Process Based Governance and the Role of SLAs

Author(s)

Faculty Member, DBizInstitute.org and Managing Director, Spanyi International

By now, it is fairly well known that the root causes of excessive costs and errors, of delays and inflexibility, are related to the non value added handoffs across organizational boundaries. In most companies, work is fragmented across multiple departments, product lines and business units. No one has end-to-end ownership of the flow of work or responsibility for flawless service to the customer. In such environments, redundant activities and duplication of effort is common, errors are frequent, and overall responsiveness to customers’ needs is elusive. The key to resolving these issues is to take action on redesigning customer touching end-to-end processes and then install a governance framework which assures cross departmental collaboration, encourages different units to work together for value creation, and makes the changes stick.

The ideal long term solution is to implement some form of process based governance, based on a framework of process ownership. This has been advocated for over two decades, originally by Rummler and Brache in their book Improving Performance: Managing the White Space on the Organization Chart, and subsequently by Michael Hammer in his 2001 book The Agenda. However, there has been more rhetoric than action when it comes to process ownership and process based governance. Check it out. Just do a search for “process owner jobs” and see what results you get.

The key steps to establish process based accountability have been outlined in my book More for Less: The Power of Process Management. While these steps are easily understood, organizations frequently find them difficult to implement. In part, this is due to the fact that companies persist in deploying process improvement projects within a functional paradigm and the culprit is frequently the traditional mindset of some members of the senior leadership team. You can’t ignore culture. If you try to do so, then implementing process based governance is like pushing a rope or a boulder up a hill. When dealing with a very traditional culture, service level agreements (SLAs) can be useful in shifting management attention in such traditional organizations as the following example illustrates.

The Quality Director at a manufacturer of custom designed electric systems for the automotive sector realized that the company’s product quality was good, but its performance in terms of delivering orders on time wasn’t. He also knew that the CEO cared mostly about revenues and profits, and most of the other members of the management team were focused on their own department’s performance.  The Quality Director decided to introduce the concept of SLAs at the company’s operating review meeting, and here is the conversation that took place.

Quality Director: “According to our most recent quality review, product quality is good, but we are missing our promised delivery dates to our customers around 17% of the time. I think this has a direct impact on customer satisfaction and repeat orders.”

CEO (looking directly at the VP Sales): “If we could improve on time delivery, what do you think might be estimated revenue impact?”

VP Sales: “It’s hard to say. I know that our customers have complained about late orders. I’d guess if we could improve our on-time delivery from 83% by 15% to around 95%, we might see around a 5 to 8% uptick in sales, and maybe more. But that’s really in the hands of our manufacturing department.”

CEO (looking directly now at the VP Manufacturing): “Even a 5% increase in revenues is pretty significant. What would we have to do to improve our on-time delivery to around 95%?”

VP Manufacturing: “There’s opportunity to improve our performance in delivering orders to customers on our promise date, but we can’t do it alone. My people tell me that two of our challenges involve getting raw materials on time – as these are often late – and getting the production ready drawings form engineering on time. So we would need Procurement and Engineering to improve what they are doing.”

The VP Purchasing didn’t say a word, but the look on his face told volumes. However, the VP Engineering said, “We are ready to step up to the plate on that, but as you know, we have been understaffed for several months, and we need HR to present us with qualified candidates so we can get back to full strength.”

There was an uncomfortable silence in the meeting room for several seconds. Then, the Quality Director, looking at the CEO, said, “It’s pretty clear that we are dependent on one another. We have had some success in improving product quality using Service Level Agreements (SLA) within several units in the production area. Maybe the concept of SLAs can also be used by us to enter into performance agreements between our major departments?”

The CEO thought for a moment and then said, “OK. Let’s deal with this issue off-line. But deal with it we will – it’s too important for us to ignore.”

The Quality Director at this manufacturing company recognized the traditional mindset of executives at his company and rather than preaching process improvement or Lean or Six Sigma, he found a way to highlight inter-departmental dependencies and use SLAs to promote better collaboration across organizational boundaries. By so doing, he set the stage for measuring what matters to customers, taking improvement action on the end-to-end value creating business processes, and preparing the organization to consider a form of process based governance.

The same concepts also apply to service firms. To learn more about the potential benefits of using SLAs at your organization, readers are invited to contact the author.

Similar Resources

Enhancing Your Team’s BPM Capabilities: The Value of External Expertise

Enhancing Your Team’s BPM Capabilities: The Value of External Expertise

Author(s):

Editor & Founder, BPMInstitute.org, BAInstitute.org and DBIZInstitute.org

Enhancing Your Team's BPM Capabilities: The Value of External Expertise In today’s dynamic business environment, managing and improving business processes is critical for any organization aiming to maintain a competitive edge. Many companies consider handling Business...

