Developing And Rolling Out A New Process

Charteris White Paper:

Developing and Rolling out a New Process Version 1.0 Paul Le ([email protected]) 24th June 2003

2003 Charteris plc

CONTENTS CONTENTS

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1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 Context

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2. 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6

THE TOP SIX AREAS OF FOCUS Need People Sponsorship Timing Process Communication

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3.

CONCLUSION

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4.

APPENDIX – CASE STUDY

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Developing and Rolling out a new Process Charteris White Paper

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1.

INTRODUCTION

1.1

Context

In the current climate of market uncertainty and weak economic growth, the last thing an organisation needs is the introduction of a new process, but is this true? When cost cutting initiatives are put in place, from consolidation to outsourcing, a new more effective process can be of significant value. It is, however, never without effort. Introduction of a new process is always painful, but is often accompanied by enormous benefits if implemented effectively. This article first sets out the context and then provides six areas of focus and a short case study. It does not represent a comprehensive guide to process re-engineering or even the dos and don’ts of process development, but rather a pragmatic summary of some of the pitfalls often encountered. There are many reasons why a new process is required, below are just a few: ♦ Re-organisations; after which current processes are no longer appropriate ♦ Consolidation of operations; when current processes can no longer cope either with the volume or complexity of the inputs ♦ New offerings; when a new process is required to manage a new service to an internal or external audience. The introduction of a new process can often encounter much resistance, especially in larger organisations with large teams operating in functional silos. These obstacles should be identified and managed early to enhance the success of the new process. Below are some motivations behind these obstacles: ♦ Time and bandwidth; there’s not enough time or bandwidth to absorb new information ♦ Changes; nobody likes changes especially if it affects their work and responsibility ♦ Politics; empires and political powers will change hands with the introduction of new processes. Despite the issues surrounding the implementation of a new process, the benefits can be vast. Below are just a few of the potential benefits: ♦ Pull disparate parts of the organisation together, especially those who normally work in functional silos ♦ Reduce bureaucracy and politics ♦ Provide invaluable data to support management decisions from a tactical to more strategic level. Given the potential resistance, the longer-term benefits should outweigh the shortcomings before a new process is worth being implemented. It is important to always put together a business case, whether formal or just on a piece of paper; as long as it involves going through the correct thought process. The business case should, as a minimum, weigh up the cost and impact versus the short and long term benefits, tangible and intangible, of introducing a new process.

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2.

THE TOP SIX AREAS OF FOCUS

While there are many areas to consider, there is seldom the time or the effort to do everything to get the job done perfectly. This means that tasks should be prioritised putting focus on the more critical tasks, bearing in mind that some tasks may not be carried out at all. Below are six areas considered critical to the success to the development and implementation of a new process:

2.1

Need

The first area of focus should be the need of the new process. If the current process or the lack of one is disrupting business operations and affecting customers, then the need for a new process is significant and worth considering. On the other hand, if the current process only needs some fine-tuning and a bit more resource then a new process may not be necessary. Below are some indications when a new process maybe required: ♦ There is no reference point for all work related to the process; everyone has a different perspective on the detail and progress of each work item ♦ Shortcuts and alternatives to the process exist, resulting more focus and progress in some areas than others ♦ Complaints from customers, whether internal or external, are increasing rather than decreasing ♦ The cost of the current process outweighs the resulting benefits Normally, the bigger the need for a new process, the less the effort required to influence the stakeholders. Rolling out a process considered not critical nor relevant can be a real challenge and will usually fail. The main question to ask is “What’s in it for the stakeholders?”

2.2

People

The right people can be the biggest factor to the potential success of the new process, including the central team and the sponsors. It is therefore critical to select the right resources for the relevant roles. The executive sponsor should have enough authority, while the central team should have enough credibility and appropriate mix of skills. The whole operation from developing to rolling out the process is about gaining confidence from key stakeholders that the process will provide the appropriate outputs in the appropriate timescale. It can be helpful, but not essential, that the central team has already developed a certain amount of confidence with the stakeholders. While the process is evolving, management of the process by the central team must be as smooth and professional as possible in order to build up credibility. This can be challenging as the process is still evolving, the volume of work is not accurately known and the audience is still learning about the new process

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2.3

Sponsorship

Like any other change initiative, sponsorship at a senior level can be the make or break of a new process. Senior sponsorship can encourage the supporters, influence the doubters and silence the critics. Selecting the right sponsor is crucial for the initial stages of the process, especially when the some of the other senior stakeholders are still not fully convinced. Although sponsorship at a senior level is critical, developing the details of a process usually requires inputs from more junior management who are more in touch with the day-to-day operations of the business.

