Organisational Capability Review-Action Plan

• 1 Communications Function: The external-facing Communications and Dissemination Division should be merged with the Internal Communications and Engagement (ICE) Unit immediately in order to professionalise both functions and align all CSO communications from an operational and strategic perspective. This action is required before finalisation of the Communications and Dissemination Strategy which is currently under development.

Merger completed Q4 2024.

Alignment between HR ICE and DG Office will be a focus in 2025 with the development of an internal communication strategy.

• 2 Communications Strategy: The new Communications Strategy for the organisation should encompass external and internal communications and should be developed alongside a Website Strategy and Social Media Strategy that will consider how the organisation can engage more cohesively across all social media platforms. The Communications Strategy should also specifically consider engagement and communication strategies to build a single corporate identity and address the current sense of disconnection expressed by both the field staff and some elements of the Swords based staff in the organisation.

Q4 2025

The timeline for the new Internal Communications Strategy is being developed. The new Social Media Strategy will be completed in Q1-Q2 2025. Work will commence on developing a website strategy later in 2025 following the user research project

• 3 Internal Communications: The multiple communication platforms in operation in the CSO should be reconstituted into one overarching CSO staff portal that will launch immediately on staff log in. This portal should act as the sole communication platform for CSO staff, with the continued availability of those communication initiatives currently working positively (Vlogs; Information Sessions; Links to Staff Newsletter). Improved awareness amongst CSO staff of Management Board decisions and current CSO challenges, successes and initiatives should be supported by the continued timely publication of the minutes of Management Board meetings and priority circulation of internal staff notices. In addition, a formal policy on staff meetings across directorates, divisions, units and teams within the CSO should be introduced to ensure consistency and the setting of minimum standards that will support more effective internal communication.

Q2 2025

The target date for the transfer of Connect to an overarching CSO portal is the end Q1 2025 and for Lotus Notes, it is end Q2 2025.

• 4 Prioritisation: The CSO should further develop the articulation, consolidation and reporting of CSO operational and strategic priorities on an annual basis to enhance the process of prioritisation across the organisation. This matter is further addressed in R2.1. The CSO should also build capability in clearly articulating future focused organisational priorities and funding needs during the annual Estimates process (R4.9).

Annually from Q1 2025

The enhanced reporting functionality of the centralised financial management system (Q3 2026) will facilitate prioritisation of spending.

• 5 Review of Organisational Structures: The Management Board of the CSO should continue to periodically review the structure of the organisation in line with its strategic objectives. In particular, the current review of the Social Statistics Directorate should continue to be prioritised with a finalisation date agreed for early 2025.

• 6 Communications Business Partner Model: The reconstituted Communications Function should consider if the introduction of a structured business partner model would add value to the achievement of its strategic aims, in addition to building relationships and enhancing communication internally. Such an approach would significantly support the requirement to particularly improve communications and engagement with the field staff and staff based in the Swords office. It would also support and promote the development of a single corporate identity and the delivery of the new Communications Strategy.

• 7 Statistical Releases: The CSO should consider providing more contextual and explanatory information with its statistical releases in order to facilitate greater stakeholder and general public understanding.

Ongoing

Commenced in Q4 2024 with context linking the LFS to Earnings and Labour Costs.

• 8 Staff Partnership Charter: The CSO should build on the good work of the Staff Engagement and Innovation Committee (SEIC) by developing the Terms of Reference of the Committee into a Staff Partnership Charter.

• 9 Internal Cross-Collaborative Working: The CSO should continue to ensure that opportunities for internal cross-collaborative working are maximised. In particular, opportunities for collaboration should be communicated widely to increase staff awareness and consideration should be given to adopting a more structured approach to the establishment of Communities of Practice.

Ongoing

Will be actioned under the renewed Le Chéile Strategy due in Q2 2025.

• 10 Staff Networks: The CSO should ensure that Terms of Reference are in place, and adhered to, for all staff networks. These should be subject to regular review and should clearly set out how each network will support the strategic objectives of the CSO and position managers and staff as co-creators and co-owners in shaping the future direction of the organisation. The General Management Forum should also consider if more frequent in-person events can be developed to enhance networking and collaboration across the management grades. Finally, the Field Operations Review Group (FORG) requires particular review in terms of structure, remit and effectiveness in meeting both the needs of the organisation and the field interviewer and field coordinator staff cohorts.

• 11 External Stakeholder Engagement: The CSO should consider the scheduling of more frequent seminars and conferences to enhance communications with external stakeholders and showcase the innovative work being carried out.

