Local Government

Covalent is the most functionally rich, easy-to-use Performance Management system available for Local Government. Covalent is proven-in-action in all council types - Counties, Unitaries, London Boroughs, Districts, Mets - across the UK and internationally, delivering a comprehensive solution that integrates all corporate performance elements with powerful reporting capabilities.

Local Government faces unprecedented pressure to reduce spending and find efficiency savings whilst continuing to improve service quality - the so-called 'more for less' strategy. The Localism Agenda gives councils more direct control over setting their priorities and resources allocation, whilst at the same time requiring stronger accountability through greater transparency with the communities they serve.

For Local Government, embedding performance management within the organisation is fundamental to ensuring successful outcomes against these challenges.

Progress track efficiency initiatives and Value for Money programmes
Covalent consolidates in one place all corporate and departmental action plans, service improvement programmes, and partnership projects and progress tracks them against due date with colour coding and powerful milestone management.

Improve employee performance management methods
Manage competency frameworks, 360 degree feedback and goal alignment. Obtain a cross-organisational assessment of staff performance and skill gaps. Track personal development plans (PDPs) for every employee.

Co-ordinate partnership working and shared services models
With the LAA abolished, the focus on shared services models for cost savings is more prevalent. Progress track delivery of shared actions with colour coding against deadline date. Maximise usage of each partner's resources and reduce delivery costs of improved services.

Streamline processes to improve service delivery and identify inefficiencies
Closely track all the critical time, quality and cost metrics in key business processes. Highlight operational inefficiencies, bottlenecks and service improvement opportunities to deliver a better outcome at reduced cost to you and your partners.

Deploy resources in line with corporate objectives and priority local outcomes
Actively manage deployment of limited resources in achieving corporate and departmental objectives, as well as demonstrating progress with delivery of priority local outcomes. Progress track relevant PIs, actions and risks with Strategy Maps and Scorecards.

Monitor budget usage to find under- and over-spends
Monitor expenditure against approved budgets in real time. Proactively identify problem areas and opportunities to re-allocate budgets between cost centres. Many councils overcome the limitations of their finance system by using Covalent to proactively manage expenditures.