TenStep news

Global Awards for Excellence in BPM & Workflow 2009

2009-12-10T08:02:00.004+02:00

The TenStepSDO service offering is a co-branded service of TenStep Inc. and Pétanque Consultancy.

Pétanque, along with the South African Post Office, proudly accepted the Silver Award for Excellence in BPM and Workflow 2009 for the Middle East and Africa region on 24 November.

The winners of the 2009 Global Awards for Excellence in Business Process Management (BPM) and Workflow was announced at the Awards Ceremony presented in a special webinar on Tuesday November 24, 2009 chaired by Derek Miers, lead judge. Co-sponsored by WfMC, BPMFocus and BPM.com and now in their 16th year, these prestigious awards recognize user organizations that have demonstrably excelled in implementing innovative business process solutions to meet strategic business objectives. There are five geographical regions. Each region receives Gold and Silver Awards.

During the ceremony, Derek Miers acknowledged all the Finalists and then described the major highlights of each case study after announcing the Gold and Silver winners. Commenting on the Pétanque- South African Post Office submission, he stated that the case study was in his opinion to be ranked in the top 5 globally due to the impact of the project, based on people engagement, innovative application of IT and benefits realized. The judges recognized how the project applied process in an innovative way to engage many people in the organization to achieve enterprise strategic goals. The judges were unanimous with some votes, yet at odds on others with surprising results. They all agreed, however, that this year the Finalists were the toughest to date to select just two winners per region - faced as they were with exceptionally high quality submissions.

Michélle Booysen, Ph.D, PMP and Managing Director of Cape Town based Pétanque Consultancy (www.petanque-c.com) remarks: "This is a fantastic achievement for Pétanque: the space in which we work locally and internationally is very competitive and we are particularly pleased to be acknowledged for the edge that VizPro®, our in-house developed application of process as a principal business management tool, brings. In proudly partnering with the South African Post Office we have demonstrated the powerful impact of VizPro®."

Nominated winners receive a silver bowl on a wooden base and Nominator winners receive a silver tray.

The slides from the webinar have been posted to www.bpmf.org for viewing and linking.

The Winners and Finalists of this year's awards will be published in the BPM Excellence in Practice 2010. The Excellence in Practice annual book series profiles the winning case studies each year of the new winners of the BPM and Workflow Awards with the emphasis this year on Impact, Innovation and Implementation in BPM Excellence in Practice 2009.The Digital Edition has just been released.

The full BPM service offering is available world wide through the TenStepSDO.

For a copy of the case study, contact Michélle at drmich@tenstepsdo.com

Methods, Concepts, Case Studies and Standards in Business Process Management and Workflow

2009-05-14T09:40:00.002+02:00

The next BPM & Workflow Handbook will be launched on the 18th of June 2009.

The question, "How can governments manage change organizationally and be agile operationally?" is answered in this special spotlight on BPM in Government worldwide with specific emphasis on the USA government where agencies, armed forces, states and cities are facing almost insurmountable challenges.

This is a book for business people who just want to understand the how and why of process automation and integration in simple non-jargon terms. It is also for the technical person looking for current insights into where BPM standards are heading, how others are managing implementations and more.

Included in this book is a chapter by Marietjie Lancaster (GE: Group Strategy, SAPO), Carien Venter (Chief Management Analyst, SAPO) and Dr. Michelle Booysen (MD Petanque Business Specialists). The chapter details how the South African Post Office developed a structure in support of the new business model to achieve strategic goals. A project that was accomplished through comprehensive process facilitation and analysis.

Order the book or read more about it here.

Introducing TenStep Project Management

2009-05-13T15:11:00.006+02:00

Organizations have 1 thing in common: they all manage projects. That's not an easy task though, if it's not your core business. So why reinvent the wheel, if there's a solution available that has been succesfull for numerous organizations, worldwide? Watch this video to understand how TenStep could benefit your company:

Through the TenStep SDO we offer a holistic service that besides our project management expertise brings you strategy development and roll-out through process development and analysis to achieve your strategic goals. Read more about how we deliver here, or contact us.

