8 Making the business case for National Occupational Standards

Introducing and making the best use of National Occupational Standards will require the same effort and skill that is involved in managing any development project, starting with a sound business case.

The business case

The first task is to provide your organisation with enough information to make a sound business decision for introducing National Occupational Standards. The business case needs to show why standards should be adopted, how they can be introduced and when they should be used.

The generic approach outlined here can be adapted to individual situations. Decide whether each of the tasks described is relevant. Some might already have been carried out by others in your organisation.

Developing the business case is carried out in three phases:

Phase 1: Research

Gather information to help you make your business case for introducing National Occupational Standards.

You will need to:

  • Review your organisation’s objectives and strategies to see how National Occupational Standards can support them
  • Identify the standards which are suitable
  • Highlight factors critical to the successful introduction of standards
  • Obtain the required resources

You will need to research the following:

  • Your organisation’s short and long-term organisational objectives
  • Your network’s strategy to adopt the National Occupational Standards (if applicable)
  • The key business challenges facing your organisation
  • The level of understanding and expertise about National Occupational Standards that exists in your organisation
  • Which Legal Advice National Occupational Standards and any cross-sector National Occupational Standards (eg administration, management and leadership, volunteer management) are relevant to your organisation
  • Names and contact details of organisations which can help you and provide information, such as Skills for Justice or your network

Phase 2: Analysis

You should assess the impact of using National Occupational Standards on your business strategy and outline an initial approach to issues such as:

  • The extent to which National Occupational Standards will be used
  • The pace at which they will be introduced
  • The extent of integration with existing human resource systems and policies on recruitment and training etc

You should then conduct a cost/benefit analysis.

The impact of using National Occupational Standards will, in many cases, vary over time. The short-term impact might be slight, even negative (eg extra work, a disruption of existing training), but, over a longer period, improvements should be evident as people become better trained. For this reason, you should look at both the short and long-term impact of using National Occupational Standards.

Introducing National Occupational Standards will also have an impact on organisational processes. You need to consider the effect of National Occupational Standards both on the way you do things and on who does what. This may involve redefining procedures and redeveloping job roles.

Broadly, you should be looking for benefits in some or all of the following areas:

  • Quality of service
  • Client satisfaction
  • Individual performance
  • Team working
  • Efficiency
  • Morale and motivation
  • Organisational reputation and image
  • Ability to respond swiftly to changes and challenges

Costs and benefits

The following are examples of costs and benefits which might be factors in constructing your business case. Identify those which could apply to your organisation and add any additional ones you can think of.

Cost factors

Start-up

  • Project management/administration
  • Training
  • Assessment and evaluation procedures
  • Internal communications
  • Pilot scheme

Implementation

  • Administering the system
  • Recording systems
  • Security/confidentiality
  • Review/evaluation of effectiveness
  • Assessment
  • Training
  • Internal communications
  • Sustaining motivation
  • Promoting uses of the standards
    Reporting achievements/benefits

Consider which of the above would be new or additional costs and which would be replacement costs as you substitute a standards-based approach for your existing processes.

Phase 3: Recommendations

If the cost/benefit analysis shows a justification for using the National Occupational Standards, you can then develop proposals and recommendations for action. You should test your cost/benefit analysis by asking yourself:

  • Are the costs of adopting National Occupational Standards balanced by the benefits?
  • Are all the estimates of costs and benefits realistic?
  • Have all the costs and benefits factors been identified and considered?

You will need to test the assumptions you made in the initial approach by checking the feasibility with those who will be involved or affected and adjust the approach where required. This phase also involves developing a presentation to enable others, particularly management, to understand the approach to be adopted and also to engage key stakeholders at an early stage.

Depending on the scale of your proposals, this might require an initial demonstration such as evidence of success in other businesses or a pilot scheme.

Your organisation might have specific techniques and formats for preparing and presenting business cases. While you will want to adhere to these, the following questions will help you to select presentation materials:

  • For which processes are you recommending the use of National Occupational Standards?
  • What is the overall benefit of using National Occupational Standards?
  • How are you going to implement the use of National Occupational Standards – what are the features and benefits of this approach?
  • What are the costs of initiating and implementing National Occupational Standards?
  • What objections might others in your organisation raise to your recommendations?
  • How can you address those objections?
  • What action do you suggest is taken next?

You might find the presentation included in Section G of this toolkit useful in presenting your business case.