How We Can Help

Because our background is in the public sector and have worked in the front line environment of practice with the most difficult and vulnerablie families, trained and managed practitioners and managers, we fully understand the challenges and principles that public sector managers work with in a resource limited environment.

Because we have MSc qualifications inInformation and Business Systems and have worked for several years in the private and public sector as business consultants we can develop solid business models that deliver.

The integration of Public and private sector service, linked by a strong and sound knowledge base makes us unique in the world of Local Government Children's Service Consultancy

We can work with you to develop integrated systems (Best Practice models, IT based information systems, management decision support).
Our approach promotes maximum ‘buy-in’ from all stakeholders from senior management through to partner service providers in the independent, private and voluntary sector and user groups.
Working with you to develop professional and ‘people friendly’ systems that improve outcomes for children
We will work with you and your partners to improve your capacity to meet government targets in the most efficient and effective way.
SoftMachine works with organisations across the domains of health, social care, education and the Private, voluntary and independent sector to improve effectiveness in a range of areas:

• Integrated working.
• Decision support systems,
• monitoring and service delivery
• commissioning
• resource management
• information management
• policy development
• Strategic planning.

Service Models

• Provide project management for any service development area.
• Work with you in facilitation and development of High Quality, fully transparent and accountable local service models.
• Provide comprehensive evaluations of any service delivery and make recommendations for future practice.
• Assess current services against the 5 outcomes.
• Seek the views of children, young people and their families from all sectors.

Commissioning

• Building highly effective commissioning systems that have robust mechanism such as
• data collection, monitoring and analysis tools.
• Contracts, SLA, Service Specification, Spot Purchase arrangements.
• Finance management, invoicing, funding arrangements, debt management
• Needs and Outcome analysis linked to integrated working and partnership development
• These tools deliver
• accurate profiling of service delivery, forecasting of trends and future needs.
• Reports to partner and independent commissioners to inform future commissioning arrangements and promote increased partnership and integration of both providers and commissioners.
• Evaluate your commissioning models and make recommendations to
• enhance and make optimal use of the resources and systems you use.
• Help you develop integrated commissioning models that:
• offer both the sharing and management of human, financial and information resources to
• improve identification of present and future needs,
• get commissioners and providers working better at service development, resource targeting and allocation,
• co-operating instead of competing

Finance Systems
We offer high calibre business expertise to help you in a full analysis of your systems at all levels.  We work closely with senior management to identify your precise business needs and support you in the development of processes that do not lose sight of improvements to cost effective service delivery both internally and with contracted services.

Information management
Our background and expertise allows us to offer a unique approach to meeting the changing demands of Children’s Services.
Human resource Management, Integrated commissioning, Provider Partnerships, Finance Systems, Information Management, Data analysis, Demand forecasting and strategic planning.

How we work

We describe our approach using two key themes.
Sympathetic System Interrogation: This is a form of recursive questioning, strategic assumption testing and system modelling. Our approach builds a rich and accurate picture of the existing system and identifies the challenges or problems you face and the environment they are occurring in.

Decision Support System: This is about building robust and effective Information management through the assessment - decision – action – outcome cycles.. And we do this with you and a team made up of assistant director, service manager, team manager, front-line worker, IT / IS manager.
Our Total System Approach succeeds in bringing about real change by ensuring that ownership of the projects achievements remain embedded with your committed permanent staff and organisation as a whole. We have an “Every Stakeholder Matters” approach.

• Pull together a team of committed experts
• Have clear goals and timeframes.
• Work with all stakeholders by carrying out one to one interviews, knowledge groups and carefully structured events designed to focus attention and intentions on specified outcomes
• Facilitate professionally structured sensitive meetings and events for children, young people and families to seek their views.
• Produce a full report with evaluation, recommendations and action plan.

“Processes can be modelled and mapped. In fact, evangelists recommend that business organizations map current processes simply to get a handle on what they are really doing. Disconnects and gross inefficiencies will become immediately apparent.
A map of a process is a picture of how an organization works. The map tracks a common reality, not a view from within a silo. The map divorces descriptions of how things work from personalities and turf issues. A process map is the logic of business laid bare. No fluff. No politics. Just “Here's how it happens.”
Like a mural interpreting a meeting, a process map enables people to talk about what works and what doesn't without getting personal about it. The map is agnostic. Everyone's goal is to make it better. Furthermore, thanks to smart software, the value of choosing this option instead of that is automatically generated and explicitly stated.”
(Internet Time Group. 2004)