1 Analyze Top Savings Opportunities Step #7

2 After completing the screening & sizing tools, you may use the Deep Dive tracker to identify the biggest opportunities for your district Pay for Priorities By this point your team should have…  Completed the Cost Savings Options: Screening & Sizing Tool located in “Step 6: Identify Top Savings Options”  Engaged with the “4. Track Savings Opportunities” tab in the Progress Tracker to identify the opportunities for which your district will perform a deep dive analysis Cost Savings Options: Screening & Sizing Tool Smarter School Spending Progress Tracker

3 Once you have identified potential opportunities for reallocation you will need to perform a deeper dive analysis to confirm and/or quantify the savings Pay for Priorities There are 3 potential steps to performing additional deep dive analysis Develop an Internal Team Determine Your Need for External Assistance 1 2 Build Stakeholder Support 3

4 Develop an Internal Team Pay for Priorities Key Questions Who is on the internal team and what are their responsibilities? What are the key milestones to be completed by the internal team and when will they be completed? Note: Aspects of the Deep Dive Planning Template have been adapted from the Boston Consulting Group’s materials for use within Lake County Schools A successful deep dive analysis requires careful planning & management Deep Dive Planning Template Create an Internal Team Determine Your Need for External Assistance Build Stakeholder Support

5 Develop an Internal Team: Roles & Responsibilities Pay for Priorities Action Teams may be internal teams responsible for directing or conducting deep dive analysis Source: Process Organization & Work Planning Guide A potential structure for organizing internal teams involves multiple Action Teams reporting on their analysis to the Working Group Roles & Responsibilities Roadmap Create an Internal Team Determine Your Need for External Assistance Build Stakeholder Support

6 Develop an Internal Team: Roles & Responsibilities Pay for Priorities Recommended Internal Team MembersPossible Responsibilities Team size & structure will vary based on the budget area or initiative assigned Each team may include: ─ Team leader ─ Representative from Working Group ─ Stakeholders relating to area of focus ─ Analyst(s) to conduct research Specifically size the savings opportunity Conduct deep dive analysis/research & synthesize results Create implementation plan to achieve goal Advise on political feasibility and expected support Present findings and recommendations to the Working Group Manage external assistance NameTitleRole on Team What is their role in the district or community? What perspective will they bring to the team & what role will they play? Deep Dive Planning Template: Includes a blank template you may use to create your internal team. You will also find an example team structure. Source: Process Organization & Work Planning Guide Roles & Responsibilities Roadmap Create an Internal Team Determine Your Need for External Assistance Build Stakeholder Support

7 Develop an Internal Team: Roadmap Pay for Priorities What IT ISWhat it IS NOT The Roadmap’s milestones reflect major steps that are typically the aggregations of many smaller activities One person owns a Roadmap and is responsible/accountable for its implementation Milestones occur regularly, typically monthly or bi-monthly, to prevent projects from going off track or becoming invisible to senior leaders A detailed project plan that outlines everything that needs to happen to complete the project ─ Dozens of tasks & milestones ─ Very specific details ─ Includes meeting timing Teams are encouraged to develop their own project plans that are tailored to their unique task Project plans must align with roadmap milestone timing Source: Boston Consulting Group’s materials for use within Lake County Schools A Roadmap is a high-level plan of the major milestones that need to be achieved to reach project success Roles & Responsibilities Roadmap Create an Internal Team Determine Your Need for External Assistance Build Stakeholder Support

8 Develop an Internal Team: Roadmap Pay for Priorities Involve Others Keep It SimpleStart With the End in Mind Remember, a milestone is not an activity Create a work plan as you go You may choose to draft your roadmap with your entire group, a smaller team, or solo But remember that your entire team will need to execute on the plan you create, so it is wise to share it with your whole group before it is finalized A roadmap is essentially a list of milestones with "completed by" dates attached Know what your final work product is and what success looks like for your team; your milestones are your mini-deadlines to get there Example of an activity: Train directors on cost/ROI tool Example of a milestone: 40% of directors trained on Cost/ROI tool (with date by which accomplished) Your roadmap will only work if you know you can have the meetings needed to get the work done Deep Dive Planning Template: Includes an interactive template to list your milestones. You will also find a example list of milestones from Lake County Schools. Source: Boston Consulting Group’s materials for use within Lake County Schools Suggestions for writing a successful roadmap Roles & Responsibilities Roadmap Create an Internal Team Determine Your Need for External Assistance Build Stakeholder Support

