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ORGANISATIONAL FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS CASE STUDY

Development and Findings of

Organisational Functionality Assessments

done at National and Provincial

Departments

Introduction and background to the WHERE HAVE THE OFA BEEN CONDUCTED
development of the organisational EC: Safety and Liaison
functionality assessment (ofa) toolset EC: Sport, Recreation, Arts and Culture

LIM: Provincial Treasury
The purpose of this case study is to:
LIM: Roads and Transport
• Share information on the background to the
development of a framework methodology to assess the LIM: Public Works
functionality of departments to deliver on their mandate
and, LIM: Education
• To provide the context, content and processes for LM: Cooperative Governance, Human Settlements
utilising the tool-set as part of functionality diagnosis. and Traditional affairs
Department of International; Cooperation and
WHEN TO IMPLEMENT OFA Relations
 OFA should be applied before a department Department of Mineral Resources
engages in an organizational review process;
 Findings of OFA should serve as an input to The toolset was successfully applied in the Eastern Cape
departments of Safety and Liaison and Sport, Recreation,
organizational review; Arts and Culture as part of a pilot study, and in support of the
 Correct organizational focus on real challenges Limpopo section 100 (1) (b) intervention at Limpopo Provincial
Treasury, Roads and Transport, Public Works and Education.
The Limpopo Departments of Cooperative Governance,
The OFA Toolset was developed to: Human Settlements and Traditional Affairs; KwaZulu-Natal
Department of Education and National Departments of
• Address organisational development related challenges International Relations and Co-Operation, as well as Mineral
(organizational structure changes to address Resources have also requested the DPSA to provide
managerial and system related challenges) assistance in conducting OFA.
• Develop the capacity to look deeper into the total
service delivery system by assessing organizational The DPSA has also conducted the Organisational and
functionality or service readiness of government Functionality Assessment (OFA) on a sectoral basis in the
institutions (using diagnostic tools), to deliver on their Departments of Health, Education (2014/15) and Public Works
mandates and identifying the systemic good practices and Social Development (2015/16) sectors.
and challenges hampering effective delivery, and
putting in place corrective measures to resolve such What is OFA about?
challenges.
• Develop a structured process to assess and diagnose As the OFA has been designed as a self-assessment process,
whether all the necessary service delivery enablers are it is standard practice for the DPSA to provide technical
in place to support delivery processes in an optimum assistance through project capacitation and assistance with
and accountable manner. quality assurance of a Departments’ first assessment, before
it is submitted to a department’s management structures for
The development process was based on: discussion and adoption.
• Document research of such assessments nationally and At the time of the development of the current OFA Instrument
internationally. in 2012, there was evidence that, although significant perform-
• A consultation process with stakeholders within the ance monitoring and evaluation on inputs and outputs were
DPSA, and National and Provincial Departments. taking place, hardly any focus was placed on functionality as

Volume 12 No. 1 of 2018 | SERVICE DELIVERY REVIEW 19