Pro Bono O.R. has worked with lots of third sector organisations in the last couple of years. This presentations includes a one page case study slide from each project we have worked on.

1. Case studies
‘Operational Research help managers make better decisions’
The following slides show all the projects that Pro Bono O.R.
has worked on. The variety shows just how widely O,R. can
be applied and hopefully can encourage you to take up the
offer of free consultancy.

2. 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
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.
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)

3. 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
The approach
Two OR Society 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.
“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)

4. 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
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.
This work was very beneficial .. (Chair of Board)
Risk management is now coming from the top down.. (Chief
Executive)

5. 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
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.
.
Getting started: what to do first in a complex world
0.5%
1%
2%
Lambeth England
Residential care out of area
Residential care within area
Own home: receiving 'Supporting People' services
Family or own home: receiving 'Community Care'
Family or own home: not receiving support or care
services, with learning disabilities sufficiently severe to
be identifiable by DoH 2003/4 survey
Others in family or own home: mostly with mild learning
disabilities
Types of accommodation where adults with learning disabilities are
living: Lambeth and England overall compared
% of all
adults
No.s living in community:
= 0-10
= 11-20
= 21-30
= 31-40
= 41-50
= 51-60
Where the residential
care homes are in Lambeth
= Residential
care home
0 1 2 3 4
£K per resident per w eek
Full proposals without specialists
Full proposals
Competitor E
Competitor D
Competitor C
Competitor B
Competitor A
Competitor analysis: Unit cost comparisons - total cost
excluding loan interest and repayments) per resident
(Note: Width of bands indicate uncertainty in estimates from incompleteness of available
information)
We now have a stock of valuable research material which we
can put to a variety of uses (Lead trustee)

6. 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
LHA rates in London
0
500
1000
1500
2000
CentralLondon
InnerEastLo...
OuterEastL...
InnerNorth
...
OuterNorth
...
North
W
estL...
W
estLondon
InnerSouth
...
OuterSouth
...
OuterSouth
...
InnerSouth
Ea..
OuterSouth
Ea..
£sperweek
2 beds
5 beds

7. 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.

8. 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
Central staff
support &
management
Research
Capacity Building
Advocacy
Of
members
Of allies
Reduces
harm &
barriers
for
street
children
Improves
grassroots
support &
help
to
street
children
STREET CHILDREN
ORGANISATION AS A
WHOLE
The organisation's four
programmes
and how they have their
impact
The 4 programmes support &
strengthen each other,
b) By getting
others to
change
policies &
practices
a) By
improving
grassroots
work with
street children
and impact on street
children:-

9. 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
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

10. 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)

11. Developing trustee financial confidence
The client:
a developing home care co-operative
The client’s problem:
a new social enterprise’s progress 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, e.g. in promoting the
business, can play in helping the move towards financial self-sustainability
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, e.g. 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’.
Expenditure(+) and income(-) by organisational category, but with care work income shown net of care worker costs
-40000
-30000
-20000
-10000
0
10000
20000
30000
Oct-
09
N D J
an-
10
F M A M J J A S O N D J
an-
11
F M A M J J A S O N D J
an-
12
F M A M J J A S O N D J
an-
13
F M
Month
£
Corporate Income
Cluster Care Work
Income NET OF Care
Worker Costs
Corporate Set-up Costs
Cluster Other Costs
Corporate Running Costs
Running balance at month end
-20000
-10000
0
10000
20000
30000
40000
50000
60000
70000
Oct-
09
N D Jan-
10
F M A M J J A S O N D Jan-
11
F M A M J J A S O N D Jan-
12
F M A M J J A S O N D Jan-
13
F M
Month
£
Running balance,
surplus(+) or deficit(-)
We now understand this all much better (Trustees)

12. 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.
Overall outcome (scenario 2)
There is a deficit carried forward from 2008/9
No new East funding, and 20% of other speculative funding is achieved.
East office is closed down
West counsellors are reduced
Admin costs are reduced
2009/10
Income
Firm grant 447,000
Speculative grant 71,200
Other 25,000
Total 543,200
Expenditure
Charitable 45,518
Staff 386,491
Premises 40,000
Admin 35,785
Equipment 5,000
Depreciation 6,477
Total 519,271
Net surplus/deficit 23,929
Surplus/deficit cf from 2008/9 -50,000
Surplus/deficit cf to 2010/11 -26,071
No of counselling sessions 3,440
No of groupworkers 0.51
No of advocates 8.10

13. 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
(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
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.
Very empathetic and honest. An objective outsider who
could add to my own knowledge and skills in
understanding my organisation’s needs.

