To increase the ease of use of the CDDW and to improve its data collection potential and the robustness of its methodology, investing in a digital platform was essential. The new tool is accessible to all, interactive, and like the initial tool, relies on quantitative answers to its questions to assign scores to all of the separate segments. Users can revisit the questions at any time allowing it to become a living tool that policy and project leads can use throughout the design stages ahead of decision making.
Whilst a lot of effort has gone into building a level of quality assurance into the tool itself, we recognised that it would only be as good as the person utilising it. We established a Steering Group to guide initial application of the tool and focused on the Council’s officers in policy and project development roles.
Once we had decided which staff in the organisation would be initially utilising the decision wheel, we started to develop the required support and training. We ensured that we had the right technical support so that staff could effectively use the digital tool. We then focused on creating the necessary environment to implement the wheel, allowing us to learn about the process and alter the training and technical support in line with staff needs.
One thing that we recognised early on in the process, was that the training and support required to use the CDDW effectively would be an ongoing, iterative process. Action learning sets with relevant policy and project officers are established to collaboratively work through and determine potential alterations and to challenge what is being presented. Though this can be a resource intensive way of working, the benefit of this approach has been realised through the speed in which staff developed their ability to apply the decision wheel and in the quality of the work presented.
Our use of Action learning sets also acted as a level of scrutiny which helped improve the quality of the impact assessments going to decision-makers, ensuring all impacts were properly recognised. The Sets are comprised of experts in their respective fields within the Directorate. Training was also provided to these experts in how the CDDW should be used.
Providing training and guidance to key decision makers has also been a key focus. As we welcomed a new administration in May 2021, we recognised the need to provide our new cabinet members with an in-depth overview of the tool.
We ran workshops that focused on how the decision-making tool is used by staff, how staff developed the reports that sit alongside decisions and how members should probe the rationale behind the information within the reports. The workshops were successful in supporting members to understand the value of the tool and to trust the output. To supplement the workshops, a wider member briefing session was also held.
The tool is continuously evolving. Most recently we incorporated our equality impact assessment into the decision wheel. This has helped to streamline and simplify the council’s processes. With the new digital tool, we are working to ensure that it has cross council buy in, going from strength to strength in terms of outputs and usability. The CDDW has been expanded to decision-making processes throughout the council, including Overview and Scrutiny Committees, Individual Portfolio Holder decisions and it is also being used as part of all strategy, policy and project development. We have also developed a method to review the cumulative impact of multiple policy and project interventions such as the setting of mid-term financial strategies.