University of York

Planning for Process Review

Change initiatives

TheBusiness Plan

TheStrategic

Vision

Time years2010 2015

Tactical initiativesDepartmentally driven

Departmentally driven

Strategic initiatives

Info

rms

De

velo

ps

De

liver

s

Customer

needs

Employee

needs

Institutional

needsNew opportunities / sandpit output

Institutionally / Departmentally driven

Greater certainty More uncertainty

Using our Vision, Strategy and Medium Term Planning to inform our

business and process change agenda..

Warning!

• Some changes can / will be tactical but most should be strategic

• If we make tactical decisions without the guidance of strategic oversight we will lose direction

Any change initiative should ….

• Fit to the organisational strategy• Support one or more of the following:

– Improved customer experience– Improved institutional value– Improved employee experience

Why review processes?

• Increase effectiveness• Reduce waste (rather than cost)• Enable scalability• Increase capacity• Enter new markets• Increase revenues

Planning for Process Review

Prioritising issues for review

Prioritising issues for review....

• Focus on:– Customers– Innovation– Creativity– Processes– People – Developing teams

of interdisciplinary change agents

• Rather than:– Rules– Regulations– Policies– Procedures– Tasks– Individuals

What ‘Business’ factors can we use to drive decision making (1)?

• Focus on initiatives which will deliver change linked to strategic plans.

• Focus on where change is most needed?

• Focus on business critical activities?• Focus on areas of perceived ‘high

wastage’ with potential for high levels of gain?

• Focus on where user satisfaction is lowest?

• Focus on statutory compliance?

What ‘Business’ factors can we use to drive decision making (2)?

• Focus on initiatives which will deliver benefits to one or more of the:– Customers of the institution– Employees of the institution– The Institution itself (in a corporate environment

this would be represented by the shareholders)• For each initiative assess whether it:

– is easy to deliver– will provide high levels of gain / added value– will require significant investment to implement– carries a high risk e.g. is it complex and the

downsides of failure significant?

Candidate high priority areas for process review include...

• Teaching focussed:– Timetabling– Student complaints, special cases, plagiarism

management– Exams processing

• Research focussed:– Research support / Funding bids etc.

• Support Services focussed:– Estates maintenance and zone management procedures– HR Recruitment procedures– For further candidate ideas consult with:

• Heads of Department via MTP process• Administrators’ Forum

Co-ordinate process review agenda...

• Top-down via:– MTP– SMG direction– Operations Group steer– Co-ordinated process review agenda and plan

• Bottom-up via:– Development of teams of interdisciplinary

change agents– Continuous development of candidate change

ideas via Administrators’ Forum and other initiatives e.g. ‘Being the Best’

For process change to be culturally enabled...

• Train the team• Empower the team• Trust the team• Monitor the team

Showcase current work on process review..

• Postgraduate admissions• Student registration – U/G & P/G• Student accommodation bookings,

allocation & take-up

Overview of the process of change...

Discovery

Analysis

Design

Validation

Implementation

Integrate

Manage

Improve

Effective change cycle

Getting started on a process change initiative...

Improving processes...

Stage1

•Define the problem

Stage 2

•Discovery

Stage 3

•Analysis

Stage 4

•Propose solution

Include in stages 1 & 2 of the work an

examination of Strategic factors including...

Project Profile…

• Is the reputation of the Organisation, Department, Management, Project Manager, Team at stake?

• Who will get to hear about this project?• Will a failure be public, or is this a “back room”

project?• Will the project be accompanied by publicity,

either external or internal?• Will there be a high-level management interest in

the project?• Will something have to be finished early in order

to show success?

Time constraints…

• Is there a fixed target date?• How fixed is it? (Legislative or

business opportunity?)• Who fixed it?• Are there any intermediate dates

that must be met?• Is there a particular start date?• Are the time deadlines as important

as, say, cost?• Can the implementation be phased?

Costs and Benefits…

• Has a cost / benefit analysis been carried out? If so, by whom, when and on what basis?

• Have costs been established? If so, how and what assumptions have been made?

• Does the project have a pay-back? If so, on what basis and how are the benefits to be measured?

• What are the relative importance of development costs against long term operational costs?

Business Risk…

• How badly will the Organisation suffer if this project fails or if the end product fails to live up to expectations? Will the University go bust?

• What would we lose if the project fails? Staff, students, partners?

• Do we need to keep any aspect of this project secret or confidential from competitors, staff etc.? What would happen if they were to find out?

• Do we need to involve Legal, Personnel, Finance, Auditors, Outside Regulatory bodies etc.?

Other strategic project factors include…

• Scope• Requirements• Involvement• Technology• Project Team• Project Management

You can use the outcomes of the Strategic Factors exercise to…

• Set the strategy for the change initiative

• Define the business drivers and objectives

• Break a project into identifiable and manageable phases

• Plan and order the phases• Inform the detailed planning