Case Study - Scottish Power

Colin Fell, Planning and Investment Manager for Scottish Power, used V·I·S·A with a team of senior management to make an important decision regarding a new business location.

The Process
Firstly, a small team defined the criteria of the decision, splitting 24 important factors over 3 categories - Financial implications, Location and Facilities. The 'Value Tree' was then created quickly and easily by a single user, ready for the bigger workshop the following day. Next, three groups of stakeholders defined the weights of the criteria according to their own needs, collectively using V·I·S·A through a single machine and a projector.

V·I·S·A was well received by the nine members of senior management involved in the two workshops, and when the final decision was presented to members of the Scottish Power management, they were very receptive to the use of V·I·S·A as it helped them to see how the team had evaluated the different location alternatives using both financial and non-financial criteria.

"V·I·S·A is interactive and helps you understand the decision"

The Outcome
The objectives of the workshop were simple - to evaluate the alternative locations from each members' viewpoint. The 3 groups of stakeholders involved were from the Energy Retail Business, Energy Wholesale Business, and Scottish Power Corporate sectors. Although one of the groups had a very clear choice in mind before the process began, V·I·S·A led the team to a unanimous decision for a different location. The charts and results displays created by V·I·S·A were then used in the presentation of the decision, making the whole process quick and relatively effortless.

"The visual presentation of the criteria helped enormously in helping everyone understand the process."

By using V·I·S·A, the group not only achieved their goal of a collective decision, but accomplished other goals which they had not considered before using the software. By involving all teams in the process, each member was able to get behind the decision at the end, and understand why this was the correct choice for the company.

"The biggest success, which was not our intention at the beginning, was each stakeholder feeling they had made a valid contribution, and had a say in the final decision"

Being part of a larger company, like Scottish Power, meant that the decision had to be presented to many other sectors, and stand up to their scrutiny. This was supported, not just by the results from V·I·S·A, but by the other shareholders believing in it.

The Benefits of V·I·S·A
V·I·S·A helped Colin's team to:

1. "Achieve a rational analysis of the options available and a new understanding of the choice that was made."
2. Recognise multiple criteria and score and rank them against each other
3. Bring different groups of people together and to recognize different levels of importance for each stakeholder

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