Capability and capacity planning within a grant-funded organisation

Delfinity were appointed to undertake a strategic and capability review for a research organisation. The organisation was largely dependent on grant funding which did not fully cover their employment costs. There was a commercial Ltd company but many of the scientists were reluctant to support commercial projects citing they were too busy on academic research.

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Delfinity undertook a productivity review to identify the level of usage and capacity and to make recommendations in terms of workforce size and activity. The review identified a level of under capacity ranging from 10% to 80%. Delfinity worked with the client to restructure the workforce, identifying some redundancies and some reassignment to support commercial projects alongside academic research.

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A capacity plan was developed and implemented to enable the organisation to monitor usage and capacity of scientist’s time and to inform workforce planning for future grant applications. The tool could also be used to review whether additional resource was needed in order to bid for a grant.

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Prior to the tool there had been little analysis or approval for additional resource. By formalising the process an authority to recruit process was implemented to review required skills against the organisations capabilities and capacity before additional recruitment could be commenced. This also encouraged greater sharing of team capabilities and capacity among senior researchers who has worked in silos previously.

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