NDI Conference held in Croke Park in Q4 2024 with Departmental Roadshows planned for 2025

• 1 Annual CSO Work Plan: The CSO should introduce an Annual Organisational Work Plan to support its strategic and business planning processes and align with the current annual Statistical Work Programme (which details the annual production of official statistics across the Irish Statistical Service). This work plan, which could be developed from the current Plan for Statistics, should be prepared at the start of each year and flow directly from the three-year Statement of Strategy. It should clearly articulate under each strategic theme the actions and sub-actions that will be taken; the directorate, business area and team responsible; and the timelines for delivery. Such a document should act as a tracker of strategy implementation; should inform meetings with the Minister of State, the Department of the Taoiseach, DPENDR and the OGCIO; and should be published at the start of each year.

• 2 Data Stewardship Role: As the CSO continues to develop its data stewardship role, issues regarding resourcing, role clarification and prioritisation will become increasing important and indeed challenging. In meeting this challenge the CSO will be required to articulate absolute clarity on the data stewardship role and ensure consistency and depth of understanding across internal and external stakeholders. This issue will particularly require continued positive engagement, clarity, and relationship building with colleagues across Government.

Ongoing

The Data Stewardship Role will be outlined in the Statement of Strategy

• 3 National Data and Statistical Strategies: The CSO should engage across Government to progress clarity on the role of the organisation in the drafting and implementation of national data and statistical strategies. In doing so the potential for overlap or gaps between both the work of the CSO and the OGCIO, and in terms of the legislation, between the Statistics Act 1993 and the Data Governance Act 2013, should be considered.

• 4 National Data Infrastructure (NDI): The CSO should aim to utilise its full powers under the legislation to secure the full adoption of the NDI, in order to solidify its data stewardship role, continue to improve data quality and standards, and pursue opportunities for greater interoperability across the civil and Public Service. This is fundamentally important in support of the organisation as it rolls out the NDI+.

Ongoing

NDI conference in Q4 2024 assisted with embedding NDI+ across the Civil and Public Service.

• 5 Irish Government Statistical Service (IGSS): The CSO should seek to review the IGSS programme, before expanding further the reach of the programme across the Civil and Public Service. In doing so the full potential of the programme should be realised through ensuring that each host organisation is adequately strategically prepared to accept one or more IGSS secondees, who should be appropriately placed in Strategic Policy Units where they exist. Such Units should facilitate collaboratively working between IGSS staff and colleagues such as IGEES and research staff engaged in the policy development process. The CSO should also ensure that more experienced rather than newly recruited staff are seconded.

• 6 Strategic Engagement with Policy Development Leaders: In order to ensure that data is adequately and appropriately considered at the correct stage of the policy development process, the Management Board should establish a programme of strategic, consistent engagement with colleagues at senior management level in policy development departments. Such strategic engagement will also help to provide clarity on the parameters of the CSO role in policy development; enable the timely assessment of data needs of departments; understand future policy development plans and facilitate sharing of information on the data holdings of each organisation. The CSO should also pursue the requirement for Government organisations to consider emerging statistical needs as a component of the three-year strategic planning process, followed by engagement with the CSO as appropriate.

• 7 Business Planning: The Divisional Action Plan (DAP) and Local Business Plan (LBP) templates should be further developed to facilitate the capturing of resource data (staffing needs; skills gaps; financial data; L&D requirements) that will assist broader strategic planning across the organisation.

• 8 Evaluation Processes: The CSO should renew its focus on organisation-wide compliance with its many evaluation processes and procedures so as to ensure appropriate priority is attached to evaluation by all directorates and business areas, with staff awareness and engagement a fundamental priority.

Ongoing

Annual programme of awareness and compliance. Implementation plan for policies to be introduced.

• 9 Spending Reviews: The CSO should consider participating in the next round of Spending Reviews, in collaboration with DPENDR.

• 1 Health & Safety: The CSO should ensure that the Organisational Safety Statement is updated annually to reflect the fast-paced changes in the operating environment of the organisation.The CSO should also prioritise the drafting of a comprehensive Health & Safety Strategy in order to strengthen the existing Health & Safety Framework, outline clear H&S objectives for the organisation, and detail actions required with timelines for delivery. A review of health and safety training requirements for the field staff should be undertaken as a matter of priority.

• 2 Governance of IGSS: The MoUs across the Irish Government Statistical Service (IGSS) should be reviewed with host organisations and updated to reflect a refocus on the appropriate placement of seconded staff in strategic policy areas and include detail on the role of seconded staff in improving the statistical expertise of the host organisation. All MoUs, once refreshed, should be reviewed on an annual basis, with such reviews incorporating feedback from all seconded staff. This work should be supported by a review of the collaboration and interaction between the IGSS and IGESS Programmes to ensure maximum benefit is being realised.

Ongoing

A Strategic review of the IGSS (now called National Statistical System NSS) will be undertaken and the MOUs will be reviewed as part of this.