Green alternative: long distance workshops

2009-04-17T11:32:00.005+02:00

I tested Microsoft Live Meeting last week, to be able to run a ProcessStep process mapping workshop in Cape Town with participants in Johannesburg. Live Meeting is collaboration software that is installed on client PCs, and uses a central server for all clients to connect to.

Live Meeting enabled me to map the process as the participants gave their input. They were following what I was mapping on their screen.

The benefits:

Time efficient: a round trip CPT-JHB takes about 10 hours door-to-door. Now we could just stay in our own offices.
Cost efficient: tickets cost about R2500 pp (roughly $250) for a return flight, we saved those costs.
Environmentally friendly: travelling leaves a carbon footprint (for this specific trip 515 lbs CO2), which was now avoided completely. A great fit with our Green policy to reduce our impact on the environment where we can.

Interested to check how much your carbon footprint is? You can check it by using this calculator at the Nature Conservancy website, and to make up for your impact on the environment you can plant a tree.

ProcessStep Case Study Series #5

2009-04-07T08:12:00.001+02:00

Case study: Process Mapping the process of changing from a business division into a company

Enterprise: South African State Owned Enterprise

Petanque role: Delivered ProcessStep

Duration: 3 workshop days of Process Mapping and Action Listing

Scope: The processes were needed for a current, operating division to become a corporatized entity. We designed the processes with the client corporatization team on who needs to do what to change the business from a division to a fully fledged company. These are now being used as part of the overall corporatization project which needs to deliver the new company: operational, branded and incorporated in 2010. The work was presented to the SOE's board a week later, and the way forward was signed off.

Application: This information is now being used as input into the Program Manager's project plans.

Benefit: Actions to be taken agreed on, role clarity obtained, risks and mitigations identified and planned for, scheduling agreed to, process defined and agreed to.

Case Studies

2009-04-06T09:25:00.003+02:00

We recently started publishing short and to the point case studies at this SDO News page; a quick reference of how ProcessStep (the SDO business process documentation & analysis methodology) is applied in projects. Two more elaborate case studies can be found in our Library.

ProcessStep Case Study Series #4

2009-04-06T08:56:00.006+02:00

Case study: Processing Mapping the Corporate Communication Function in order to support the Business requirements

Enterprise: Large South African parastatal

Petanque role: Delivered ProcessStep

Duration: 2 workshop days of Process Mapping and Action Listing

Scope: This project was an extension of a mega-project to develop an organizational structure in support of the new business model. As part of that project the Corporate Communications process was documented. Further review was required to ensure seamless support of the organization. Corporate Communications needs to contribute to business growth and to develop a positive reputation for the organization.

In workshops, with relevant role players, we reviewed and designed the processes to support the enterprise by clearly defining the activities, people, systems and performance indicators to effectively communicate the pillars: Strategic Direction, Organizational Transformation, Brand Repositioning and Policies & Procedures.

Application: The processes were redesigned to drive and support a high performance organization, to develop a positive reputation and to enable Corporate Communication to meet the business' strategic objectives. The action lists were used to identify shortfalls within the process and are used continuously by management for process improvements.

Benefit: Immediate outcomes of this project were transparency, resource management, obtained role clarity, identified risks and controls, agreement and buy-in of the redefined process.

ProcessStep Case Study Series #3

2009-03-30T09:46:00.001+02:00

Case study: Process Mapping the process that is needed to effectively manage strategic investments

Enterprise: Large South African parastatal

Petanque role: Delivered ProcessStep

Duration: 2 days of Process Mapping and Action Listing

Scope: In order to ensure that strategic investments in the organisation are managed effectively throughout, from concept to delivery, it was necessary to determine what the full lifecycle of an investment is to start off with. From this, the step by step activities that are needed to effectively roll out and track each investment were defined, debated and agreed on by key role players.

Application: The result of this project is role players are clear on their respective accountabilities, stakeholders understand the full scope of work that tracks an investment, and management is provided with assurance that all elements are defined and assigned for actioning.

Benefit: Transparency, role clarity, progress tracking, risk management tracking, resource management.

