White Papers
In this section we present a number of white
papers recently published by VEGA.
Does the UK need a National Strategy for information sharing? –
Do we need to Share to Prepare?
The UK Government’s publication of its National Security, Cyber
Security and Counter Terrorist Strategies have all highlighted the
ability to share information electronically across Government,
securely and on demand, as an essential capability that underlines
the UK’s security and resilience planning.
In his white paper, Steve Coles, Head of Security Strategy for
VEGA Consulting Services, examines the approach adopted by some of
the UK’s closest allies to resolve the challenges associated with
the increased demand to securely share information across a range
of government departments and extended stakeholders.
He goes on to outline the technology that could help deliver a
credible solution for the UK’s required capability, with the
minimum cost and disruption, and concludes by suggesting that now
is the time for the UK to implement a National Information Sharing
Strategy.
If you would like to receive a full copy of 'Does the UK need a
National Strategy for information sharing? – Do we need to Share to
Prepare?', please contact us.
How Enterprise Modelling can help Business Continuity Managers
to understand complexity
Imagine an organisation where the Business Continuity Manager,
the Execs, the Heads of Department, and the IT team all share a
common understanding of how the business is structured, how it
works and how their areas of expertise are connected. Would that
make life easier for everyone? Of course it would. However, as we
all know, in reality it’s not so easy to bring about such harmony;
organisations, even small ones, are hugely complex, and all but the
most superficial analysis quickly leads to information overload.
What is needed is a way to capture, organise and present the mass
of information about an organisation in a structured and accessible
format.
In this paper, VEGA Senior Consultant, Gary Clarke MBCI,
outlines the potential benefits of developing an Enterprise Model
to understand the complex web of inter-relationships between an
organisation’s critical architecture, processes and resources.
If you would like to receive a full copy of 'How Enterprise
Modelling can help Business Continuity Managers to understand
complexity', please contact us.
Through Life Management Plans – Improving Capability
Delivery
It is difficult to predict what is going to
happen in the next few years, let alone the next 10, 20, 30 or even
50 years. But, just because it is difficult, doesn’t mean we don’t
do it. Most of us do actually think about these future
life-changing decisions like marriage, starting families, buying a
house, what job to apply for, choosing the right pension to secure
our retirement, making wills in the event of death, and how to
distribute our inheritance. This is real through life planning and
decision making – simple cradle to grave common sense.
The same principles apply in any business,
when either buying something new or trying to decide to continue
using something already in use to achieve an objective or outcome.
And government departments are no exception.
In May 2003, the National Audit Office (NAO)
published a damning report on how the UK Ministry of Defence (MOD)
managed and delivered its business, most notably its acquisition
projects, that it said lacked a true ‘Through Life’ focus.
The MOD has subsequently implemented new
initiatives to make better long-term investment decisions – namely
the Defence Industrial Strategy (DIS) and Defence Acquisition
Change Programme (DACP) – which has led to new policies, processes
and management tools which are already continuing to increase the
successful delivery of projects and programmes.
If you would like to receive a full copy of
'Through Life Management Plans – Improving Capability Delivery',
please contact us.
Through Life Capability Management – a truism too far?
The Defence Acquisition Community is not short
of truism, invariably tinged with cynicism. Some examples being,
“Things come full circle”; “ECC, sounds like D (OR) to me”;
“McKinsey reinvented”; “Smart Acquisition second time around”. The
cynicism however overlooks the reality behind the truism, namely an
intention to understand, never to give up and always an aspiration
to improve. The most recent chapter in this aspiration to improve
the performance of the Defence Acquisition Community embraces DIS
(Defence Industrial Strategy), McKane (Report – Enabling
Acquisition Change) and now DACP (Defence Acquisition Change
Programme).
This paper examines what it is that makes DACP
different to past initiatives and why it is so important to the
Defence Acquisition Community.
It outlines the hard work that needs to
undertaken but demonstrates that no matter how hard the challenge
is, its success is fundamental to the delivery of UK's future
defence capability.
If you would like to receive a full copy of
'Through Life Capability Management – a truism too far?', please
contact us.
Delivering the value of Through Life Capability Management
(TLCM) – The only show in town!
