3 Step Method

This is a good technique for identifying risks and issues.  Use this technique for the beginning of the session.

1.                 Individual- Write ideas and thoughts on flip chart paper/whiteboard.  Be creative and draw pictures.

2.                 Small Group- Break up into groups of 3 – 5 people.  Each person in the group should present their results.  As you listen to the presentation note the common themes.  Each group creates a consolidated group list.  Each group presents their results and gets feedback from the larger group.

3.                 Large Group- Facilitator leads the group and consolidates decisions from each group getting consensus for the final lists.

Implementation of the process change

Prepare an Implementation Plan-

·          Recommend a specific course of action

·          Identify the potential problems and risks

Measure the success

Identify how you would measure the success of the new business state (new process).  What mechanisms would you put in place to monitor the success? (Follow-up with customer, questionnaires, etc.)  How will you ensure the performance measurements were “fit for the purpose’? (Use the business intent)

Monitoring the performance and effectiveness

What is the effectiveness of the new systems or procedures through the appropriate control mechanisms?  Identify the procedures to a standard sufficient to achieve the defined objectives by routine checks, and corrective action.

Presentation and selling of the process change

Communication of the process change to management and the staff is key to a successful transition.  The team would create the presentation to sell the process change to everyone.  Determine what will be in the presentation and how it will be presented.  The case for the management presentation should include the following:

1. Where are we now? (present the previous current state)
2. What does this mean to us?
3. Where do we want to be? (present the new state)
4. What are the benefits?
5. Why these benefits?
6. Identify the options for the actions
7. How will you evaluate the solution?  How will you measure the success?
8. State the recommendations for change
9. Identify the next steps

Sample Presentation Agenda:

·         Introduction

·         Review the “Previous Current State” (storyboard)

·         Present the Business Statement of Intent

·         Present the “New Current State” Process (storyboard)

·         Present the “Action Plan” with benefits

·         Closing and next steps

Process Re-design: scope, definition and related issues

1.      Process Types & Definition:  Identify whether the type of process is primary, support or management as this influences the types of goals set.

2.      Process Redesign Criteria and Options:  Blending analytical and creative thinking is the key to good business process redesign.  Use inductive thinking to identify a powerful solution as defined through the customer’s eyes.  Processes should be viewed end to end in a strategic context.  Think in terms of seeking out the problems to resolve and break the old unnecessary rules.

a.      Create a clearly stated “Business Statement of Process Intent”.  This is a clearly defined business statement which articulates what this process is setting out to achieve.  What we can do now? 

b.      Identify the performance measures/targets.  What are your own performance measures?  How geared are they to delivering process success?

c.       Business Statement of Process Intent should have clear objectives and be  quantifiable (SMART method). 

d.      The Business Statement of Process Intent should have clear ownership both high and low levels.

3.      Modeling Redesigned Processes- Identify how to simplify the process and model on the “New Current State” Process Map.  Tip:  When modeling the redesigned processes, select the appropriate view for the participants.  You can use mind mapping (creative stage), IDEF process flows (analytical stage), storyboard (free form), detailed flow charts with swimlanes (prescriptive).  Choosing the appropriate view can change the way problems are perceived.     

Process Examination and Analysis

Using the process map, identify the Moments of Truths (MOT red post-its), Breakpoints (BP blue post-its) and Business Rules (BR green post-its) next to the appropriate process.

·         Moments of Truths-  What are the customer touch points?

·         Breakpoints-  Identify the following types of breakpoints on the process maps:

§         customer breakpoints

§         internal MOTs

§         system to system 

§         person to system

§         person to person

·         How many resources are actually involved in this process?

·         Business Rules- There are 4 types of business rules; operational, strategic, dynamic and static.

Label the MOTs, BPs and BRs with a reference number and brief description on each post-it.  Using flip chart paper,  document the following for each category of MOT, BP and BR:

·         Reference number:

·         Description

·         Risk potential

§         Use the customer issues and concerns analysis as input

§         Prioritize the risks by High, Medium, Low

·         Activity

·         Owner of the activity

·         Options for improving- use the customer issues and concerns analysis as input for options

Establish the size of the process. In order to size the process, consider the following:

• Elapsed time (days) (customer and organizational)
• Touch times (hours)- (customer, system and organizational)
• Resources involved
• Costs incurred
• Revenue missed
• Services failed
• Opportunities for up-selling/cross selling

Analyze the process map by creating the 8 Omega Impact- Severity Matrix. What is the organizational impact and customer severity?  Some objectives for analyzing the process map are to:   

• reduce and optimize the MOTs
• reduce and mitigate the breakpoints
• rationalize or get rid of business rules
• Migrate the remaining into low/low quadrant on the matrix
• Prepare the action plan for the next steps

Tip:  When mapping the items, identify all the high impact items first.    

Build the action plan using the 8 Omega Impact-Severity Matrix.   For example:

1.  
   1. What are the proposed activities?
   2. What are the actions/options?  Stop, Redesign, Improve, Do Nothing, etc.
   3. Who are the owners of the activity?
   4. What is the time and cost to implement?