Establishing an operational management community of practice for dRTP leaders

Across the UK, many dRTP groups are led by individuals who have stepped into leadership roles without formal training or a clear development pathway.This can result in inconsistent service delivery and management practices, with leaders under pressure to demonstrate impact, make data-informed decisions, and secure recognition for their teams. At the same time, differences in organisational structures and institutional policies make it difficult to share knowledge or adopt common approaches and tools.

We’re building a community of leaders who are early adopters of a new tool called Capacity eXtended (CapX), developed by The University of Manchester.

CapX helps teams plan resources, manage operations, and report on impact using integrated data models. It’s already generating interest after being showcased at RSECon25. We’ll be rolling out CapX at two N8 partner institutions, offering hands-on training and support to help leaders improve operational management.

This pilot will lay the groundwork for expansion to additional groups across the UK in future funding rounds. The work undertaken will focus on making the software more flexible, enabling it to accommodate the varying needs of different institutions (such as security and access management, staff charging models) while still maintaining a consistent, general approach.