Using SharePoint to Achieve Business Process Improvement (BPI) Success

January 29th, 2011SharePoint Saturday Hartford

Ahmed Hafeez and Mark Farrell

Agenda

► What is Business Process Improvement (BPI)?► Differentiating between BPI & BPM► What BPI can and can not do?► 5 Pillars of BPI► Why and how of SharePoint for BPI► Essence of our experience with BPI► Summary► Q&A

What is Business Process Improvement (BPI)?

Technology

PeopleProcess

“Effective change is an engineered

result”

BPI vs. BPM

► BPI – is a process for achieving a business goal – it is typically– Industry agnostic– Technology agnostic– Best implemented using a holistic approach (people, process, tools)

► BPM

– is a broad label for technology used to manage enterprise business processes – it’s a toolset (which may implicitly require a process, but may not)

– A good BPI solution may lead to a BPM implementation, but NOT vice versa (unless you are very, very lucky)

– Beware of technologists who fall in love with technology solutions– Technology centric BPM implementation can be like trying to kill a fly with

a hammer – it might work, but it can get pretty messy

The Pillars of Business Process Improvement

Socialization & Collaboration

ManagedChange

Incentives& Support

Measurement& Action

Clear Goals &Objectives

SharePoint – Supporting the BPI Pillars

Socialization & Collaboration

Clear Goals & Objectives

Managed Change

Incentives & Support

Measurement & Action

Wikis

Team Sites

Goals &Plans

Resources

MeasurementResults

Visio Modeling

Clear Goals & Objectives

Adequately define and socialize specific goals of a BPI initiative

Disaster Scenario Confusion on goals and

approach enables people to raise late objections

Doubt begins surfacing and calls every decision into question

Churn, churn, churn

Desired Result Appropriate resources are

dedicated because of management understanding of goals and benefits

The project stays on track and churn is minimized

Clear Goals & Objectives

► Provision a team site for the project as the central place for all things related to the project

► Engage stakeholders in the problem description and definition– Use Wiki to engage everyone in the definition phase and

feedback integration► Define your goals clearly – We want to reduce the order fill time to maximum of 2

days with an average 24 hours– We want to reduce the order fill errors to less than 1 %

► Put them under change control– Enable version control and make it read-only

Clear Goals & Objectives Using SharePoint

Agreement onGoals and Approach

Problem Definition

Define Scale, Scope & Impact

Propose & Negotiate Options

Enterprise Wiki• Many-2-Many Comm.• Brainstorming• Ad-hoc engagement

Team Sites• Group organization• Calendars, document lib.,

task assignment, discussion forum, etc.

Blogs• One-2-Many Comm.• Socialize Ideas• Engage audience

Socialize GoalsClear &

Documented Goals

Demo: Enterprise Wiki

Socialization & Collaboration

Communicate effectively and completely with all parties involved in the change process

Disaster ScenarioConstant re-planning due to

unpredictable involvementSub-teams don’t conform to

requirements or designs and proceed on their own

People fill in the gaps, leading to confusion, churn, and resistance

Desired ResultRight information from the right people when you need it

Understanding and acceptance of the change and its impacts is widespread

Schedules, particularly around tollgates and reviews, are hit

Socialization & Collaboration

► Understanding and acceptance of the change and its impacts is widespread and communication is enabled throughout the lifespan of the project– Clearly show what will and change and how

• Visio process diagrams– Propagate your message to others

• Blogs• Announcements

– Engage and convince them• Discussion forums

– Constant and centralized communication about the project milestones, deliverables etc. throughout the project• Outlook and project integration

– Make people from different depts., regions, time zone work and act as one team

Socialization & Collaboration via SharePoint

Involvement is Timely and Effective

Communication Planning

Consolidate Information

Audience Specific Communication

Solicit & Gather Feedback

MS Project Integration• Project plan socialization• Task assignment• Update and share

Team Sites• Resource Libraries• Consolidate Feedback &

Documents• Action items, Issue tracking

Workflow & Approvals• Streamlined document

reviews• Timely and track able

participation

Demo: Visio Services

Support & Incentives

Adequately support involved parties throughout the process change (before, during and after)

Disaster ScenarioOn go-live, people don’t

understand how to do their jobsWidespread rejection of the

change by the impacted audienceDuring final testing, everything

comes to a screeching halt

Desired ResultPeople are enabled to be effective

after the changePeople understand that there will

be pain, but feel supported People are engaged and

empowered and begin to own the change and its benefits

Support & Incentives

► Provide support mechanism for people who are using the new system and processes– Discussion forums

► Create and provide training materials– Videos – Knowledge management and document libraries

► Provide a central place to raise issues and get things fixed– Issue tracking– Support forums

Support

People are Enabled to be Successful

Communication Training Peer-Based SupportInformation Accessibility

Custom Lists and Libraries• Single authoritative

repository of truth• FAQs and organized,

accessible information

Online Training• Video & CBT• Online curricula and testing• Tracking attendance and

testing results

Team Sites• Documented Goals• Single authoritative

repository of truth

Measurement & Action

Define success measures and metrics and then track actual performance against goals

Disaster ScenarioThe potential benefits of the

change are never realizedNo proof that the change or the

investment was successfulThe naysayers gather strength

and say, “see, nothing around here ever really changes”

Desired ResultOpportunities for unexpected,

but added value, are identified and implemented

People really get the CA in PDCA (plan, do, check, act)

A culture of process improvement is enabled

Measurement & Action

► Provide a simple place where people can go and see the net improvement and quiet the detractors– Dashboards and reports– BCS and integration with other systems

► Make it easy for them to monitor their own progress– Provide operational measures through dashboards and

reports

Measurement

Ongoing Improvement

Measurement Goals & Strategy

Measurement Actual vs. Plan

Socialize Actual Change Results

Identify Opportunities

Real-time Dashboards• Centralized & consolidated

view of operations• Convenient access is habit

forming

Integration with LOB Apps• Integrated operational data

from LOB apps

Trend Analysis• Long-term historical data

analysis side-by-side with operational data

Demo: Dashboards

Summary

A successful BPI initiative requires successful integration of

SharePoint’s is a technology platform that enabled collaboration, communication, socialization, integration and content management

Leveraging SharePoint’s strengths can greatly enhance the chances of success of any BPI project

Our Guiding Principles for BPI

► Premature change is the root of all evil► Lack of involvement ensures lack of buy in► Real, lasting improvement must be a designed result – it

doesn’t happen by accident► Change is hard for everyone► Everyone needs to suffer a little bit► Incentives drive results (Economics 101)► Make doing the right thing the easy thing► Outsiders make the best facilitators► It’s always easier for an outsider to be the bad guy

Edgewater Overview

Technology Management Consulting Firm Provide a unique blend of specialty IT services Leverage proven industry expertise in strategy, technology and enterprise

performance management Focus on middle and Global 2000 market

Founded in 1992 Headquartered in Wakefield, MA Large North American footprint + 330 Employees +700 clients +2400 projects completed to date Publicly Traded (NASDAQ: EDGW)

Contact Us

To learn more about Edgewater Technology and our BPI & SharePoint expertise, contact:

Ahmed Hafeez781-224-9015

ahafeez@edgewater.com

Mark Farrell505 681-7744

mfarrell@edgewater.com

http://edgewatertech.wordpress.com