Process Inventory Advisors

I’ll be hosting an hour long webinar tomorrow where I will detail how my process-based framework can lead to stronger solutions. Please register if you are interested in a new and innovative perspective. https://lnkd.in/eHqTQtDB

I have been posting extensively about the Process Inventory framework and its benefits for driving successful transformations across a wide range of topics. Recently, I was asked about how it is created, so let's dive in!.   Before we get into the creation process, let's briefly recap what the Process Inventory is and why it is important.   Transformations fail at a 70% rate! They often fail because organizations lack alignment, from leadership defining strategies to lower-level staff implementing changes, and across various silos that fail to work together. To achieve alignment, a common language is needed that provides a unified business lens, aligns diverse viewpoints, ensure precision of impact, and establish clear accountability.   The only common language that can accomplish this is process. However, to be effective, EVERY process in an organization needs to be inventoried.   A reference framework like APQC or a business capability model won't suffice because every organization is unique. Therefore, your common language must capture every process in all organizational units, including inefficiencies, redundancies, and where all the 'dead bodies' are buried. There is no easy button; the work must be done to detail all that your organization does.   So how do you create the Process Inventory? To develop a comprehensive inventory of processes, you must anchor the creation to something that is complete, which is your organization's hierarchy.   It's an interview process: start at the top of the hierarchy and ask a simple question, "What do you do?" The answers need to be translated into verb + noun process naming standards. This interview process is repeated as you move down the hierarchy until you achieve the desired level of detail. What you're creating is a process taxonomy from high level to low level, with key meta information such as process description, ownership, and other crucial data, like system or product alignment.   Quality is imperative for this effort as all stakeholders need to agree that this Process Inventory accurately reflects what the business does. Therefore, formal attestations are important. This process is done from the bottom up so that everyone agrees their areas are accurate and complete, and leadership gets to review the information provided by their teams.   This represents a paradigm shift in how we think about processes. The focus on process moves beyond mere optimization or improvement. It now becomes the connective tissue for coordinating all transformations and operational activities, the index for aligning all organizational knowledge. It becomes the propellant that powers organizations into the digital age, where agility is imperative to maintain competitive advantage in an ever-changing external environment.   To learn more about this framework, check out my book 'Digital Transformation Success' https://a.co/d/0ebJwfAr   #ProcessInventory #TransformationSuccess #OrganizationalAlignment

Are you leveraging the power of process to drive your transformation and operational agenda? When done right, process acts as the connective tissue that aligns all the activities to run your organization through a common business lens. This can be a game changer. Are you ready to embrace it?   The diagram below represents all the use cases that process can enable. Processes can establish a common language that breaks down silos, provides effective knowledge management, and drives your transformation through a business lens. To succeed, two things must happen: - Create and maintain an inventory of each process that occurs in the environment through a Process Inventory. This brings transparency to the chaos by providing broad knowledge of how the organization operates. - Change the ways of working across the organization so that a broad set of use cases adopts processes as the basis for their new methodology.   The outcome is a highly efficient organization that excels in delivering transformation goals, drives accelerated growth, fosters an engaged workforce as an innovation multiplier, exceeds customer expectations, manages risk effectively, and remains agile in the face of future uncertainty.   This is only possible if an organization adopts the Process Inventory framework. To learn more about this framework, check out my book 'Digital Transformation Success' https://a.co/d/0ebJwfAr   Please let me know what you think.  Am I missing anything?  Are there areas that you don't agree with?   #TransformationSuccess #ProcessInventory #WaysofWorking #StrategytoImpact #OperationalExcellence #EnterpriseArchitectureDesign #RiskManagement

How do you drive a Post Merger Integration program to ensure the integrated company is operationally efficient? The key is to drive target operating model decisions through the lens of process. Situation: In large mergers, overlapping functions, especially in the back office, need to be rationalized for efficiency. This involves multiple viewpoints across people, process, technology, and more. Typically, integration is driven by a date communicated to investors, adding time pressure to avoid negative investor perceptions.   Complication: Most organizations struggle with maintaining accurate documentation, leading to fragmented knowledge across subject matter experts. Without a clear 'model' for design decisions, post-merger integration efforts often result in inefficiencies and overlapping functions, becoming costly and time-consuming.   Solution: Success lies in documenting each environment's details rigorously to understand the current state and define the future operating model. The Process Inventory Framework is essential for this, anchoring all operational information to the process. This approach has proven to deliver successful post-merger integration while optimizing the future state environment.   This is only possible if an organization has taken the step to inventory every process they perform through the Process Inventory framework. To learn more about this framework, check out my book Digital Transformation Success https://a.co/d/fK8UHdR   #PostMergerIntegration #OperationalIntelligence #ProcessInventory

On June 14th at 12pm EST, I'll be participating in a Fireside Chat hosted by Software AG!   The discussion will be led by J-M Erlendson, a brilliant thought leader in process management, process mining, and business process transformation. We will explore how you can leverage the Process Inventory Framework to drive your Digital Transformation success, achieve your Operational Excellence goals, and sustain these improvements by building a robust process capability.   As a bonus, attendees will have the chance to customize their own pair of Nike shoes!   Please register to join us in this discussion. I promise you won't be disappointed! #DigitalTransformation #OperationalExcellence #ProcessInventory https://lnkd.in/emmrvzNQ