14. A staff team’s map of limbo
The client:
A small charity providing services to improve people’s
employability, focusing particularly on disadvantaged
people who are not supported by the mainstream.
The client’s problem:
To address the challenging external environment, trustees had recently
broadened the charity’s Objects - requiring a change of name – and
agreed a move to cheaper premises. The Executive was now grappling
with these changes, as well as new funding proposals, and felt the need
for clarifying the road ahead.The solution
A facilitated workshop, involving staff and Chair of
Trustees, to achieve shared clarity on what the charity
is trying to achieve, what might be done to get there
and what might go wrong.
The benefits
•A ‘map of limbo’, helping staff to cope better with the change around them
•A greater shared confidence in moving forward
•A more positive workforce
The Approach
The OR Pro Bono facilitator made sure that she understood the key
external issues facing the charity, and that the Chief Executive and other
senior staff were happy with the proposed workshop outline.
On the day, the group explored: the charitable objects, what made them
distinctive, their strengths and weaknesses as an organisation,
opportunities in the environment and self-generated, threats and risks, and
current and future funding and activities.
The openness of the approach, its responsiveness to the needs of the
group, and the willingness of participants to contribute, meant that the
workshop exposed a number of significant issues that were publicly
acknowledged and shared for the first time.
The systematic nature of the approach brought out underlying
assumptions, beliefs and tacit knowledge. Thus the organisation’s goals,
values, and plans were clearly articulated and could be tested and shared
by all.
‘There is a clearer understanding of peoples roles and
funding being applied for as well. This all makes for a more
positive workforce with a clearer understanding of the way
forward’ – Projects and Communications Manager

15. A resource planning tool for a charity
The client:
Springboard for Children. Working to change the
effects of underachievement and social exclusion
among children in deprived communities
The client’s problem:
To develop a resource planning tool that can be used to examine different
options together with a short report
The solution
• Pulled together the key financial and staff information
into one spreadsheet
• Created a summary of key statistics that updates
automatically as resources are adjusted
• Created a user friendly tool to conduct scenario
analysis on various resource options and allows the
user to easily compare options
The benefits
• The charity was able to get a fresh perspective and benefit from an
innovative solution in a short timescale
• The volunteer enjoyed using her skills to improve processes within a
charity that is working to improve the lives of children in deprived
communities
• Staff now have ownership of their planning and we have already
generated some interesting new ideas to help more children
The approach
The charity runs two literacy schemes amongst schools in London and
Manchester. It has a range of staff working on the schemes from
managers to volunteers, each with a unique salary and working pattern. I
began by pulling the information together into a spreadsheet, allowing for
both unique and average salaries, so that the key information could be
extracted easily for reports to the Trustees.
I created a tool that could conduct scenario analysis by varying the inputs
(schools, pupils, staff). The tool had to be flexible to allow for different
staff roles (and associated costs), but with constraints to ensure there
were enough staff to meet the staff to pupil ratio. This tool is now being
used to generate new ideas and ways of working and create a budget
plan for 2014/2015 academic year and beyond.
Resource planning has been a stumbling block for
Springboard for years. As a new CEO I know it’s important
to enable innovation and growth at Springboard and a key
part of that was re-thinking how we plan our services.