ProcessStep Case Study Series #2

2009-03-24T09:30:00.004+02:00

Case study: Process Mapping the Human Resource Function in order to support the Business requirements

Enterprise: Large South African parastatal

Petanque role: Delivered ProcessStep

Duration: 9 Workshop days for Process Mapping and Action Listing

Scope: This project was an extension of a mega-project to develop an organisational structure in support of the new business model. In March - September 2008 we spent time documenting the Human Resource processes. Further review was required to ensure seamless support to the organisation. The HR function's purpose is to support the organisation's strategic objectives to become a high performing business through the provision of specialized Human Resource services. We facilitated the process design to support the enterprise by clearly defining all the HR processes, people and systems and how they should interface with the relevant business and supporting units. In other words, what needs to be done by whom in a best practice manner and when in each of the defined processes. These processes were then presented to the business units using their services to develop a best practice process designed to enable business to meet its strategic objective.

The review included the following 'existing' and 'envisaged' processes:

Wellness
Benefits Administration
Document Control
Payroll Administration
Employee Relations
Learning And Development
Talent And Succession Management
Organisational Design
Organisational Development
Performance Management
Recruitment And Selection
Remuneration and Reward
Policies, Procedures And Assurance Management

Application: The processes were redesigned to drive and support a high performance organisation. The action lists were used to identify shortfalls within the process and are used continuously by management for process improvements.

Benefit: Immediate outcomes of this project were transparency, resource management, role clarity, risk and control identification, agreement and buy-in of the redefined process.

Feedback: "By using visual storyboarding, we were able to clearly identify shortfalls and highlight the issues that needed to be resolved."
"Being part of the HR process mapping sessions, I was able to see the bigger picture and how HR integrates with business and the HR value chain."

ProcessStep Case Study Series #1

2009-03-19T08:35:00.001+02:00

Case study: Process Mapping Pilot Project to document retail logistics processes to identify and address bottlenecks. This pilot would also demonstrate the value of ProcessStep for further application.

Enterprise: South African FMCG retailer that is expanding and rolling out shops in other African countries.

Petanque role: Delivered ProcessStep

Duration: Positioning Map session of 1,5 hour + 2 full day Process Mapping workshops.

Scope: This retailer, needed to document processes that were still only in people’s heads, and also wanted to smoothen operations in support of the growing business. To determine whether ProcessStep would be the right method to achieve this, we started a pilot project.

Our starting point was a Positioning Map session with the General Manager, in which we mapped the high level supply chain. The day after we reviewed and challenged this Positioning Map in a work session with participants from 3 different departments, made changes, and added where needed. We then identified the most critical processes with burning points, and continued to map three of these 'burning' processes. We also listed actions for process improvement related to the positioning map.

As the participants' day-to-day activities are in different areas, the workshop provided an excellent platform to share knowledge around the process related to their function. This broke down the wall between the departments with immediate results: "I learned much more than I learned in the past years, I now know how I must consider the Export department", as a workshop participant from Planning department indicated afterwards.

Unpacking the processes clarified issues and showed that specific process elements actually consist of many steps with complications that impact on various departments. Unpacking the processes addressed all these implications and clarified the importance of identifying the who, what and when to the role-players.

The drivers for change are the actions listed in the Action Lists: the issues are identified and it indicates what must be done, by whom and when: "We've talked about the actions a lot before, but now it's on paper and someone has been made responsible to take action and agreed to it. To me this has been really valuable."

This project has confirmed the value of ProcessStep as a process documentation and analysis tool, and the retailer was pleased with the outcomes: "This is definitely a methodology that can assist us in further documenting of processes, to structure roll-out in the African countries."

Deliverables:

1 Positioning Map
2 Process Maps version 2
1 Process Map version 1
27 actions for improvement assigned

Application: The Action Lists will now be the main drivers to improve the bottlenecks in the process, and the maps serve as documentation of the process, capturing institutional knowledge and providing a platform for improved practice development. The information will be available to other role-players and clarify roles, gaps and opportunities for improvement to all users.

Benefit: In just 2 days we provided a platform for discussion of items that were long overdue and marked them as actions; and captured knowledge and improved processes in visually attractive step by step format. These maps have given the participants insights into the processes during the work sessions, and will continue to do so for people that try to understand the process at a later stage.