Exploring Shared Data Model and Notation (SDMN) and Its Role in BPM+

Exploring Shared Data Model and Notation (SDMN) and Its Role in BPM+

Author(s):

Editor & Founder, BPMInstitute.org, BAInstitute.org and DBIZInstitute.org

Exploring Shared Data Model and Notation (SDMN) and Its Role in BPM+ Introduction In the evolving landscape of Business Process Management (BPM), the introduction of Shared Data Model Notation (SDMN) marks a significant advancement. As businesses increasingly seek to...

Embracing the Future: Low-Code and No-Code Platforms in BPM+

Embracing the Future: Low-Code and No-Code Platforms in BPM+

Author(s):

Editor & Founder, BPMInstitute.org, BAInstitute.org and DBIZInstitute.org

Embracing the Future: Low-Code and No-Code Platforms in BPM+ Introduction In the realm of business process management (BPM), low-code and no-code platforms have emerged as transformative tools, reshaping how organizations develop applications and manage workflows....

Featured Certificate: BPM Specialist

Everyone starts here.

You're looking for a way to improve your process improvement skills, but you're not sure where to start.

Earning your Business Process Management Specialist (BPMS) Certificate will give you the competitive advantage you need in today's world. Our courses help you deliver faster and makes projects easier.

Your skills will include building hierarchical process models, using tools to analyze and assess process performance, defining critical process metrics, using best practice principles to redesign processes, developing process improvement project plans, building a center of excellence, and establishing process governance.

The BPMS Certificate is the perfect way to show employers that you are serious about business process management. With in-depth knowledge of process improvement and management, you'll be able to take your business career to the next level.

Learn more about the BPM Specialist Certificate

Courses

  •  

 

Certificates

  • Business Process Management Specialist
  • Earning your Business Process Management Specialist (BPMS) Certificate will provide you with a distinct competitive advantage in today’s rapidly evolving business landscape. With in-depth knowledge of process improvement and management, you’ll be able to take your business career to the next level.
  • BPM Professional Certificate
    Business Process Management Professional
  • Earning your Business Process Management Professional (BPMP) Certificate will elevate your expertise and professional standing in the field of business process management. Our BPMP Certificate is a tangible symbol of your achievement, demonstrating your in-depth knowledge of process improvement and management.

Certification

BPM Certification

  • Make the most of your hard-earned skills. Earn the respect of your peers and superiors with Business Process Management Certification from the industry's top BPM educational organization.

Courses

 

Certificates

  • Operational Excellence Specialist
  • Earning your Operational Excellence Specialist Certificate will provide you with a distinct advantage in driving organizational excellence and achieving sustainable improvements in performance.
 

 

OpEx Professional Certificate

  • Operational Excellence Professional
  • Earn your Operational Excellence Professional Certificate and gain a competitive edge in driving organizational excellence and achieving sustainable improvements in performance.

Courses

Certificate
  •  

  • Agile BPM Specialist
  • Earn your Agile BPM Specialist Certificate and gain a competitive edge in driving business process management (BPM) with agile methodologies. You’ll gain a strong understanding of how to apply agile principles and concepts to business process management initiatives.  
 

Business Architecture

 

Certificates

  • Business Architecture Specialist
  • The Business Architecture Specialist (BAIS) Certificate is proof that you’ve begun your business architecture journey by committing to the industry’s most meaningful and credible business architecture training program.

  • Business Architecture Professional
  • When you earn your Business Architecture Professional (BAIP) Certificate, you will be able to design and implement a governance structure for your organization, develop and optimize business processes, and manage business information effectively.

BA CertificationCertification

  • Make the most of your hard-earned skills. Earn the respect of your peers and superiors with Business Architecture Certification from the industry's top BPM educational organization.

Courses

 

Certificates

  • Digital Transformation Specialist
  • Earning your Digital Transformation Specialist Certificate will provide you with a distinct advantage in today’s rapidly evolving business landscape. 
 

 

  • Digital Transformation Professional
  • The Digital Transformation Professional Certificate is the first program in the industry to cover all the key pillars of Digital Transformation holistically with practical recommendations and exercises.

Courses

Certificate

  • Agile Business Analysis Specialist
  • Earning your Agile Business Analysis Specialist Certificate will provide you with a distinct advantage in the world of agile software development.

Courses

Certificate
  • DAS Certificate
  • Decision Automation Specialist
  • Earning your Decision Automation Certificate will empower you to excel in the dynamic field of automated decision-making, where data-driven insights are pivotal to driving business innovation and efficiency.