A Process Framework in Action
In this month’s blog, we will look at a case study illustrating the power and importance of using a process framework to implement working solutions that achieve results...
The Challenge
A Global company upgraded their CRM technology to support order management and fulfillment work. However, the system changes adversely impacted their order eco system (the people, process, systems and enablers needed to execute order management and fulfillment work). Many issues arose including:
- Difficulty finding critical information to complete orders, due to unfamiliar user interfaces and restructuring of system data
- Low system usage and adoption rates across the enterprise
- Work delays and complications as employees were “working around” the system rather than with the system
- Use of lengthy, out of date, paper-based training manuals making employee training problematic
- Low employee moral due to frustrations working with the implemented system updates
The company needed to quickly resolve these issues by designing a way to:
- Empower global employees to quickly find and update order management data at the right time
- Train new order management procedures and CRM functionality related to specific roles and daily activities
- Increase enterprise CRM usage and adoption
- Provide fast, effective CRM support
- Replace cumbersome paper CRM system manuals and training guides with a real-time electronic alternative to enable efficient updates, administrationand sharing of information
Using a Process Framework to Develop the “Right-Sized” Solution
Very often, teams jump straight into system enhancements or new tool implementations to provide a “quick-fix” solution to problems. However, by not taking a step back to consider the solution’s purpose, scope, and impacts, partial or broken system functionality is implemented which doesn’t achieve the original objectives and makes work execution more difficult than before. As mentioned in our first blog, A Critical Framework to Turn Goals into Results,“… every company wants to achieve great results, yet so many find themselves…placing great emphasis on hitting numbers while completely overlooking the critical mechanism needed to make the successful journey happen – the health of the company’s eco system”.
It is said that a picture is worth a 1,000 words, however in my experience a process framework diagram is worth 10,000 or more when it comes to solution design and here is why. A process framework diagram enables you to quickly (within a couple weeks) look holistically at your solution design and gives the ability to:
- Validate and approve project goals and objectives
- Define solution scope which aligns to project time, budget and/or resource constraints
- Secure project and solution ownership and funding
- Visualize and assess solution eco system impacts (e.g. to people, process, systems, and/or enablers such as legal/compliance, location, time and other factors)
- Define accurate and discrete business requirements
- Design detailed design documents and functional specifications
- Select appropriate systems, application(s) and/or tool(s) to fit the near term and future needs of the business
- Provides a framework for User Acceptance Test plans and scenarios
The order management and fulfillment process framework consisted of 9 cross-functional business processes, each with their own workforce, workflows, supporting systems and reliant upon legal and compliance rules, time and global location to execute successfully:
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The Solution
With the solution objectives, requirements and project constraints clearly defined and understood, the decision was made to develop a user-friendly SharePoint Wiki site. Access to the wiki site was just one bookmarked URL away. Once at the site, employees around the globe could readily access order management and fulfillment data at any time, from two distinct perspectives – a business process and a CRM system viewpoint:
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The high level process map allowed business end-users to quickly find procedural information related to the activities they were working on. Conversely, the CRM system entity map provided technical end-users with an appropriate navigation metaphor to find the same information. The navigation had a flexible design which could be expanded to include multiple system map perspectives should end-to-end business processes leverage multiple systems (e.g. CRM, ERP, or other corporate systems).
The wiki site also offered intuitive navigation features:
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These navigation features were developed from the end-user’s perspective and provided the ability to:
- Quickly access key areas of information across the site (e.g. home page, order management landscape, procedure and CRM functionality details, key site terminology or wiki help)
- Educate new users on core SharePoint and CRM information including what a wiki site is, how it works, essential CRM functionality, how to perform common tasks, and find answers to frequently asked questions
- Inform users of latest announcements, recent changes and access to other related enterprise sites
The SharePoint platform functionality provided a robust search engine to easily find information. From the home page, users could select one of the business process or CRM entity icons, and drill-down into sub-pages with associated articles and information.
The Results
Before the solution was deployed, the SharePoint wiki design was taken on a “road-show” to several global end-user groups during development. The feedback collected, led to notable enhancements for the final launch.
Since implementation, the solution has received raving reviews and is being used globally by many order management teams. Benefits from the implemented solution include:
- Easy and fast access to critical order management and fulfillment information
- Reduced CRM training, administration and support overhead
- Improved staff communication and productivity
- Increased CRM usage, adoption
- Provided a mechanism for fast, effective CRM support
- Improved customer sales and order fulfillment experiences
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Improved employee morale