Seeing is believing

2009-02-03T08:09:00.000+02:00

'Seeing is believing', is what we often experience in our ProcessStep work-sessions. Our methodology is unique, still fairly young (we have a 7-year track record working with ProcessStep), and that makes it sometimes difficult for business owners or managers to determine the value of our projects upfront. We recently added a page to our site to answer the most common questions regarding ProcessStep, you can view the page here. In addition, the ProcessStep/VizPro video explains how ProcessStep (VizPro®) works, what we do to document and analyse business processes using this methodology, and details the benefits this technique has.

The South African Post Office (where the video was shot) is one of the enterprises that discovered the great value of workshopping processes the ProcessStep-way, and continues to benefit from it. Read more about the project in the case study.

Executing Strategy: the ProcessStep approach

2009-01-16T09:27:00.000+02:00

Dr. Michelle Booysen, PMP, who developed the ProcessStep business process analysis methodology, reflects on the book: The Execution Premium: Linking Strategy to Operations for Competitive Advantage by Harvard Business School professor Robert S. Kaplan and consultant David P. Norton.

The Execution Premium was published mid-2008 and urges executives to make strategy a continuing process that is embedded deeply throughout the organisation.
Some key points made in the book:

Strategy execution often fades in the face of day-to-day operations issues - fighting fires. The senior management team should meet monthly on strategy-only topics.
The operational plan and budget should be driven from the revenue targets in the strategic plan.
Large organizations should consider creating the Office of Strategy Management, which is a team of professionals that coordinates strategy management details to orchestrate strategy for the executive team.

Kaplan: "We don't advocate abandoning an intense focus on operations and their improvement, but we do advocate planning strategy, not just describing it as important."
The book lays out a six-stage process:

Develop the strategy.
Plan the strategy.
Align the organization.
Plan operations.
Monitor and learn.
Test and adapt.

Michelle: "Kaplan and Norton make a very valid point; there's no use debating a strategy when eventually execution is lacking. The implementation at an operational level can be a challenge, although it seems simple in the above mentioned six steps. ProcessStep is a tool that can be applied as a practical instrument to roll out these steps."

ProcessStep is a business process documentation and analysis methodology that captures business processes in colourful and content-rich maps. The maps are developed in workshops with role-players that are facilitated by a Process Architect, who is assisted by a capturer who is real-time drawing the process that is projected on a big screen.

Michelle: "ProcessStep enables the planning and execution of WHAT the organisation needs to do to ensure the right business systems -process, people, IT- are put in place to achieve strategic goals, and these are measured in the scorecard."

Alignment is the next challenge. Often a programme doesn't take off because strategies aren't clearly communicated; a hype is created without proper planning; and the team is enthused, but they're not aligned with the manager who's looking for immediate results.

Michelle has experienced this in her career as well: "I've realised that to bring your vision and objectives across, people need to understand why and what their role is in the process. People want to be involved; they won't just listen to what you tell them to do. That's why the facilitation and real-time display of the process has so much impact. People see and understand what needs to be done and why, with the end in mind. The work-sessions and project management style of ProcessStep ensures buy-in for continued implementation. Besides, the workshops are a dialogue, which means that insights are captured in the Action Lists and used to inform strategy. This is fed back to strategy decision makers."

Workshops where role-players of different organisational levels sit in have another advantage: "Execution needs the will to succeed, which in turn requires a bottom-up as well as a top-down collective drive for success in implementation", says Michelle. "To achieve this, employees need to understand management and vice versa. ProcessStep creates the necessary forum for communication in the workshops."

According to Kaplan and Norton the organisation must link long-term strategy with day-to-day operations in planning the operations, aligning strategy with operating plans and budgets while focusing on those process improvements that are most critical to the strategy. Planning operations uses tools such as quality and process management, reengineering, process dashboards, rolling forecasts, activity-based costing, resource capacity planning, and dynamic budgeting.

