Integrated Business Planning Tool

• Fragmented Data Sources
  Workforce plans, activity forecasts and financial budgets often sit on separate systems, slowing down approvals and masking interdependencies.
  
  
• Reactive Decision-Making
  Without the ability to model “what-if” scenarios quickly, Trusts and ICBs are forced into last-minute mitigations that can compromise patient pathways or staff wellbeing.
  
  
• Compliance and Assurance Risks
  Meeting NHSE Operational Planning Guidance, financial control totals and workforce supply targets requires clear audit trails and real-time visibility.

• Annual Planning
  Maps directly to the NHSE Operational Planning and Contracting Guidance, linking your Workforce Race Equality Standard (WRES) objectives and financial control totals with contracted activity volumes.
  
  
• Operational Delivery
  Supports Monthly Performance Reviews (MPRs) and Integrated Performance Reports (IPRs), highlighting emerging risks in staffing, demand and budget attainment.
  
  
• ICS Strategic Planning
  Enables ICBs to aggregate Trust-level plans into system-wide forecasts, underpinning Integrated Care System (ICS) strategic commissioning and Long-Term Workforce Plan ambitions.

What this means for your ICB or Trust

Adopting the Integrated Business Planning Tool delivers a cohesive suite of strategic and operational benefits without overlap:

• Resilient strategic planning
  Embed agile, data-driven processes that flex to changing demand and policy directives, ensuring your ICS or Trust remains adaptive and future-ready.
  
  
• Robust financial control
  Align budgets precisely with activity forecasts and staffing models, enabling proactive management of control totals, CIP targets and capital bids to minimise unplanned drawdowns.
  
  
• Sustainable workforce management
  Synchronise establishment planning with Long Term Workforce Plan milestones and demand-led models, reducing agency reliance, mitigating staff fatigue and supporting retention.
  
  
• Operational continuity
  Anticipate capacity gaps in RTT, A&E and other key pathways, triggering timely mitigations such as redeployment or surge staffing to safeguard performance standards.
  
  
• Enhanced transparency and assurance
  Deliver a single source of truth via role-based dashboards and audit-ready logs that satisfy NHSE Operational Planning Guidance, the NHS Oversight Framework and internal governance requirements.
  
  
• Improved patient outcomes
  Translate better planning into optimised resource allocation, ensuring the right staff, in the right place, at the right time ultimately driving faster access and higher-quality care.