Courses (71)
KCI provides applied management and professional development education in several disciplines. The extensive Portfolio of Seminars addresses a variety of business interests and needs. We provide various seminars and courses for public and in-house training. These courses are focused on contemporary topics, issues, and skills needed by many organizations. Our courses are designed to provide a broad understanding and clear application focus for all participants.
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KCI On-line Courses (0)
KCI offers a series of on-line courses with very experienced professionals and educators to facilitate the best knowledge transfer of real-life experiences. The courses offer tremendous insights into contemporary approaches to the areas of your interest.
Course Experts (2)
Business Analysis (12)
Business analysis depends on the successful application of applying different types of analytics: financial, quantitative, and descriptive (qualitative).
KCI's courses are focused upon building the skills necessary to operating within an organization utilizing any of one of these skills.
Information Technology (IT) (20)
Today's Information Technology (IT) and Management Information Systems (MIS) environments have to address the management of the entire organization's environment as a collection of interacting automated/manual information systems. These systems are so critical to the "digital" organization that KCI has a series of courses designed to provide a comprehensive understanding of the key elements needed to manage IT or MIS.
Some of these offerings can be packaged into a designed certification program for your organization.
Process Management (6)
Process performance and improvement are two keys in improving an organizations's operations. They form the basis of efficiently and effectively delivery of both product and service to customers. Various approaches are used to accomplish focus on process performance and improvement. Somoe of the areas include: process analytics, process modeling and mapping techniques, process management and project organization.
KCI's course offerings provide the understanding which approaches provide the foundation for developing, implementing or improving an organizations' business processes and its overall performance.
Enterprise Performance Management (4)
Performance of the organization depends on setting direction and then executing to meet that direction. Organization or enterprise performance management includes the skills an disciplines you need to do both. Strategic business thinking is required to enable an organization to properly understand, assess, and make decisions on both direction and execution. Additionally major usage of technology, skills and policies will impact the organizational performance.
Auditing and Risk Management (3)
Auditing and risk management is a very critical element of maintaining today's organization. In the ever-changing business environment, encountering risk is inevitable. The ability to manage these increasingly significant risks now represent the difference between a thriving organization and one that is struggling to deal with the challenges facing it.
KCI offers different courses focusing on practical forms of auditing and risk management approaches.
Architecture (22)
Understanding the structure of an organization today means understanding the relationships between the various elements of the organization, its partners, or other businesses. Each organization utilizes different viewpoints that are part of the normal operations of running the organization. Looking at it from an architectural perspective, it may include: the business environment, the perceived market needs, product / service architecture, the process architecture, and supporting architectures.
KCI courses address builiding the understanding of how to integrate these architectural perspectives.
Description:
Developing skills for BPM is usually done on the first project an enterprise undertakes. Often few or no tools are used or tools designed for other purposes such as graphic tools used for process mapping with no linkage to analysis tools or workflow. This adds risk to the project as the staff must learn anywhere from one tool to a suite of tools plus the methodology framework for the BPM project. The work may be performed by contractors or company staff or even by a tool vendor in some cases. Usually the framework for good process management is an afterthought and the resulting artifacts left in a chaotic state.
The tools used on a BPM project might include an analysis tool, a process modeling tool, a workflow tool and even a repository for saving the results. Positioning the skills at using BPM tools can be a great advantage in doing a BPM project or embarking on a larger BPM effort that requires the use of tools.
This course provides hands on work experience using a case study project designed to highlight the tools in BPM typical of those used today. Related issues such as analysis analytics, process modeling and mapping techniques, process management and project organization are covered as part of the lecture portion of the course. Examples of each artifact used in the course are provided along with a CD that contains trial versions of all products used in the class. This course uses extensive exercises based on a tools suite for BPM. The attendee should have some basic working knowledge of process mapping but no tools experience is needed.
Who should attend: Business process teams, Business planners, Process Analysts, Managers, Professionals, IT Specialists, Business Analysts and IT Architects.
Duration: 3 days
Essential Business Process Management
Description:
Process performance and improvement are two keys in improving business execution today. They form the basis of efficiently and effectively delivering both products and services to the customer. Today, enterprise transformation, integration and consolidation are sweeping organizations. Process understanding and analysis are a crucial foundation for e-commerce, e-government and enterprise excellence. A key result of process management is achieving a lean and more flexible organization.
Studies say that 75% of process projects don’t meet expectations or are considered a failure. Some projects have difficulty in deployment and some have difficulty due to uncertain scope. In any event, having a known process methodology, understanding the role of process analysis and connecting to the business strategic direction are all keys to a successful project. Analytics for process analysis are not the same as for design. Ranking processes, choosing the best yield strategy for process change and improvement plus managing the processes of the enterprise contribute to a greater opportunity for success.