2.4

Timing

Getting the timing right up front will set the process off in a positive manner, getting it wrong will deem it irrelevant and therefore ignored by many stakeholders. It is only effective to roll out a new process when there is a need for it now or in the very near future. If the need is too far in the future, then the environment will likely change forcing many of the assumptions and process inappropriate. Timing is important; whether it’s the right time to develop, to agree or to launch a new process depends mainly on the environment. Lots of processes have been shelved, not due to poor logic or content, but bad timing. It is therefore essential to get the timing right, to balance the pressure of getting the process up and running versus the lengthy but crucial process of gaining buy-in from all stakeholders. If the process is required but the timing is not yet right, a lot of preparations can be carried out, e.g. getting lessons learned from similar processes, starting to select the potential team and outlining the process. It is also useful to solicit inputs from potential stakeholders early.

2.5

Process

The process must be pragmatic and fit for purpose. Inputs from all key stakeholders must be solicited to ensure buy-in. Start off with something simple in order to gain agreement from all parties and the details of the process will evolve as it gets implemented; the larger the audience the faster it will evolve. Although it is not necessary to have the process detailed out from the beginning, it is important to have a vision of the ideal process and the principles supporting. Changes and customisations can then be made to the process without losing the end goals. For example, it is essential to have a single point of entry for all inputs, how this is achieved in practice is less important and depends on that working environment. The main elements, with a strong focus on simplicity, of a process are: ♦ A flow chart with short descriptions explaining each step. It is also worth considering a number of SLAs (service level agreement) indicating the average time for each stage ♦ Templates for inputs, outputs and interfaces to be filled in by users ♦ Templates for progress report depending customised for different stakeholders ♦ A database to track progress of each input.

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2.6

Communication

Communication is key, especially when there are many busy stakeholders involved. Communications must be precise and well co-ordinated. The frequency of these communications will depend on the culture of the organisation and the number of other initiatives running in parallel. The detail of the communications must evolve with the process. In the beginning, communication is on the agreed principles and benefits in order to gain buy in and inputs. As soon as the process is kicked off, communication will focus on the detail of the operation, the decision stages and the flow of data. Finally as the process gets up to speed, communication will then focus on the progress of each work item and the tracking of the SLAs.

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3.

CONCLUSION

Introducing a new process into an organisation, especially in difficult economic conditions can be demanding on the already stretched resources. However, a great deal of value can be created if the new process is introduced and implemented effectively. A new and more efficient process will not only save time and effort but also provide a medium to bring groups from different silos, departments and even cultures, within the organisation together.

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4.

APPENDIX – CASE STUDY

As a consequence of a merger between two large high street banks, a large integration programme was initiated. As the integration programme entered its final phase, a “work reception” process was required to manage the increasing BAU (Business as Usual) requirements from the business into the IT group. A number of issues existed: ♦ Focus was still predominantly on the integration programme therefore BAU activity took a lower priority within IT ♦ The suppressed demand from the business over the three year period of integration was resulting in hundreds of IT requests from the business per month ♦ The lack of a baseline of BAU requirements meant that different teams had different perspectives on the deliverables of each requirement and their status ♦ The central team running the process did not represent all the key stakeholders ♦ The process was informal and was highly dependent upon personal contacts and favours. The Charteris team was asked to help put in place a formal process to manage BAU work reception. The following measures were put in place: ♦ A steering group representing all key stakeholders ♦ A process allowing one point of entry for all new work requests from the business into IT, managed by a central team. As with many such process introductions much focus was put on pulling together disparate cultures into a common approach. The central team had to build credibility with all key stakeholders across different areas with different pressures and priorities to be successful. This change was achieved through senior sponsorship, a simple but effective process, regular communications and lots of hard work. The result was a single central process, prioritising and managing hundreds of requests each month effectively and efficiently. This process was then used as the base on which the IT portfolio management activity was built.

24 July 2003 Version 1.0

Developing and Rolling out a new Process Charteris White Paper

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