How can organizations tackle bloat and inefficiencies hindering their growth? The solution lies in achieving transparency through an Operational Intelligence repository. Discover how to build this…   Organizations have many sources of internal data describing their operations—application repositories, HR information, risk data, and vendor details.   The challenge is that this data is often siloed and unconnected, lacking consistent business context. This makes cross-analysis complex, costly, and time-consuming.   The solution? Migrate this data to a single repository anchored to a common 'ground truth'—an index of business context. The ideal index is a complete inventory of your processes through the Process Inventory framework. This means mapping data elements from each repository to the processes they support.   This level of transparency breaks down silos, makes waste and inefficiencies visible, promotes greater innovation, and supports advanced analytics through techniques like Digital Twins.   is is only possible if an organization has taken the step to inventory every process they perform through the Process Inventory framework. To learn more about this framework, check out my book Digital Transformation Success https://a.co/d/fK8UHdR   #OperationalExcellence #OrganizationalAgility #OperationalIntelligence #ProcessInventory

According to the Project Management Institute, 40% of project failures can be attributed to poor requirements. How can organizations create better requirements to achieve their project goals?   The cost of addressing requirement defects in software rises exponentially as the project progresses through its life cycle. One estimate indicates that requirements errors cost US businesses over $30 billion per year.   Requirements represent the needs of the system, typically articulated by business stakeholders, end users, and other subject matter experts. They encompass the features and behavior of the software system being delivered. In Waterfall projects, these are known as requirements, while in Agile methodologies, they take the form of user stories.   The reasons for poor requirements include: - Inadequate Stakeholder Involvement - Insufficient Domain Knowledge - Ambiguous Language - Insufficient Validation and Verification - Lack of Requirements Documentation and  Traceability - Poorly Defined Change Control Process   Typically, requirements are developed in the context of a project and are often considered transitory. Due to the lack of a consistent, business-oriented organizational structure, these requirements are usually archived when the project concludes and are not leveraged for future use. This practice can result in missed opportunities for efficiency and continuous improvement.   What is the key to success? - Structuring requirements with consistent business context through the Process Inventory Framework. This concrete structure provides several benefits: - Traceability: Ensures traceability to the impacted process, customer - experience, and strategic objectives of the project. Research shows that traceability can accelerate project speed by 24% and improve project accuracy by 50%. - Alignment: Aligns with the accountability model, not just assigning responsibility to the process owner and product owner but providing accountability across all resources engaged in the project. - Linkage: Links the impacts of the change to various aspects such as applications, vendors, risks, interdependencies, etc., leading to a comprehensive assessment. - Denominator: Provides a critical denominator for planning and reporting status through the lens of the business. - Knowledge Base: Enables the creation of a business-oriented knowledge base of requirements that can be leveraged for future use.   This structure is beneficial regardless of whether you use Waterfall, Agile, or any other delivery methodology, as consistent business context is always helpful.   This approach will enable you to deliver projects on time, within budget, and aligned with your strategic objectives. However, it requires investment and leadership commitment to build a process capability that can create and maintain the Process Inventory framework. To learn more about this framework, check out my book https://a.co/d/1ajgWhI   #BetterRequirements #ProcessInventory

"The best way to predict your future is to create it" - Peter Drucker This quote underscores the importance of designing a Target Operating Model to identify and manifest your future state.    A Target Operating Model (TOM) is a blueprint for how an organization will operate in the future. An effective TOM aligns the organization's strategy with how all its components function. Organizations are complex systems, composed of many interacting parts that exhibit emergent behavior. This means the behavior of the system cannot be explained solely by the behavior of its individual components. The components are illustrated in the 'Operating Model Dimensions' diagram below.   Delivering an effective TOM is extremely challenging due to its inherent complexity. This can involve operating diverse business lines across various markets, managing aging and complex IT environments, complying with significant regulatory oversight, navigating a complex partner ecosystem, and dealing with a fractured people environment with many stakeholders who have varying perspectives and languages.   Designing a TOM is an intricate dance that requires harmonizing all parts and ensuring alignment so everyone knows their role in making the desired future a reality. Failure to achieve this alignment is why 70% of transformations fail.   How do organizations get this right? The key is to reduce complexity by focusing on an anchor point: Process. Process is the connective tissue that unites all components, viewed through the essential lens of how the business delivers value.  To achieve this, inventory every unique process your organization operates using a Process Inventory taxonomy and map all operational metadata to create a single source of Operational Intelligence. This provides clear alignment on which processes are impacted, the optimal future state design across all operating model dimensions, and precise accountability for driving the transformation.   I followed this exact approach during a merger of two regional banks. Our team created a future state Process Inventory and process models for eight business units, encompassing technology, people, vendors, risk, and more. This provided clarity in the transformation program, ensuring successful delivery of the combined organization.   This approach works for all transformation or change programs, but it requires investment and leadership commitment to build a Process capability that can create and maintain an Operational Intelligence repository, through the Process Inventory framework. To learn more about this framework, check out my book Digital Transformation Success https://a.co/d/fK8UHdR. #TargetOperatingModel #DigitalTransformation #ProcessInventory #OperationalIntelligence

We all know that transformations are filled with challenges, with 70% of them deemed failures, which comes at a high cost. So how do organizations succeed?   I created 'The rule of five' to help organizations structure their approach for success, which was recently published at All India Management Association (AIMA).   What do you think? Did I get the top 5 concerns, or am I missing something important? https://lnkd.in/eR9pnR8J