New types of processes and process issues are constantly emerging creating a daunting task for most process projects. In addition there is the application of new enablers such as workflow technology, updated skills, policies and procedures and embedded technologies to complicate the effort. The projects may be for basic improvements or a complete enterprise transformation, understanding and applying the analytics of process analysis and mapping is the start of the process path. Areas discussed are:
- Process Analysis
- Process Management
- Process Enablement
- Process Management Support Technologies
Duration: 4 days
Understanding Management Information Systems Role
Description:
Digitizing an enterprise is a core approach to designing effective and efficient solutions to business problems. Related and key idea of thinking for digitizing the enterprise is systems (an integrated set of elements that accomplish defined objectives). A digitized enterprise is not the same as a digital enterprise. The digitized enterprise is one that extensively uses systems and related automation to solve business problems. A digital enterprise is a web-based enterprise. A web based enterprise can also be considered as one that has been completely digitized.
Systems thinking has driven the understanding of business for many years. At the core of systems thinking is understanding how the defined components influence and relate to each other. There is no better example of systems than the structure of a typical business. Adding the feedback idea to systems we get a dynamic and adaptive view of a business, a key need in responding to changes in the environment around the business.
The perspective of management information systems (MIS) has evolved over time. Historically, MIS started with the view that groups of actions and their related enablers (documents, skills, procedures, policies) could be linked together and be semi-automated by computers. Today, MIS encompasses the management of the entire enterprise as a collection of interacting automated/manual information systems.
Duration: 4 days
Insight into the business
Business analysis depends on successful application of three different types of analytics, financial, quantitative and descriptive. These three legs of the analysis triangle provide a guideline to successful analysis. Business analysis is process and operational focused and hence has an internal focus. These techniques may also be applied to an external view such as for merger, acquisition, divestiture, privatization, consolidation and outsourcing. Business analysis also leads to the development of requirements for process change, application acquisition (application development, package deployment or services articulation) and assessment of change impact. Business analysis also includes topics of operational due diligence, performance measurement, knowledge management, product architecture, process architecture, competitive intelligence and business intelligence.
KCI offers service that include analysis of operations, product architecture analysis for platform identification, requirements development for business systems as well as computer applications and competitive intelligence capability development.
- Business Intelligence
- Data analysis and analytics with KPIs, KRIs and KIIs
- Econometrics and environmental scanning
- Simulation for processes and problem solving
- Performance Management
A Hands On Approach
Description:
Scorecard approaches have received considerable attention as a means to assess both operational and strategic performance of an organization. The balanced scorecard approach has had very good reception and success in assisting management with a way to improve the value to shareholders through an organized view of measures in the enterprise. Further, the approach connects in a logical manner to the strategic needs and direction of the enterprise. Understanding strategic impact is a key to the successful use of scorecards.
This course includes some background on various scorecard approaches used in the past and present. The balanced scorecard approach is covered in considerable detail as the current scorecarding technique to gain widespread use and global success. Finally, the economy is changing in many ways and the balanced scorecard approach must change with it to be relevant. This course also introduces the attendee to the potential changes that may happen in the very near future.
The key difference in this course and others on balanced scorecard is that there are sample workshop type implementations using Excel and other tools to indicate the issues in the use and automation of scorecard capabilities and constructing simple scorecard dashboards.
Duration: 4 days
How to build an Effective Transfer of Knowledge
Description:
Knowledge is of little value if it ‘walks out the door’. To be effective it must be transferred from the source to the destination. The source can be consultants, the web, YouTube videos, seminars, conferences and professional education courses. The most difficult is the transfer of knowledge from an expert to someone in an organization. Effective use is made possible by understanding the knowledge process and connecting the result of knowledge filtering to the execution processes of the organization.
Some of the key steps to successful knowledge transfer and use include:
- Identifying and capturing essential knowledge
- Sorting out the knowledge into categories for future use
- Positioning knowledge at the point of use
- Enabling the transfer through careful mentoring
These steps help to build the solid foundation for knowledge transfer.
Duration: 3 days
Financial, Quantitative and Descriptive Analysis
Description:
Business analysis depends on successful application of three different types of analytics, financial, quantitative and descriptive. These three legs of the analysis triangle provide a guideline to successful analysis. Business analysis is process and operational focused and hence has an internal focus. These techniques may also be applied to an external view such as for merger, acquisition, divestiture, privatization, consolidation and outsourcing. Business analysis also leads to the development of requirements for process change, application acquisition (application development, package deployment or services articulation) and assessment of change impact. Business analysis also includes topics of operational due diligence, performance measurement, knowledge management, product architecture, process architecture, competitive intelligence and business intelligence.
Duration: 4 days
Implementing Knowledge Management Systems
Description:
This course provides participants the basic tools necessary to assess, plan and implement a knowledge management capability in an enterprise. The techniques described in the course are useful for bridging the gap between expectations and reality, providing a means to leverage existing knowledge efforts and increase value by focusing the efforts on projects with quick payback. Tools and technology considerations provide an opportunity for IT excellence in the management and delivery of knowledge to users.
Duration: 3 days
What Managers need to Know
Description:
Managers today are struggling with the ideas of knowledge management, the value of knowledge management and how to achieve effective knowledge transfer. Being able to effectively direct and manage the knowledge effort requires at least a basic understanding of the approach, concept and issues with implementing a knowledge strategy. A core idea to knowledge management at this time is the use of the learning organization to evaluate and leverage the knowledge in an enterprise.
