You are the newly onboarded Business Analysis team at Nexus Public Services. The National Audit Office has found systemic failures. The Minister wants answers. The clock is running.
Nexus Public Services administers government grant schemes on behalf of the Department for Communities and Economic Resilience. It processes approximately 61,000 applications per year across four regional offices — London, Birmingham, Manchester, and Edinburgh — with a combined annual grant budget of £480 million.
A National Audit Office review conducted in November 2024 found that the grant administration process is operating significantly below acceptable standards. The review identified systemic failures in processing efficiency, digital accessibility, and internal governance that place both the organisation's reputation and the integrity of public grant distribution at risk.
The Minister for Communities has issued a formal direction. The Chief Executive has committed to a 12-month transformation timeline. You are the BA team tasked with making that happen.
The following documents have been placed in your Nexus onboarding folder. Read them carefully. They are real documents and should be treated as such.
Welcome to Nexus Public Services. I am glad you are here, and I will be direct with you about why.
We have spent too long allowing our processes to drift. The National Audit Office review last year was uncomfortable reading — not because it was wrong, but because it confirmed what many of us already knew. Our grant administration process is not working well enough for the citizens and organisations who depend on us.
We have a government directive, a ministerial commitment, and — most importantly — a genuine obligation to do better. The Modernisation Programme is how we deliver on that.
Your role as the Business Analysis team is not to come up with the answers. It is to help us understand the problem well enough that we can make good decisions. That means listening carefully, asking difficult questions, and being honest about what you find — even when it is not what people want to hear.
You will encounter resistance. Some colleagues are worried about what change means for them. That is understandable. Your job is not to dismiss those concerns but to take them seriously and factor them into your analysis.
I look forward to seeing your initial scoping document by the end of this week. My door is open, but my time is limited — so please come prepared.
The grant administration process at Nexus lacks standardisation across regional offices, resulting in inconsistent outcomes for applicants. Processing times averaged 47 days against a published target of 20 days. Application abandonment rates of 38% suggest significant friction in the current applicant journey.
The Committee identified seven principal findings, including critical failures in processing efficiency and digital accessibility. The Birmingham regional office has operated a GranTrack workaround since 2021 — unbeknown to London HQ. Manual re-keying between GranTrack and FinLedger is estimated to add 8–12 days to every application.
The Committee recommends a full process review and digitisation programme within 12 months, with progress reported to the Public Accounts Committee at the six-month point. Failure to demonstrate credible progress may result in administrative transfer of grant functions to an alternative delivery body.
| Metric | Current Position | Target |
|---|---|---|
| Average grant processing time | 47 days | 20 days |
| Application abandonment rate | 38% | Below 15% |
| Applications received per month | ~3,400 | — |
| Applications processed on time | 14% | 95% |
| Regional process variants | 3 (undocumented) | 1 standard |
| Staff handling queries by phone | 62 FTE · 40 min avg per call | — |
| Customer satisfaction score | 52% | 74% (benchmark) |
| GranTrack/FinLedger delay | 8–12 days per application | 0 days |
| Step | Description | Users Entering | Users Completing | Abandonment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Step 1 | Eligibility checker | 61,000 | 58,420 | 4.2% |
| Step 2 | Personal details | 58,420 | 56,940 | 2.5% |
| Step 3 | Grant scheme selection | 56,940 | 55,180 | 3.1% |
| Step 4 | Organisation / household info | 55,180 | 53,820 | 2.5% |
| Step 5 | Project or need description | 53,820 | 51,640 | 4.1% |
| Step 6 | Requested amount | 51,640 | 50,280 | 2.6% |
| Step 7 | Evidence upload | 50,280 | 19,108 | 62.0% ← CRITICAL |
| Step 8 | Declaration and submit | 19,108 | 18,940 | 0.9% |
Understanding scope boundaries is one of the first things a BA must establish. Everything below has been agreed by the Programme Board. Scope changes require formal approval.
Each stakeholder has a distinct personality, motivation, and relationship with the programme. How you engage with them will determine whether your analysis is trusted. Your first task is to identify where each sits on a power/interest grid.
Three tracks run simultaneously every week: BA theory and practice, Nexus project work, and career readiness. By Week 10 you have a complete portfolio and interview answers grounded in real project experience.
| Week | Phase | Theme | Key Deliverable | Career Focus |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| W01 | Foundations | Induction & Initial Scoping | Initial Scope Statement | Personal brand & LinkedIn headline |
| W02 | Foundations | Stakeholder Identification & Mapping | Stakeholder Register & Communication Plan | CV structure & first draft |
| W03 | Foundations | Elicitation: Understanding the As-Is | Elicitation Plan & As-Is Findings Summary | Transferable skills mapping |
| W04 | Foundations | Requirements Documentation | Business Requirements Document v0.1 | Job market navigation & JD analysis |
| W05 | Core Skills | Process Analysis & Modelling | As-Is Process Maps & Pain Point Log | LinkedIn profile deep-dive |
| W06 | Core Skills | Data Analysis for BAs | Data Analysis Report | Interview story-crafting |
| W07 | Core Skills | Business Case Development | Draft Business Case with Options Appraisal | STAR / PAR answer bank |
| W08 | Core Skills | Agile & Waterfall Delivery | Prioritised Backlog & Delivery Approach | Methodology conversations |
| W09 | Advanced | Solution Design & Wireframing | Annotated Wireframes with Traceability | Portfolio building & documentation |
| W10 | Advanced | Testing, UAT & Change Management | UAT Plan · Test Scripts · Defect Log · Change Impact | Cover letters for target roles |
Enter the facilitator password to access cohort management tools and week codes.
Nexus BA Programme · NPS-GMP · Training Use Only
Type your analysis, findings, and answers here as you work through each week. Your notes save automatically in your browser. Download a full copy at any time.