16. Where next? What first?
The client:
The Disability Law Service provides legal advice to
disabled people and their families/carers
The client’s problem:
With funding cuts to themselves, but ever-growing needs from their
beneficiaries as the consequences of austerity bite, the organisation
needed to develop a sustainable set of priorities – and bring staff with
them.The solution
•A draft workshop agenda to enable the Chair and
Chief Executive to focus on what they really wanted to
achieve
•Information circulated to all workshop participants to
enable them to think in advance about key issues,
especially their mission and vision
•A pre-workshop email-based SWOT exercise to
provide starter material for the workshop
•A fast and focused facilitated workshop, with write-up
delivered soon after
The benefits
•Participants, including all staff and most trustees, were brought to the
same point in thinking about what the organisation is trying to achieve,
and what challenges it faces
•Participants reached a shared understanding of the strengths and
weaknesses that they could exploit, or needed to build on, in future
planning
•Together with the list of options generated at the meeting, this gave a
sound basis for future strategy development and prioritisation
The approach
The Chair and Chief Executive of the charity had already planned to
approach the problem through a two-hour workshop to which all staff and
trustees had been invited. They simply wanted the O.R. volunteer to
facilitate the workshop.
The O.R. volunteer met the Chair and Chief Executive the week before
the workshop to understand the issues facing the organisation, and the
outcomes they wanted from the workshop and longer term. The first
challenge was to work out how anything useful could be achieved from
such a short workshop; especially bearing in mind that this was the first
such workshop the organisation had held.
Following the meeting, the volunteer agreed an agenda for the workshop,
together with advance materials that gave a springboard to discussion
without detracting from engagement at the workshop itself. This enabled a
smooth and productive workshop, with collective agreement on next
steps.
Ruth very quickly understood what we were trying to achieve, and designed
a workshop which helped us achieve our objectives in a very short space of
time. Ruth's involvement in this phase of our strategy development helped
us to have a new kind of conversation as an organisation.

17. Addressing Loneliness in Rural North
YorkshireThe client:
Harrogate and Ripon Centres for Voluntary Service
The client’s problem:
Having recently taken over a rural visiting service for the elderly in North
Yorkshire, the client wanted to ensure the service could realise as much
benefit as possible.The solution
• Established the aims of the service and how it
meets those aims, in particular; sources and types
of client and how the service is delivered
• Developed a strategy map and balanced scorecard
that could be used to develop and monitor the
service in the future
• Produced a report that contains a system diagram
of how the service works and an recommended
changes to the system
The benefits
• Thorough understanding of the service and the wider system it is part of
•Strategy map for reducing loneliness identified and evidenced
•Client ‘taken on the journey’, so understands where strategies come from
•Produced a solid foundation from which to re-model the service and
apply for associated funding
The approach
•Collected information and evidence through interviews with stakeholders,
accompanying project team on visits to clients, reviewing survey feedback
and finance information; used information to produce an initial system
diagram
•Facilitated workshop with key stakeholder to present, discuss, amend
and built on the system diagram
•Thematic analysis of interview notes then allowed clarification and
quantification of major themes and topics
•The above analysis led to a list of clear recommendations
•These recommendations were brought together into a strategy map, from
which a balanced scorecard of measures can monitor progress and
outcomes of the service to ensure maximum benefit
I’m really pleased with the report and it will be very useful
indeed for forward planning and to support our Big Lottery
bid

