Enabling Process Consulting Assignments - Part 1

Introduction

A large number of organizations use consultants or large internal process teams, to deliver Business Process Definition projects
in order to gain documented benefits from such initiatives.

In reality, while benefits will accrue to the end customer from such initiatives, the very absence of an enabled process to deliver
these assignments will impact the effectiveness of the delivery.

Consulting companies and organizations are increasingly implementing Process Tools, such as QPR's ProcessGuide, to more effectively
deliver on such projects, as well as to enable the end customers to seamlessly continue to reap benefits of these initiatives on an on-going basis.
Here are some of the challenges in delivering Process Consulting Assignments. The traditional Process Consulting Assignment usually consists of the following steps:

• A consultant facilitator leads the discussion and review with management and staff providing information about current practices.

• Another consultant takes notes of what is said and what is decided.

• The consultants return to their offices and convert their notes into documents using separate text and diagramming tools: usually Microsoft Word and Visio.

• Some days later the draft documents are submitted for review by the meeting attendees, who by this time will have other priorities on their mind.

• They may wait several days before reviewing the document and when they do they have difficulty recalling what was said.

• Changes to the draft document are suggested by attendees. Another meeting may be held to resolve disputes between individual views but trying to get the original attendees together is difficult and by the time they have reconvened recollection of their original discussions is poor.

• Error and compromise introduced through the extended process are repeated in all functional areas of the organization being reviewed.

• Every time changes are introduced the consultants need to ensure that they correctly modify both the text and the associated diagrams - not only in terms of synchronizing the wording and flow but also ensuring the integrity of the process. For example, if entry of a resource is removed from an order taking process (e.g. selecting the Sales Rep) associated references to the resource should also be removed (such as a subsequent debt collection activity for the Rep.)

• The delivery of the consulting assignment is usually documents in Microsoft Word or Visio.

• With the constant pressure to change processes and improve efficiency, a company needs a regular process review program, at least quarterly, rather than waiting till inefficiencies are impacting the bottom line. However, review and maintenance of the Microsft Word and Vision documents makes the process review exercise so problematic that they are undertaken rarely, if ever.

Continue to Page 2  (Enabling Process Consulting Assignments - Part 2)