Analyses used in businesses that Civil Service employ

University courses Politics
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In business administration, management consultancy, strategy consultancy, asset management, professional services and other similar types of fields, a range of different techniques are used to explain, analyse and clarify information, strategies and plans. Some of these are used by policy advisors, researchers, officers, etc. These are detailed in the ROAMEF framework, which is used to inform policy thinking. These are some of them:

  • SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) - a very common and popular method in the business world, SWOT is an established technique where a range of different aspects of a company, strategy, new investment, etc, are analysed, allowing for a clearer picture to emerge. This can be just as well used by civil servants to assess the potential impact of new policy.

  • PESTLE (political, economic, sociological, technological, environmental, legal) - another common analysis used in business, PESTLE appears in the ROAMEF framework and it states that policy development “must start with development of the rationale and be based on a sound understanding of the current position”. PESTLE is a good way to do so as you have an understanding of a current situation through the analysis.

  • Five Case Model - this model consist of 5 dimensions: strategic case, economic case, commercial case, financial case and management case. This framework is put to use in considering public resources being to be used proportionally to costs and risks involved, also taking into account the context in which a decision is to be taken.

  • Critical success factors - a critical success factor is an element of an organisation or a project which is crucial for its success. For the Civil Service, CSFs are for proposals, and there are 5 key CSFs for all proposals: strategic fit and meets business needs, potential value for money, supplier capacity and capability, potential affordability, potential achievability.

  • Social cost-benefit analysis and cost-effectiveness analysis - social cost-benefit analysis extends economic cost-benefit analysis, also taking into consideration both the social and the environmental effects of a project. Cost-effectiveness analysis compares relative costs and outcomes, resulting from various courses of action. The Civil Service use these in conjunction with each other.

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SWOT and PESTLE are very useful! it always helped when doing university projects

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have you had any hands-on experience using these frameworks or seen them in action in real-world scenarios? And do you think there are any emerging techniques or trends that could complement or enhance these existing methods?

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It’s impressive to see the array of techniques like SWOT, PESTLE, and critical success factors utilized across diverse fields for informed decision-making.

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Unfortunately I have not had any experience up until now, but even if I won’t be asked to use them I can still see where it may be beneficial for me to use them. And again I’ll be honest I’m not too well versed in these techniques so I’m not too sure about what methods could complement these ones.

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