Local Government Services Operating Model Review

Business Case

Difot Australia was engaged by a local government department to support with operational model and supporting processes review. The Business Unit was struggling to keep pace with increasing demand and was under significant pressure to meet stakeholder needs within allocated budget. This resulted in missed performance goals and a demoralised team.

Approach

The review was focused on assessing the scalability of the current operational model to meet stakeholder needs and identifying the drivers behind existing process inefficiencies. Within a tight timeframe, business unit leadership aimed to implement key enabling changes wherever feasible.

Through a series of workshops with business teams, the Difot team mapped critical business processes and identified operational bottlenecks. We collaborated with the leadership team to define and align on key performance metrics, ensuring consistent governance and visibility over time. As an early win, we developed a data‑driven delivery model tailored to the department’s needs, enabling clearer visibility of resource requirements and more effective resource allocation to support community demand.

To support teams through the transition, we maintained a strong focus on training and coaching. Reference materials—including one‑point lessons—were developed and embedded as part of the reporting implementation.

Results

• Over $300,000 in annual cost savings identified through optimized delivery model
• Data driven resource requirements and delivery planning established for future scalability.
• 20% increase in on time work completion due to change in resource allocation methodology