Consultancy - Analysis, Development and Modelling

Ferret’s long experience and expertise across the fields of advice, technology and law have given it a unique insight which is widely used in many fields.

Ferret has partnered with other organisations in many projects where its specialist contributions have made it a valuable team member. Ferret have worked on projects for central and local government, commercial organisations, academic bodies and the third sector in the UK and other countries. Contract sizes have varied from the low thousands to large multi-billion pounds projects.

Ferret contributes through short-term work packages or long-term partnerships or licensing agreements.

Ferret has a number of specific areas of expertise where it is able to offer proven support to advice services, including:

Data Audits

Data audits offer organisations or partnerships a formal study of their use of technology. This covers a number of areas which include looking at their current hardware, software and infrastructure.

		The audit looks at their governance, security, training and culture around the use of technologies. It goes on to examine the ways in which technology is being used for internal administration and advice resources and for direct advice purposes with clients. Social media policies and practices are included and the audit can be extended to examine advice resources used by the customer and those used and available to others in the local area.
Part of the output, as well as detailed reports, is the production of a Technology Positioning Matrix. Within partnerships, an overall partnership report and matrix is produced as well as individual reports and matrices, which are confidential to each agency.

Advice Utilisation Studies

FAUM – Ferret’s Advice Utilisation Methodology

FAUM is an analysis which enables comparison of resources and advice provision to produce benchmark comparisons of current status and to help identify the impact of future improvements

It uses data on resources, including human, infrastructure and expertise together with information on funding and expenditure to produce an objective picture of an organisation’s, or department’s resource position. It then maps this against service provision to generate a profile for areas of operation showing utilisation of resources against service delivery for the organisation and, if required, areas of operation within it.

This analysis can be used to compare different organisations costs and efficiencies within multiple areas of delivery and operation and to measure changes in utilisation over time.

Additionally ambition targets can be captured and reports generated which indicate variance and necessary change within specified time periods.

Ferret’s Future Benefits Model (FFBM)

Ferret’s Future Benefits Model (FFBM) is a microsimulation model which produces year by year assessments for a large range of scenario circumstances over a rolling five year horizon. The future circumstances take account of the introduction of Universal Credit and other reforms to the welfare system allowing direct comparison of the same circumstances under different benefit schemes.

The model has been widely used by researchers in academic and other bodies to assess the impact of welfare reforms on groups of people and to model the effects of changing rules or parameters from those in force or proposed. Recent work based on the model includes research for the Local Government Association, London Councils, Save the Children, Queen Mary’s College and several housing associations.

The FFBM produces small or large sets of personal tax and benefits data which are able to be used for a number of purposes, including

Impact assessments of current and new benefit schemes in topics such as housing affordability or entering employment The effect of future changes in real values or tax and benefit rules Analysis of multiple case groups with varying parameters of family type, income and expenditure The effects of changing benefit or tax rules, rates or conditions.

Please contact Ferret to discuss your interest in any of these areas.