Removing Organisational Friction
Conducting a light-touch operational review to reduce backlog pressure and strengthen data service delivery.
We partnered with Teenage Cancer Trust to assess how its Data Team was operating, understand the growing backlog of fundraising data requests, and provide clear, pragmatic recommendations to improve efficiency, prioritisation, and alignment with income-generating activity.
Background
Teenage Cancer Trust is a national charity supporting young people with cancer. Its Data Team plays a critical role in enabling fundraising performance, operational reporting, and informed decision making across the organisation.
However, concerns had grown around a developing backlog of data requests, particularly from the Fundraising Team. As demand increased, visibility over workload management and prioritisation became less clear. Without formalised request handling processes or structured triage, the risk was that delays could begin to impact fundraising effectiveness and, ultimately, income generation.
At the same time, upcoming changes to the CRM platform introduced further uncertainty about future roles and responsibilities. The organisation needed a clear, independent view of how the team was operating, where friction was occurring, and what practical steps could be taken to improve performance without over-engineering the solution.
Solution
Fluxion conducted a structured but light touch review of the Data Team’s operating model. Through discovery sessions with the Head of Data, team members, fundraising representatives and other key stakeholders, we built a rounded understanding of how work flowed through the team, how requests were prioritised, and where bottlenecks were emerging.
We reviewed existing workflows, documentation, tools, and available performance data, alongside assessing team structure, role clarity, workload distribution, and leadership dynamics. Particular attention was given to how the Data and Fundraising teams interacted, ensuring that both service delivery and stakeholder experience were properly understood.
We also explored the anticipated impact of upcoming CRM changes to ensure recommendations would remain relevant as systems evolved.
The final output was a concise presentation summarising key findings, improvement opportunities, and prioritised recommendations across process, structure, skills, and tooling. This included practical short-term actions to reduce the existing backlog and strengthen request triage, alongside longer-term considerations to support sustainable performance.
Impact
Teenage Cancer Trust now has a clear view of how its Data Team is performing, where pressure points exist, and what can realistically be improved within current resource constraints.
The organisation is better equipped to reduce backlog risk, strengthen responsiveness to Fundraising, and improve clarity around roles and workload management. By identifying proportionate and achievable next steps, the review provided confidence to move forward without unnecessary complexity, helping ensure that data services continue to effectively support income generation and wider organisational priorities.