The 2007 Comprehensive Spending Review has set
the UK MOD a very challenging target to develop its future defence
programme within the extremely tight budget set by this years
planning round, PR08, and deliver the capability which is needed by
the front line. In parallel the UK Defence Acquisition Change
Programme continues to move forward to create an organisation that
is capable of being both agile and ready to deliver capability at
reduced cost. The Defence Industrial Strategy which frames the
relationship for MOD’s interface with industry is also being
refreshed.
In the context of this fast moving
environment, this paper captures the thoughts offered by VEGA at
DSEi 07 and describes why putting an effective Through Life
Capability Management (TLCM) in place is fundamental to achieving
successful acquisition; in plain terms the generation of a coherent
and affordable programme that is responsive to the changing needs
of the UK’s military forces.
The paper covers the what, why and (most
importantly) the how of TLCM, it concludes that TLCM is a
significant change programme that can only be successfully
implemented by acknowledging and addressing the following three key
points:
- TLCM needs a user friendly information system
that describes the ground truth for each capability area, the
Recognised Acquisition Picture, to assist and improve the quality
of decision making
- TLCM is difficult. It is complex, hard to
establish and a challenge to sustain
- TLCM requires focussed leadership and
governance, both in the MOD and industry, to maintain momentum
The paper likens achieving effective TLCM to a
journey, it identifies why it needs to become an enduring process
if MOD is going to balance its books; it examines how far we have
come to date and postulates how value will be realised in future.
It concludes that although there is much to do, the rewards of
completing the journey far outweigh the effort required to
negotiate the many challenges encountered along the route.
If you would like to receive a full copy of
'Delivering the value of Through Life Capability Management (TLCM)
– The only show in town!', please contact
us.
Business Continuity Planning – What? Why? How?
'Business Continuity Planning – What? Why?
How?', by VEGA Managing Consultant, Brian Billsberry MBE, provides
an overview of what Business Continuity Management (BCM) means, why
organisations need to engage in it, and how an organisation should
approach the planning, implementation and maintenance of a Business
Continuity Plan (BCP).
It identifies the issues associated with
planning, implementing and maintaining a BCP, drawing on VEGA’s
experience in helping a wide variety of organisations to develop
effective BCP.
The paper explains:
- What BCM is
- Why an should organisation consider it
- How you should go about planning, implementing
and maintaining a BCP – one that is targeted on the
business-critical activities and outputs specific to your
particular organisation?
If you would like to receive a full copy of
'Business Continuity Planning – What? Why? How?’, please contact us.
Business Continuity Planning – Addressing Complexity and other
Issues
Organisations should all be aware that the
first formal Business Continuity standard in the world (BS25999)
was launched in November 2006. While this standard provides a much
needed framework and guidance for Business Continuity Management
(BCM) and Business Continuity Planning (BCP), this still does not
address two major issues that face us all when undertaking Business
Continuity Planning, namely:
- Understanding Complexity
- Ensuring the resultant policies and plans are
issued to the right people, read and understood by them, practised
at appropriate intervals and kept relevant to the
organisation.
'Business Continuity Planning – Addressing
Complexity and other Issues', by VEGA Managing Consultant, Brian
Billsberry MBE, discusses the implications of each of these issues
and highlights the potential impact they could have on any
organisation’s future viability. Brian describes a holistic
approach that not only helps Business Continuity Planners to better
understand the complexities of the organisation they are trying to
protect, but also provides the tools to create the essential
visualisations that ensure the complexities of an organisation and
its critical partners are more easily understood. It therefore
assures a Board of Management that its organisation is adequately
protected and provides demonstrable proof that its business
continuity related Corporate Governance and Compliance obligations
have been met.
If you would like to receive a full copy of
'Business Continuity Planning – Addressing Complexity and other
Issues', please contact us.
Participative Government
During the last decade there has been a determination within
central government to encourage greater involvement and
participation by individuals, communities and the users of public
services. This is based on beliefs about the type of society that
the government wants to build and it is also based on a pragmatic
view that effective involvement will drive improved quality of
service and help to direct resources to meet the needs of service
users.
This paper considers the practical implications of participative
government and looks at the competencies required within central
and local government if they are to fulfil this objective.
If you would like to receive a full copy of 'Participative
Government, please contact us.