18. Modelling the UK dog population
The clients
The RSPCA is the UK’s leading animal welfare
charity. Dog-ED is a Social Enterprise applying
Systems Thinking to canine welfare.
The client’s problem:
Just how many dogs are there in the UK and how many are moving in
and out of welfare/rescue? Without an understanding of the population
and how it is stratified, it is difficult to propose meaningful welfare
improvement policies.The solution
The literature review identified around 50 data sources
and 100 data points and time-series.
No consensus on the overall population was possible
due to multiple discrepancies and some questionable
validity among the data sources – the population
estimates ranged from 8.5 to 11+ million dogs in the
UK.
A stocks and flows model was developed in Excel, but
a lack of data prevented the modelling questions from
being answered – new data requirements were
identified for future work.
The benefits
We now know what we don’t know about the UK dog population, based
on a rigorous literature review.
The DECC team felt they built a strong relationship with the clients and
helped sell the benefits of O.R. to them.
The clients can now argue the case for better data collection, to inform
policy-making, with a clearer view of what is needed in order to model the
dog population more fully in the future.
The approach
A team of 4 Pro Bono O.R. volunteers from DECC set out to help the
clients establish a consensus view of how many dogs there are ‘in the
system’ and how they move between different parts of the system, such
as strays and rescue.
The scope of the project covered:
Reviewing the available data, by means of a literature review, in order to
produce a snapshot of the UK dog population.
Designing and building a stocks and flows model to investigate the
movement of dogs from ownership (including working dogs), through
welfare organisations (including strays).
Developing recommendations for possible uses and future development
of the model, taking account of potential additional sources of data (e.g.
Kennel Club, PetLog, DEFRA).
The DECC te am bro ug ht a discipline d appro ach to this pro je ct
and re ally hig hlighte d the data and e vide nce challe nge s in this
co m ple x so cialpo licy are a
Stray dogs
Dogs in welfare
Owned dogs
Owned births
Owned
deaths
Stray births
Stray deaths
Welfare
births
Welfare deaths
Owned dogs to welfare
Welfare dogs to owned
Owned dogs to stray
Stray dogs to owned
Stray dogs to welfare
Imported owned dogs
Dogs imported to
welfare
Owned dog
exports
Number of dogs
microchipped
Owner education
level re dogs
Welfare life expectancy
Owned dog life
expectancy
Stray dog life
expectancy
Space available in
welfare
Euthanasia policy
Emmigration
Number of dog
breeders
Number of puppy
farms
Fundingfor welfare
Welfare capacity
Demand for
dogs in UK
Number of
owned dogs
having puppies
Demand for dogs -
non-UK
Disposable income
Insurance rates
Number of
dogs lost
Number of
dogs
abandoned
Number of dogs
neutered
9.4m (23)
2009 LB: 12,340
2010 LB:10,630
est 1,250 (300
to 2130)
111,000 per
year (13)
Strays back to owner -
53,280 per year (13)
Rehomed - 9,990
per year (13)
Put to sleep/die 8,880
per year (13)
Workingdogs
27,750 per year (13)
Entering welfare:
129,743 per year (1)
0.5% of welfare in
flows (27, scaled)
11.4% of outflow died (27)
LB 7142 euthanised (1)
Assume 0
Welfare dogs reunited with
owner - 12.5% of those
entering = 16,218 (1). 7.7%
of those entering (27)
Rehomed - 80.9%
of outflows (27)
69.5% of welfare
inflows (27, scaled)
30% of welfare inflows (27,
scaled) - this includes LA and
public straying dogs
11.4% of dogs per
year? (36)
25% of dogs per
year? (est from
24, 41)
12 years (34)
4% of microchipped are from Ireland,
3% from other EU, 2% from outside
EU - needs scalingup by 2% (24)
50,000 dogs imported
from Ireland per year (31)
Working dogs
to owned
greyhounds - 3,910
per year (33)
Working
dogbirths
Working
dogdeaths
Workingdoglife
expectancy
Requirements for
working dogs
Working dogs to
welfare
At least 2500
police dogs
(45)

19. A tool to help dog breeders identify genetic risks
The client: The Dachshund Breed Council (DBC) is
a community group that works with breed clubs and
breeders to improve dogs’ health and welfare.
The client’s problem: Some Miniature Wirehaired
Dachshunds suffer from a form of epilepsy called
Lafora Disease. 2 DNA tests are available, but are
not yet used by all breeders. The DBC wanted a tool
to help predict the probability of breeding puppies with
Lafora Disease.
The solution
•Review the DNA test data and 12 month litter registration
statistics
•Develop Probability Trees for different possible breeding
combinations
•Produce an Excel spreadsheet to predict the probability of
breeding Lafora-affected puppies which can be updated as
required
The benefits
• DBC has a tool which can be used to help raise awareness of the
need for Lafora Screening
•Identifying the probability of breeding affected puppies will lead to
more informed decisions being made by breeders
•The tool can be used to investigate the potential impacts of different
breeding strategies, such as removing affected dogs from the gene
pool
•The tool is robust, simple to use and draws on readily available DNA
test and litter registration data
The approach: Dr. Sophie Carr (Bays Consulting Ltd.)
worked with Ian Seath (Chairman of the DBC) to review
the quarterly Kennel Club litter registration and results of
the Lafora DNA screening from 2010-2013. As such all
puppies bred from both tested and untested parents were
included. Sophie created Probability Trees for all known
breeding combinations. These formed the basis for an
Excel tool comprising data entry, calculations and results.
“Brilliant – it m ake s the pre dictio ns o f risk visible ”
“This willbe so use ful”
(Lafora Screening Co-ordinators)

