Situation:

The Department of Athletics & Recreation was forecasting a deficit and was seeking a long term financially sustainable plan that enhanced the longer term financial picture and aligned resource allocation decisions with their developing strategic and operational direction.

Our Actions:

• Meetings with stakeholders to understand the department’s strategic priorities, funding/cost structure and allocation method, staffing and capital plan, major revenue and cost containment opportunities, and key measures for operational efficiency in core areas
• Benchmarking of core areas to other comparable units and gap analysis
• Identification and assessment of revenue and cost containment opportunities
• Financial modeling of impact of revenue and cost containment opportunities, including prioritization of opportunities in accordance with the Department’s strategic priorities
• Develop recommendations and measures of success

Results:

• SDS developed a financial modeling tool with scenario capabilities which can be used to test options for both long-term financial impact and scoring based on alignment with strategic priorities, such that resource allocation decisions could be made using a systematic, informed basis
• SDS provided recommendations on the prioritization of investment in revenue opportunities, allocation methodology and cost containment strategies that optimized the longer term financial return and strategic wins
• SDS provided KPIs to measure achievement of operational goals in core areas