IT Business Process Improvement

This is a page of my notes from a BPI course. I often refer back to them.

Business Process Basics

A business process is a series of steps that when followed can produce a consistent result.

It's like a recipe

Most companies are made up of hundreds or thousands of interconnected business processes.

The best recipes anticipate and answer questions before they're asked.

Characteristics of a good Business Process

• It needs to be understandable
• Answers frequently asked Questions
• It teaches new things
• It Measures success
• It should provide corrective actions for errors.
• It's a reliable, documented business recipe.

Consistency brings comfort to employees and customers because they're reliable.

Business processes are a requirement for fast and reliable growth and expansion.

Bad Business Processes

Businesses make assumptions (for example, they focus on low costs that weaken your products and services). It's always important to challenge your own assumptions.

Characteristics of Bad Business Processes include;

• Ambiguity: Focus groups might tell you what they want but when you build it, the customer doesn't actually want it.
• Sometimes the documented process never gets taught properly. Sometimes the documentation is very good but employees don't know that it exists.
• Sometimes there is misalignment between goals and actions. We all cut corners, we all get tired and we all get busy.
• Are your employees too busy to keep up with business processes.
• Sometimes the issue is simply that the business process is old. Even a good OLD process can be improved. Business processes must evolve to stay competitive.
• Sometimes companies lean heavily on a superstar employee. They need to be valued for their skills and knowledge. Plan for the day when that superstar employee leaves. Are you prepared to have new people take over the process.
• Sometimes you have good processes with limitations. Some things work with a small number of clients but when there are too many clients, the process breaks down. Do the existing processes support growth?
• Are there new tools available that are better suited to the process?

Take-Aways from Cow Path Theory

• Sometimes trying something new risks failure.
• People rely on old, bad processes and don't take the risk to find a better process.
• Sometimes we develop a process "in the moment" and it works well but now we don't have the time and resources to change it.
• A bad business process might be the result of a new need, not a bad process design.
• Business results don't always indicate a good process.
• An effective process isn't necessarily an efficient one.
• When learning a new process, always ask questions.

Being a Good Change Agent

• Develop Patience
• Ask Questions
• Avoid Jumping to Conclusions
• Be creative - listen to alternative points of view.

Often a client doesn't know what they want, so show them a range of possibilities.

The clients list of desires may change over time, so constantly communicate as you make progress because the clients may need to change course.

People are important;

• If you're called in, you're probably been called in by a senior manager. The staff are probably nervous and/or embarrassed.
• Often people are the only reason that old processes are continuing to work. You could be threatening their job security. No one likes change.
• Make the solutions simple ones that make sense.
• Create a solution that can be successful once you're gone.
• Create solutions that can survive when people are tired.

Tools and Techniques for Improving Processes

Identify Stakeholders and Goals;

• Who will be affected?
• Who is part of the process?
• What other tangential processes and people will be affected.

Think about Primary and Secondary stakeholders.

• What are the stakeholder goals?
• For each stakeholder, identify their goals within the system that needs to be fixed.
• We can't necessarily meet all of the needs of the stakeholders but we still need to consider the impact we're having on them.

Tool: Block Diagram

A block diagram is simply a series of rectangles underneath each other.

Put your process in the middle block and then fill in the blocks above and below that block with what preceeds and follows your process.

This will help you to understand;

• The flow of the process and the effect it has on other processes.
• How the work of others affects us.

Technique: Manage your scope.

There's no way that you can accommodate all stakeholders and their goals.

You need to establish a hierarchy of priorities from your stakeholder goals.

• Which is most important?
• What goals can be accomplished?
• What can we afford?

Sometimes you can create a two stage improvement project. That way you fix half of it and then fix the other half in the second iteration.

Don't take on impossible tasks.

Technique: Flowcharts

Flowcharts are a great quality improvement tool as they let you and others see

• Points of Improvement
• Steps that are Redundant
• Things that you may have forgot.

Use them for business processes.

Give the flowchart to the stakeholders and demonstrate how it helps meet their needs and achieve their goals.

If you get stuck on something, the stakeholders may be able to tell you how to get around them.

The flowchart will help everyone to see the challenges and the trade-offs in the process.

Test the new process... via Role play.

The Process of Improving a Process

Everything should begin with Goals and Stakeholders.

• You need to have measurable goals otherwise you can't establish success.
• The change agents need to restate the goals that they've heard out loud.
• Quite often the client will not agree even though that is what they've said.

Most important. Don't move forward until you and the client agree on the goals that have been established.

In order to establish the size of your task, you need to determine what your starting point is. You need to make your starting point measurable in the exact same terms as your goal.

Then you can start tracking your progress in terms of your distance between the present state and your goals.

Gap Analysis

This is the present state side-by-side to the goal state.

• If the gap is too wide, perhaps don't try to pursue all of the goals at once. Maybe just chase a portion of your desired state.
• Consider developing the scope to suit what you can achieve.
• Sometimes one goal is the key to making the other goals achievable.
• Sometimes it's better to run three smaller projects than one big one.

Beginning Your Investigation

Investigate the current process;

• Look for Strengths
• Look for Weaknesses

Research ways to reduce the weaknesses.

• New Technology
• Training
• New Facilities

How do you make those ideas fit your timeline and budget.

Analyse a number of different ideas and options (and communicate them) - listen to feedback.

Things to Consider

Are you External?

If so, why were you hired. Are you there to give you a fresh innovative point of view.

Don't try to reuse things that work in other places without investigating.

Consider solutions that really make the clients uncomfortable and explore it.

Sometimes it highlights things that haven't been considered.

Sometimes you might have to include plans for future projects if you think the scope is too big.

Even change agents don't always get approval for their solutions.

Make sure that your idea is strong enough.

You need to develop solutions that will be adopted and implemented.

Sometimes this means developing and SELLING the solution to the clients.

If the clients don't believe, they won't adopt.

Implementation Plans

A good implementation plan includes

• Activities
• Required Resources
• Deadlines

Consider starting the implementation plan yourself and start a step by step plan to follow through.

If you take the clients part of the way towards the solution, it's harder for them to back out and not do the work.

Selling Your Solution

Start with the solution. Not how you got there.

They don't want to hear the long boring stuff.

If you do your presentation on the long boring stuff, they'll ask the wrong questions and they'll fall asleep.

• State their values and show how the solution exactly serves their values.

There will be two outcomes

• They love it
• They hate it

Either way, they'll be asking good questions all the way through.

Hallmarks of a Good Solution

A good solution must pass three tests.

• Cost-benefit analysis
• Value to work ratio
• Organisational fit

Cost-Benefit Analysis

• Will improving this process save me money or make me money?
• Will it save time?
• Will it improve service?
• Will it decrease defects.

You need to be sure that the money and resources required will be worth the anticipated benefit - be ready to present a cost-benefit analysis.

Value to Work Ratio

• Is the plan efficient
• Is it worth the effort
• What value will they get for the work they do?

Organisational Fit

Does the solution fit with this company.

"That's a great solution but just not for us."

• Does it fit with Employee or union contracts?
• Is it a good fit for the brand or culture of the organisation.

Make the Idea Real

Be ready with a detailed report that includes the research and data that you used and includes steps to follow to implement.

Weeks or months after you're gone;

• Will they know what to do?
• How will they know if they're successful?
• Have you anticipated all of their challenges and questions?