COAST Assessments

COAST is Cartesian’s methodology for assessing the way forward strategically and organisationally for Revenue Assurance (and Fraud Management) in a Company. It is a structured, open and thought-provoking exercise that typically takes six days for a medium-sized operator, provided good access to key managers and experts is made possible.

The letters of the word COAST spell out the five steps taken to complete this exercise:

• Composition of the RA function: There are usually three aspects:
  • understanding any “mission statement” for RA. This often helps to clarify objectives and targets, and defines the scope (see below) of the unit in the eyes of the Company as a whole
  • line of reporting
  • status of the Manager
• Opportunities for RA - normally we review whether there are opportunities for RA to improve profitability by addressing areas which are currently out of their scope
• Achievements of the RA function to date
  • it is important to recognise what is working well and continue it in the future
  • this applies particularly to RA-like activities that are being carried out in Networks, IT, Finance, etc
• Skills of the personnel need to be assessed and compared with our view of RA’s role going forward. These changes are often framed as a phased pattern of development and growth
• Tools deployed and required:
  • sophisticated, automated tools can play an essential part in managing the detail and complexity of certain control tasks, but they are not necessarily the first things to deploy
  • smaller customised tools, smart record-keeping and logging applications and Excel can all play their part.

The scope of the RA function is a key challenge as it has to map well to the maturity of RA in the Company as a whole and the budget and skills available to the team. Too big and little will be achieved and perhaps resources will be stretched too far; too small and vital aspects of control will be missed.