• 3 Project Management: The CSO should continue to pursue its maturity journey in project management by considering whether the Governance Support Unit (GSU) requires further development into a centralised Project Management Office (PMO) that will give practical guidance on all organisational projects, large and small, while delivering a consistency of approach organisation wide. The Management Board also should ensure that the Project Oversight Board (POB) has a critical understanding of the fundamentals of good project management and are guiding the Management Board in that respect.

• 4 Project Management Training: Focus is required on the identification of project management training programmes that meet the needs of the CSO across its range of projects, large and small. Rollout of this training should be driven centrally by the L&D Unit to ensure that all staff grades, as appropriate, are trained in a consistent project management approach. Such training should be further supplemented through the establishment of an internal Project Management Network.

Ongoing

Specialist training for project management skills throughout the organisations.

• 5 Developments in the Data Ecosystem: The CSO should ensure that it is strategically aligned and adequately resourced to meet the significant delivery challenges such as the transition to a digital census and the forthcoming right of access to privately held data.

• 6 Governance: The CSO should continue to build on its robust governance framework by ensuring that Chairs of all committees are rotated on a defined basis.

Chairs rotated in Q4 2024

• 7 Innovation and Continuous Improvement: The Communications Unit should advise the Management Board on how better to communicate the innovation message to all stakeholders and the progress achieved by the organisation to date.

• 8 Customer Service: The Customer Service Action Plan should be updated regularly to reflect the developments made by the organisation in customer service practices and processes.

• 9 Procurement: The potential for full centralisation of the procurement function in the CSO should be reviewed. In addition, regular training opportunities for staff involved in procurement activity at business level should be made available in order to increase the knowledge base and reduce the level of demand on the Procurement Units.

Q4 2027

There is a significant programme of change in Census 2027. Management Board will take the advice from the Census Programme Oversight Board and will consider lessons learned relating to Census Procurement to inform this decision. Ongoing training of procurement personnel

• 10 External Stakeholder Engagement: Opportunities for structured feedback from external stakeholders should be developed, scheduled on a set-basis and communicated effectively at the right level. The new Communications Strategy should address engagement with external stakeholders, encompassing the Civil and Public Service, national and international organisations, researchers, academia, the media and the general public, and drawing on the results of the 2022 User and Non-User Survey and feedback received through informal channels.

Ongoing

A new user and non-user engagement will be conducted in Q2 2025

• 1 Cyber Security: The risk of a cyberattack to the CSO and the associated required investment in mitigations demands continued intense focus and should be clearly and confidently costed, detailed and presented by the organisation during the annual Estimates process. An organisation-wide Cyber Security Strategy should be developed, informed by the experiences of counterparts in the European Statistical System (ESS).

• 2 ICT Governance: The CSO should establish an ICT Steering Committee at very senior level in the organisation with the specific role of overseeing the information technology investment priorities for the CSO, forming a vital component of the organisation’s ICT governance framework. The strategic positioning of this structure alongside the current SMG Technology Subgroup will require consideration.

Q4 2025

A review to take place of the work of the SMG Technology Subgroup For discussion and decision at Management Board

• 3 HRM Function: In recognition of the need for particular focus on progressing strategic HRM across the organisation, continuing to increase the expertise and capability of the HRM team in strategic HR should be prioritised. An Organisational Development (OD) exercise to review the capacity of the HRM function may assist in this regard. The acting capacity of the Head of HRM should be addressed as soon as is operationally viable.

• 4 Strategic Workforce Planning: The Management Board should maintain momentum with the recent work on strategic workforce planning with a concentrated focus on recruitment and retention across all staff grades. Strategic workforce planning should also be employed to address succession planning; the retirement cliff; and issues specific to the Statistician grade. Such planning should be supported by the work of the recently established SMG Subgroup to Review the Statistician Grade with action required on this specific area as a matter or priority. The CSO should also continue to engage with the Public Appointments Service (PAS) to explore the possibility of increased utilisation of the recruitment shared service. Finally, the proactive pursuit of a STEM identity for the organisation that will highlight to emerging graduates the attractiveness of a career in statistics should be adopted.

• 5 Skills Management: The CSO is required to prioritise skills management across the full staff cohort rather than a more concentrated focus on the statistical staff. This work should prioritise a skills audit together with identifying skills gaps for the future across the realms of statistical skills; administrative skills; and new specialist and developing skills such as Artificial Intelligence (AI); Geographic Information Systems (GIS); Cybersecurity; Data Science and Data Analysis. The development of a skills register for all CSO staff should be prioritised in preparation for the imminent move of the register from the Lotus Notes platform. This should support the introduction of an integrated talent management system for the organisation which similarly requires prioritisation and investment.

