPS began searching for a solution that could cut down on the time required for data crunching and provide an integrated planning platform.

The CPS is a demand-led service with no discretion or influence over the number, type, or complexity of cases it receives. Every case must be handled to the requisite high standards to ensure justice within an acceptable timescale. For Chris Sharp, Finance Director at CPS, accommodating an eclectic mix of casework needs to be achieved while maximising value from taxpayer money. But having surpassed the capabilities of spreadsheets, CPS needed new ways to manage its financial planning, boost productivity, and optimise the deployment of operational resources.

Over the past few years, the CPS has had to accommodate a notable uptick in the volume of complex criminal cases. To ensure alignment and resource efficiency across the entire organization, CPS’ financial and workforce planning processes needed active participation from multiple stakeholders. However, the growth of complex and disparate spreadsheet models across the organisation was hampering the ability to create financial plans and drive performance with the required speed, precision, and collaboration.

With CPS’ financial planning and analysis (FP&A) team drawn into collecting, collating, and examining data quality, the amount of time being spent in Microsoft Excel posed a problem. “We wanted to focus our time on adding value to the business, rather than spending so much time on the collation of data,” Sharp explained. His team needed a solution that could help them cut down on data crunching.

Chris Sharp, Finance Director, CPS

Anaplan helps pave the way for immediate improvements

As an initial step toward transforming their finance function, CPS partnered with Bedford Consulting on financial and operational modeling best practices. By embracing Bedford’s platform approach for planning, CPS was quickly enabled to explore new options for alternative planning technologies.

Searching for a solution that could streamline data collection, automate processes, and increase transparency, Sharp had several requirements top of mind. High among them was data security, quick and efficient implementation periods, and the establishment of a powerful modeling engine that was capable of scenario analysis. He shared,

“We recognized that a properly controlled cloud-based solution could ensure that our data was more secure in Anaplan than in Excel.”

The ability to perform scenario modeling and analysis was another immediate step forward for CPS. “A lot of our cases are complex and require specialist resources,” Sharp explained.

“One of the reasons we selected the Anaplan platform was for its ability to model what would happen if different case types were to increase or decrease, and what that would mean in terms of our overall resource requirements.”

CPS tackled the Anaplan implementation in two phases. First, Sharp’s team consolidated financial forecasts and processes into a central platform. Then they aligned with operational teams on a zero-based budgeting approach to resource modeling. “This shows us exactly how many resources we would need to accommodate the volume and mix of cases we are projecting,” Sharp said.

Cathal Doyle part of Bedford Consulting implementation team added, “One of the defining attributes of this project has been the collaboration between the Anaplan users, the key stakeholders, and the Bedford team. The CPS team has been afforded the autonomy of learning the skills necessary to deliver the project, while not being bogged down in their daily activities.”

Information transforms into business intelligence

The Anaplan platform also enabled CPS to develop an agile approach that could roll out modules very quickly. “Within just a few months of implementing the platform, we were able to make a valuable business impact,” Sharp said.

“We’re able to determine the resources we need, and thereby, we can plan to get the right workforce with the right level of qualifications in the right location at the right time.”

But according to Sharp, it’s been the financial analysts who have reaped the biggest benefits of the cloud-native planning solution. Prior to implementing the platform, too much of the FP&A team’s time was spent on manual and tedious data collation. Now, they’re able to spend the time saved providing in-depth analysis of what the information is showing. “Anaplan’s real-time insight is really helping us to influence business decisions,” he shared.

One step ahead

In addition to deeper insights, improved collaboration, and heightened data security as key benefits already gained from Anaplan, Sharp has also credited the platform with giving his team the ability to prepare for an uncertain future. “Operating in a changing world, we’ve seen a shift in the type of cases we receive. With the Anaplan platform, we are able to accurately plan for that now,” he said.

Keeping one step ahead requires the ability to look ahead in an uncertain world. For CPS, this meant it needed a state-of-the-art system that could grow and be adapted to reflect future changes. With the Anaplan platform, the CPS team now has a scalable enterprise planning technology at their fingertips. Sharp concluded:

INDUSTRIES
Public Sector

SOLUTION

• Financial planning
• Workforce planning