Goal 1: continue to map existing user journeys
We simplified the grant onboarding journey map by dividing into 4 parts:
- grant establishment
- engagement with ESFA
- analysis of how ESFA can support and Change Gateway
- integrate grant into ESFA
We’ve also pulled together a map of all funding streams that are currently administered by ESFA.
We have:
- broken down the journey across age groups
- split out grants requiring contracts and those that don’t, and where there are potentially mixtures of both.
- shown which grants are dealt with by which of the 13 funding service functions
Goal 2: complete the next iteration of our stakeholder map
Based on our initial stakeholder map, we reached out to senior stakeholders in ESFA’s Funding Directorate to identify the appropriate point of contact from each team. We added this information to an organogram.
We also mapped which teams are responsible for each of the 13 functions of the funding service.
Goal 3: Complete the next iteration of our map of the business process map.
We updated our map of the current business process using information from:
- discussions with stakeholders including the Funding Policy Implementation team, Operational Excellence team and Service Delivery team
- documents shared with us by various teams
- responses to our assumptions and queries tracker on SharePoint
Key takeaways
Spend managers
Spend managers are responsible for managing the budget for allocations. Spend managers may work in DfE or ESFA. The overseeing of the budget always remains with DfE policy. The DfE policy team starts the initial conversation with Funding Directorate leads and the Funding Policy Implementation team. There is no set streamlined process currently.
Change gateway meeting
The DfE policy team, Operational Excellence team and Service Delivery team are involved in preparing for the Change Gateway. They review the requirements and estimate the size of the work. The Funding Policy Implementation team collect information from the teams to assess feasibility and make an informed decision at Change Gateway.
Conditions of grant
The Contracts and payments team helps the Funding Policy Implementation team to create the 'Conditions of Grant (CoG)' for some grants.
The Conditions of Grant specifies:
- eligibility
- calculations
- spending restrictions
- potential recovery of funds
There is an ongoing relationship between Contracts and Payments and Funding Policy Implementation team from initial idea to final reconciliation and audit.
Modelling allocations
The Allocation and Calculations team uses methodologies produced by policy colleagues to work on modelling and calculating allocations. They work closely with the Contracts and Payments team.
Funding Data Management team
The Funding Data Management team ensures accurate data for funding allocations.
In-year Calculation team
The In-year Calculation team may be involved in the onboarding of a new grant if policy teams determine that in-year calculations are required.
Digital Service Delivery team
The Digital Service Delivery team discusses any system development, configuration change, and data and calculation requirements with the Funding Policy Implementation and Operational Excellence teams.
The Digital Forms team provide their input during the feasibility assessment in case a new form is required for grant onboarding. They are also involved in creating assurance forms for providers to verify they are using funds appropriately.
Finance team
The Finance team is always kept in the loop about new grant onboarding by the DfE Policy team. The Contract and Payments team also work very closely with the Finance team.
Goal 4: Conduct user research with grant managers who have on-boarded their grants into the funding service
We started our research sessions with Grant Managers but didn’t manage to complete them due to a mix of factors including the election and some covid cases. Finding the correct people to interview was tricky, we collected a list of potential leads which often didn’t meet the participant profile and worked from there. We plan to have headline findings at the end of the next sprint.
Sprint 4 goals:
Next sprint our goals are to:
- continue to conduct user research with grant managers
- hold a workshop to refine and validate our journey map and process map
- update journey and process maps with user research findings