• 6 Culture and Values Review: On the commencement in post of the new Director General, the review of culture and values across the organisation, previously paused, should be reconsidered.

• 7 Career Progression: A priority focus is required on appropriate training and development structures and opportunities for the Senior Statistician staff grade to support career progression. Learnings and experience from other Civil Service organisations who employ specialist grades may assist in this regard.

• 8 Field Staff: Issues across the field staff cohort namely low morale; job viability into the future; and health and safety training and support structures require attention. In addition, HRM support for Coordinators in dealing with staff probation and underperformance; HRM communications and engagement; improved management training supports for coordinators; and ICT support outside of office hours also require consideration by the organisation.

• 9 Finance Function: The CSO should immediately implement a revised strategic, forward-looking approach to engagement with the Vote Team in DPENDR during the Estimates process. This engagement should be underlined by a clear articulation of organisational strategic priorities and budgetary requirements to support the organisation in achieving its operational and strategic objectives. In addition, engagement with the Vote Team in DPENDR to agree a framework document for the vote transfer process requires priority action, together with engagement on the fiscal related recommendations of the ESS Peer Review 2022.

• 10 Financial Management System: The current financial management system in the CSO urgently requires focus. This will necessitate immediate consideration of the timescale for the transition to the Civil Service Financial Management Shared Service (FMSS) and decisions at Management Board level regarding the implications of this timescale for the organisation and the consideration of possible urgent interim solutions.

• 11 People Management: The CSO should seek to continue to improve compliance with the PMDS process while prioritising greater HRM and L&D support for all management grades in the management of underperformance.

Ongoing

Le Chéile People Strategy will develop actions relating to performance management.

• 12 HRM Function: Increased clarity regarding roles and responsibilities within the HRM Unit is required in order to enhance staff engagement, supported by the introduction of a HRM business partner approach organisation-wide within a six-month timeframe.

• 13 Financial Planning & Reporting: A more strategic approach to financial planning and reporting in the organisation should be pursued to ensure the consistent optimum use of available resources.

Ongoing Bi monthly engagement with MB across all subheads with particular focus on A01 New FMS will enhance reporting functionality.

• 14 Clerical Officer Contracts and Reassignments: The CSO should review the process for managing the extension of temporary Clerical Officer contracts to ensure that timely renewal is given priority attention. In addition, the reassignment of permanent Clerical Officer Staff undertaking census work also requires proactive management together with enhanced communication with impacted staff.

Q4 2025

Work has begun on this and hopes to conclude by year end.

• 15 Blended Working: The Management Board should review the decision to pause the work of the SMG Subgroup to Monitor the Implementation of the Blended Working Pilot. If re-established, this Subgroup should look to the experience and learnings of other National Statistical Institutes (NSIs) and peer organisations in their management of blended working in the post-pandemic period. This work should also feed into the recommended broader review on culture and values in the organisation. Greater communication with staff on the nature and duration of the current blended working pilot also requires focus.

Q4 2026

Evaluation of the BW pilot conducted in Q1 2025 and learnings from this will feed into decision on a longer-term arrangement on Blended working

• 16 Coaching and Mentoring: The CSO should build on the positive progress achieved to date in the roll-out of coaching and mentoring, with a particular focus on coaching opportunities for managers at Assistant Principal Officer and Statistician grades.

Ongoing

Part of the Le Chéile Strategy for actioning by HR learning and development.

• 17 Internal Staff Mobility: The Internal Mobility Policy should be reviewed and should demonstrate greater clarity and transparency on how the policy is applied organisation-wide.

Q4 2025

Forms part of the Le Chéile Strategy

• 18 Knowledge Management: The CSO should prioritise knowledge management for non-statistical business areas of the organisation, supported by an over-arching Knowledge Management Strategy. Such a strategy should specifically address job documentation across all job roles and grades.

Ongoing

To initially be reviewed as an action under the Le Chéile people strategy but will evolve to include all business areas.

• 19 Records Management: A Records Management Strategy, encompassing management of all records in the organisation, should be developed. In undertaking this work the CSO should consider the potential of a transition to the eDocs records management system.

Currently scoping a role of a potential records manager in the CSO.

Explore consultancy advice for 2025

• 20 Build to Share Applications: The CSO should conduct a review of available build to share applications and establish the benefits of expanding the range of applications in use across the organisation.

Ongoing

E Case, E FOI, E register, E risk and E PQ already in use in the Office. Others will be considered for adoption as part of the annual IT requirement gathering exercise

• 21 Data Management: The CSO should review the processes for researcher access to Research Microdata Files (RMF) to ensure consistent and timely responses to all researchers across all divisions. The CSO should also communicate the comprehensive data governance structures in place, and provide leadership to the Civil and Public Service and to other external data providers to allay any data protection concerns around submitting data to the CSO.