9 You should consider 3 main factors when determining your need for external assistance Determine Your Need for External Assistance Pay for Priorities People 1 − Do your district employees possess the capability, skill and/or expertise to conduct the deep dive analysis? − Does you believe your district can effectively manage an external provider? Time 2 − Do members of district staff have the time to execute specific deep dive analyses in addition to their daily duties & responsibilities? − Does the budget schedule necessitate an accelerated timeline for producing results that current district staff cannot accommodate? Money 3 − Can your district afford to hire additional district employees to either take over responsibilities of district staff on the internal team or assist in conducting deep dive analysis? − Does your district have the resources necessary to hire an external provider? Create an Internal Team Determine Your Need for External Assistance Build Stakeholder Support If you already have External Providers working within your district, remember to leverage their skills & expertise

10 Possible Assistance: An external person or team may conduct a comprehensive audit of energy expenditures to determine wasteful spending and identify opportunities to streamline costs Possible Assistance: An external person or team with specific in-depth experience relating to special education programming may be consulted to develop programs that will service students with special needs within the district Possible Assistance: An external person or team may be hired to conduct rigorous class size analyses to identify specific, actionable options to generate cost savings Pay for Priorities Determine Your Need for External Assistance: Type of Support Necessary Create an Internal Team Determine Your Need for External Assistance Build Stakeholder Support External assistance may be valuable in different ways depending on the specific opportunity targeted for deep dive analysis Analytical BandwidthService ProviderSubject Area Expertise Sample Opportunity: Can the district free up funds by managing class sizes differently at the high schools? Sample Opportunity: Can the district free up funds from energy expenditures Sample Opportunity: Can the district free up funds by reducing reliance on out-of- district special education placements?

11 Pay for Priorities You can find a list of potential external providers and the services they offer on the Smarter School Spending website Determine Your Need for External Assistance: Identify Potential Partners Create an Internal Team Determine Your Need for External Assistance Build Stakeholder Support

12 Cost Savings Opportunities Instructional Priorities Realignment Opportunities Instructional Priorities Pay for Priorities Build Stakeholder Support Create an Internal Team Determine Your Need for External Assistance Build Stakeholder Support Cost savings opportunities will impact a set of programs or people Impact on Student Learning Cost Cost savings opportunities should exhibit a large potential funding source for instructional priorities and a low impact on student learning Who will be most impacted by these changes?

13 Pay for Priorities Build Stakeholder Support Create an Internal Team Determine Your Need for External Assistance Build Stakeholder Support Ensure that you engage with stakeholders impacted by these changes What analysis was done? What has been the impact in student learning? 1 2 What new investments will be made? 3 For additional resources on building stakeholder support, please see the Cost Savings PowerPoint and Pulse Check in Step7: Analyze Top Savings Options

14 After deep dive analysis reveals specific next steps to realize cost savings, you must TAKE ACTION! Pay for Priorities Total the actual savings found through deep dive analysis Develop a plan to implement resource realignment strategies Use savings to fund instructional priorities Progress Tracker Use the Progress Tracker to total the amount of savings you can expect to realize based on deep dive analysis. Compare your total savings found to the amount of money needed to fund your instructional priorities and budget gap Strategic Finance Plan Strategic Budget Template Within your strategic finance documents, you should communicate a plan to realize the savings identified through deep dive analyses and detail how your savings will be used to fund instructional priorities that will improve student achievement Continue to identify opportunities to reinvest savings to improve student learning Make tradeoff decisions to determine future investments and cost savings Balancing Tradeoffs Tool Use the Balancing Tradeoffs tool to balance budget needs, investment priorities, and cost savings. The tool will also help district think about how to sequence these changes