Michelle: "In documenting the business processes ProcessStep brings about the 'implementation detail' through Action Lists. These are generated during each workshop which then form part of the current management activities, e.g. it becomes part of weekly progress reporting agenda. The Action List records all those actions needed to bring about change and improvement. Some items are quick actions; others lead to projects and are included in project portfolio management. Ideally, where Project Management Offices form part of the organisation, the Action List becomes an important input to the PMO."

The Action List a straight-forward instrument: "Through the Action Lists, ProcessStep provides the 'what needs to be done checklist' to Senior Management, enabling swift action without all the bells and whistles of Change Management attached. The lists detail the activities and identify the responsible person who's accountable for the performance. As execution of strategy has now boiled down to an individual level, the Action List has become a motivational driver; people see what they contribute to which goal."

At this level it is critical that the operations are focused on the strategic goals. "Many implementers have been frustrated by 'no go' aspects of implementation. ProcessStep provides the bridge between strategists and operational units through use of the Change Controller that forms the gateway in the development of each process. The Change Controller links each process to the strategic goals of the enterprise."

It is paramount that when you execute any strategy, there needs to be some sort of measurement. Measurement and performance dashboards lead to successful results in the execution of strategy. By importing data into the dashboard, one can guide strategically to create a balanced scorecard. Michelle: "In order to measure the correct indicators, ProcessStep facilitates that the right measures are put in place to bring about the required implementation. For each process, we define the performance indicators needed to ensure that the process contributes to the strategic goals. In the Action Lists, we record what changes must be effected in the process to enable the new or improved steps that will bring about those results that will in turn impact on the Corporate Scorecard. The Change Controller in each process map ensures that the relevant steps, people, information and systems are in place to achieve the scorecard values."

Risk at the operational level is that execution is conflicting: cost reduction in the one process by cutting positions might lead to a quality reduction, whereas quality was a strategic objective. Michelle clarifies: ProcessStep ensures keeping the bigger picture through Position Mapping and the Change Controller, along with the achievability of process specific goals which are defined in the process purpose statement. Clashing goals will be identified and a red flag raised."

Execution strategy means that the right people have to take action. Michelle: "It's easy to shift the responsibility for action to another person. In our work-sessions we make sure that for each action that is listed a responsible person is identified. This must be a person who is sitting in. If this is not the right person, this person is responsible for getting the right person to take this action. There are no loose ends."

In Managing for Results (1964) the late Peter Drucker says: "The pertinent question is not how to do things right, but how to find the right things to do." It is the 80/20 rule; and the necessity for 'activity based costing' in order to truly understand what are the drivers in a business. Michelle explains that this is supported by applying ProcessStep: "ProcessStep enables those knowledge resources who have a good understanding of 'the right things to do', and documents those as process practises."

Michelle concludes:"ProcessStep facilitates buy-in with a high success rate. By showing item by item which changes are needed, and scheduling roll out, management has an understanding of what it takes to achieve strategic goals. Once people are clear on what needs to be done, resistance diminishes and focus increases."

Intro to ProcessStep

2008-10-31T08:01:00.000+02:00

ProcessStep is our process analysis and documentation methodology that starts with a holistic view to understand the business and its processes. From there, ProcessStep is used to:

record business processes for training and quality documentation purposes
identify problem areas and inefficiencies
identify duplication of effort or gaps
analyse and drive out systems requirements
identify risk and control areas
identify management information requirements and key performance indicators
plan and manage organisational change
identify job skill requirements.

In South Africa ProcessStep is branded as VizPro. This video shows how we go about applying ProcessStep/VizPro in projects:

The application of ProcessStep in TenStep SDO projects ensures the realisation of (depending on the project's focus):

Understanding of systems requirements in the context of business use
Realising the benefits of IT projects through interactive change management
Identification of process gaps or weaknesses where breakdowns normally occur
Early identification of training needs
Improved controls, risk management & compliance
Noticeable and measurable skills improvement
Role clarification
An enlightened, motivated task force
Easy access to accurate and common process information by all staff
Knowledge sharing across the organisation
Understanding the "big picture", how one process impacts another
Cost savings resulting from improved process efficiencies.

Please contact us if you like to find out more about how we can benefit your organisation.