The ideas of knowledge repository and knowledge processes need exploration as well as knowledge process outsourcing. Here the value lies as well as who can benefit from the knowledge asset is also important. With these ideas a manager can prepare an effective knowledge management plan with proper business justification of the knowledge effort and a means of tracking results.
Many managers in an organization can benefit from this course if only to give some appreciation of the value of their knowledge in their organizations and how that knowledge fits with the rest of the enterprise.
Duration: 2 days
Where is Knowledge Management Today?
Description:
Efficient and effective delivery and use of knowledge increases the range of available business solutions, uncovers hidden business strengths, represents an opportunity for value-added supplier relations and brings a working meaning to the idea of intellectual capital. Whether thinking in terms of documents, ideas, or actions, a simple and efficient method of capturing, locating, articulating, using and managing knowledge in the enterprise is needed. In simple terms, good knowledge management promotes better business performance.
There are many interpretations of knowledge management today. Some interpretations are very basic viewing knowledge management as document management with a twist and others are more general such as the intellectual capital concept. Each interpretation has some value and benefit to the business. This course presents knowledge and knowledge management in context of business need and value by relating knowledge management directly to work performed.
This course provides participants the basic tools necessary to assess and plan for a knowledge management capability in an enterprise. The techniques described in the course are useful for bridging the gap between expectations and reality, providing a means to leverage existing knowledge efforts and increase value by focusing the efforts on projects with quick payback. Tools and technology considerations provide an opportunity for IT excellence in the management and delivery of knowledge to users.
Duration: 3 days
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Essential Policy & Procedure Documentation and Evaluation
Description:
Enterprise governance of any organization depends on establishing a well defined and clear set of policies and procedures. Whether starting from an existing set of policies and procedures or developing a completely new set, it is important to understand what makes the policies and procedures successful. Success depends on knowing what the business needs and defining a set of policies and procedures that meets that need.
Description:
From the CEO to the front line worker, everyone needs to know the how to execute the key processes of the enterprise. Workflow, process flow, policies and procedures all need some form of documentation and communication to the enterprise workforce. With all the changes in today’s business environment, keeping these updated, current, complete and relevant has become much more significant.
This course brings together several different perspectives and components of documenting policies, procedures and processes in the enterprise. Key questions in managing and implementing are answered such as:
• What is the life cycle of policies and procedures?
• What is a methodology for developing them?
• How do you organize them?
• How do you manage them?
• How do these procedures relate to policies?
• What is the relationship of policies, procedures and processes?
Each area of the enterprise has its own way of looking at how things get done. Important processes emerge from everyday business needs and have default procedures that people are comfortable with. This makes compliance with procedures today an important consideration of any policies and procedure system. Lectures are supplemented by exercises and demonstrations of tools providing the attendee rich learning experience.
Duration: 4 days
Effective Business and Enterprise Integration
Description:
Business integration is a key task in achieving the efficiency and effectiveness to meet strategic objectives. The purpose of the integration is always to achieve an improvement in enterprise performance either current or expected. The analysis used for integration can validate current performance or identify the best approach to doing the integration. It is the expected performance of operations that presents a great opportunity. Many organizational changes such as mergers, acquisitions, consolidations, divestitures, privatizations etc. fail due to differences in operations, culture and difficulty in integrating or separating the operations. In fact sources report as many as 75% of mergers and acquisitions (as well as consolidations) fail in some manner integration difficulties with the various business components.
Business integration is the combination of the enterprise into larger parts or separation of an enterprise into smaller or separate parts. It is a change in the structure of the enterprise. The need for integration derives from the actions of the management to restructuring the enterprise as a response to business environmental pressures mostly after the actions of competitors or economic pressures. As such it is needed by all type of enterprises not just for profit businesses. Enterprise integration might involve centralization or decentralization, merger, acquisition, divestiture, privatization, consolidation and other structural changes.
Even if you are not considering a structural integration type of change in the business you often want to know if your operational expectations can be met. Also you want to know if you made an integration decision can you expect it be executed effectively and efficiently. So, if you are considering a major change such as consolidation it is important to know if the operations can support the expectations.
Whether you are a business, a government body, educational institution or other structure, the result of such an analysis as with the quantitative and financial numbers provides you with a more complete situation assessment and reduces the risk of change. In this course the techniques of integration analysis and application are explored and applied with the emphasis on operational and cultural assessment.
Duration: 4 days
Document and Content Management
Description:
Whether thinking in terms of documents, ideas, or actions, a simple and efficient method of capturing, locating, articulating, using and managing content and knowledge in the enterprise is needed. Good document and content management increases the range of available business solutions, uncovers hidden business strengths, represents an opportunity for value-added supplier relations and brings a working meaning to the idea of intellectual capital.
Knowledge is the end result of efficient and effective delivery and use of content in the enterprise. In simple terms, good knowledge management promotes better business performance. The enterprise of the future is knowledge based. Success in content management requires careful attention to the relationship of documents, their content and the knowledge that evolves from that content. All of these are parts of the intellectual property of the enterprise.