20. Identifying Areas for Development
The client:
A small charity supporting families and
individuals facing a wide range of trauma or
tragedy.
The client’s problem:
The charity was two years into planned expansion of
its services and wanted to seek advice on a particular
element of it.
The solution
•Initially the assignment appeared to be one of
checking the robustness of a clearly well thought
through strategy
•Discussions revealed issues around governance,
action planning, people development, risk, business
continuity and the role of CEO vis-à-vis the Trustees
•An analysis of the issues was developed with
potential actions to address them through discussion
with the relevant parties
The benefits
•Reassurance about their strategy
•Heightened awareness of areas to develop
•Developing their own actions to address the emerging
issues
•Potential on-going support by way of mentoring
The approach
The nature of the approach emerged as a result of
initial discussions.
The volunteer consultant:
•Undertook a desktop review of the organisation’s
plans
•Developed questions to inform an emerging
approach to the task
•Met with the CEO and Chair to explore the issues
facing the organisation and develop their response
The charity is very small and the contact only
involved the CEO and Chair meeting each
separately and then together to plan their ‘next
steps’
We are enormously grateful for being able to benefit from the
advice and support of such a knowledgeable and experienced
professional, who was able to raise challenging issues in a
sensitive and helpful way.

21. Facilitating the revision of AYME’s strategy
The client:
AYME is a charity which supports young people with
Myalgic Encephalopathy (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome)
The client’s problem:
AYME needed to revise its 3-5 year strategy in the
light of changing circumstances and several new
trustees. An external facilitator for a half day strategic
planning workshop was required.
The solution:
• Feedback was obtained from trustees and managers
about what the key areas for improvement are and
ideas for making these improvements.
•A list of actions prioritised by trustees and CEO,
together with a causal map identifying key priorities,
was used as the basis for the revised strategic plan.
The benefits:
•Trustees gained a good up to date understanding of the needs of AYME
and its clients and of the enthusiasm of its employees and volunteers
•Trustees gained a shared understanding of the most important priorities
of the charity and will be implementing the revised strategy to the benefit
of clients, volunteers and staff.
•The volunteer gained additional experience in using these techniques
and was able to share these at The OR Society conference.
The approach:
Sue Merchant worked with AYME’s Chair and Vice Chair of trustees to
agree an approach for the workshop. A questionnaire was then
distributed to an agreed list of trustees and managers to establish their
views on what services (client facing and internal) most needed
improvement. The suggested actions obtained from the questionnaire,
sorted into key improvement areas, provided the basis for the workshop.
Using a set of simple symbols trustees quickly sorted ideas for action
into quick wins, things requiring more thought, things which were
currently unaffordable, and things which were impractical. They then
prioritised the actions from the first three of these lists. The agreed
priorities were incorporated in a draft strategy paper prepared by the
client and taken forward to a trustees meeting for agreement. Following
the trustees meeting Sue advised the client on how to turn the strategy
into a practical action plan, showing responsibilities and timescales for
completion.
Thank you for a very helpful and enlightening session
which was exactly the kind of help we needed to help us
focus on the future.
• Symbols used in sorting ideas for Improvement
• Easy/quick win
• Needs thought
• Needs much time/resource £
• Impractical X

22. For more information please see my blog, webpage, Twitter or LinkedIn page.
Webpage: www.theorsociety.com/Pages/Probono/Probono.aspx
Blog: http://probonoOR.blogspot.co.uk/
@FMcLeister
Felicity McLeister
I look forward to hearing from you.
For more information
Email felicity.mcleister@theorsociety.com