About the Defence Business Readiness Tool
The Defence Business Readiness Tool (DBRT) is a secure assessment that provides definition to what it means for a small to medium enterprise (SME) to be “Defence Ready”. It contains a series of guided/conditional questions that are tailored to the product and/or service that the SME provides.
The DBRT enables SMEs to benchmark themselves against similar businesses. It also enables Prime contractors to rapidly measure a business’ readiness level against their own supplier assessment system.
The DBRT is hosted in a sovereign secure cloud environment and meets the security requirements that are set out in the Australian Government Information Security Manual.
DBRT CRITERIA
Provided below is an overview of the definitions of the criteria used to measure the defence business readiness of an SME. The DBRT criteria have been classified into the following four categories, including:
Criteria 1: Leadership
Considers the following sub-criteria: Organisation and governance, Strategic planning, Continuous improvement, Trust, Innovation, People and culture, Entrepreneurship, Ownership structure, Sustainability and resilience.
Each sub-criteria is explained below:
Organisation and governance
The extent to which the SME has appropriate governance functions, such as Financial Management and Operations Management and has a defined organisation structure that supports these functions.
Strategic planning
The extent to which the SME has a clearly articulated strategy and effective strategic planning process.
Continuous improvement
The extent to which the SME has an effective continuous improvement program which delivers results across all areas of the business.
Trust
The extent to which the SME is trusted by customers and suppliers and has a culture of building trust.
Innovation
The extent to which the SME is prepared to pursue new product and service offerings and or new markets.
People and Culture
The extent to which the SME values its human capital. (e.g. attracting and growing the best people).
Entrepreneurship
The extent to which the SME can organise the capital, talent, and other resources that transform innovation into a commercially viable product or services.
Ownership structure
The extent to which the ownership structure supports stability and long-term sustainability of the SME.
Sustainability and resilience
The extent to which the SME is organised for long-term sustainability (other than ownership structure) and is resilient to the changing defence and political environment.
Criteria 2: Products and Services
Considers the following sub-criteria: Product/service offering, Product/service competitiveness and Product/service development lifecycle.
Each sub-criteria is explained below:
Product/service offer
The extent to which the SME has a clearly defined product/service offering.
Product/service competitiveness
The extent to which the product/service has competitive discriminators.
Product/service development lifecycle
The extent to which the SME has a clearly articulated development lifecycle for its products and/or services.
Criteria 3: Business Capture
Considers the following sub-criteria: Relationship management, Cultural alignment, Opportunity management, Articulation of product and services, Tendering capability/capacity, Defence track record and Export.
Each sub-criteria is explained below:
Relationship management
The extent to which the SME proactively and consistently manages customer relationships, aligned with the customer’s culture, including the use of appropriate systems.
Cultural alignment
The extent to which the SME’s culture is consistent and aligned with to the culture of Defence and the defence industry.
Opportunity management
The extent to which the SME has a funnel of appropriate opportunities and pro-actively manages that funnel.
Articulate product and services
The 'pitch' - the extent to which the SME is able to clearly articulate its products and services, particularly in terms of the outcomes and value delivered to clients.
Tendering capability/capacity
The extent to which the SME has an effective tendering process.
Defence track record
The extent to which the SME has positive, practical experience of working in defence.
Export
The extent to which the SME has positive export experience, systems and processes in place to support export.
Criteria 4: Business Processes
Considers the following sub-criteria: Supply chain management, Risk management, Information technology (IT), Program management, Security, Financial, Human capital, Quality, Health safety and environment, Corporate compliance, Contract management and Technology control.
Each sub-criteria is explained below:
Supply chain management
The extent to which the SME manages its supply chain effectively.
Risk management
The extent to which the SME manages risk effectively and consistently.
Information technology (IT)
The extent to which the SME operates appropriate IT infrastructure and manages it appropriately.
Program management
The extent to which the SME operates effective program management disciplines.
Security
The extent to which the SME manages security appropriate to the defence industry.
Financial
The extent to which the SME operates appropriate financial management systems and processes.
Human capital
The extent to which the SME manages human capital consistently and appropriately.
Quality
The extent to which the SME manages quality appropriately.
Health safety and environment (HS&E)
The extent to which the SME values and actively manages HS&E.
Corporate compliance
The extent to which a SME manages compliance with statutory and regulatory requirements.
Contract management
The extent to which the SME operates contract management systems and procedures appropriate to the defence environment.
Technology control
The extent to which the SME applies appropriate technology control.
