We took both an internal and external approach to this, with the questions -

1) Are we getting a good deal

2) are we spending more than we need to

3) Trying to benchmark both internally and then externally (wherever possible)

We also took the view of no impact on service. 

We started off with our Procurement function and reviewed our large contracts. Including those that were in contract and managed to renegotiate. 

We reviewed both the supplier and frequency of service and have managed to achieve large savings, especially around our Estates expenses.

We also reviewed categories of expenditure, (travel/printing/utilities etc) identifying areas of large use and started to highlight areas where reviews or justification was required.

 Having Senior Management on Board with a good Finance team with excellent reporting tools from our Finance System, we have managed to achieve far more than initially anticipated within a short timescale.