Fire Authorities

Covalent's Performance and Efficiency Management system is proven-in-action across all parts of the UK public sector as a tool for improving corporate performance, governance, risk management and business planning, delivering a comprehensive solution that integrates all corporate performance elements with powerful reporting capabilities.

Fire authorities face unprecedented pressure to reduce spending and find efficiency savings whilst continuing to improve service quality - the so-called 'more for less' strategy - in line with the National Framework. They need to demonstrate better value for money by focusing management effort and increasingly limited resources on improving outcomes whilst minimising the risk of non-delivery. Cost control plans need to be driven by aligning budgets to the high priority local outcomes, alone and in partnership with other public bodies.

For all these reasons, 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.

Streamline processes to improve service delivery and identify inefficiencies
Balance fire prevention, protection and response functions by closely tracking all the critical time, quality and cost metrics in key business processes. Easily highlight operational inefficiencies, bottlenecks and service improvement opportunities to deliver a better outcome at reduced cost.

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

Monitor budget usage to find under- and over-spends
Link strategic local priorities and targets to resource management by monitoring expenditure against approved budgets in real time. Proactively identify problem areas and opportunities to re-allocate budgets between cost centres.

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.

Minimise strategic and operational risks
Covalent consolidates all strategic and operational risk registers in a tree hierarchy, with traffic-lighting based on likelihood and impact, linked to mitigation plans. Ensure all parts of the organisation are 'risk aware' and alert them to changes in risk status.