How Northumbrian Water is embedding governance, consistency and defensibility into investment planning at scale
Northumbrian Water Group has expanded its partnership with IFS Copperleaf, extending its use of the platform to include Foresight and the No-Code Value Framework Designer to support more consistent, transparent and defensible investment planning across the organisation.
With a capital programme of more than £4 billion underway, over 25 planners and 500 users contributing to investment decisions, Northumbrian Water Group is focused on ensuring that investment recommendations are developed and evaluated using consistent criteria and standards.
As the scale and complexity of investment planning increase under AMP8, maintaining that consistency across planning teams and systems becomes increasingly important. Northumbrian Water Group needed an approach that would help asset planners develop and assess investment recommendations against common standards while retaining the flexibility to adapt as priorities and requirements change.
Foresight will support planners as they develop and evaluate investment business cases by providing contextual guidance grounded in Northumbrian Water Group’s value framework and decision criteria. This will help planners apply common standards more consistently while creating a clearer, auditable evidence trail behind investment recommendations.
Combined with Copperleaf’s No-Code Value Framework Designer, Northumbrian Water Group will be able to evolve and apply its decision criteria without relying on complex system configuration or external support, helping maintain consistent investment practices as priorities, data and regulatory requirements change.
“As we deliver one of the largest investment programmes in our history, it is essential that every investment decision is supported by consistent, transparent and evidence-based planning. By extending our partnership with IFS Copperleaf to include Foresight and the No-Code Value Framework Designer, we are equipping our planners with tools that help embed our decision-making standards at scale, strengthen governance and ensure we can adapt quickly to evolving regulatory and business priorities. This investment will help us improve the quality, consistency and defensibility of investment recommendations across Northumbrian Water as we navigate the opportunities and challenges of AMP8.”
Danielle Ruddick
Governance Risk & Compliance Product Manager
Northumbrian Water Group
Northumbrian Water Group’s expanded use of IFS Copperleaf shows how water utilities can bring new capabilities directly into existing investment planning workflows, helping make consistent standards, evidence and governance part of how recommendations are developed and evaluated rather than separate activities later in the process.
For water utilities facing similar investment planning challenges under AMP8, IFS Copperleaf can help bring greater consistency and defensibility to the way investment cases are developed, assessed and justified.