Articles

Balanced Scorecard: A Model for Improving Government Performance

Balanced Scorecard: A Model for Improving Government Performance

Author(s):

Senior Principal, MITRE Corporation

Untitled Document

“People and their managers are working so hard to be sure things are done right, that they hardly have time to decide if they are doing the right things.” Stephen Covey

If you’ve ever tried to keep scorecards for a high school baseball team, which I did for a couple of years a long time ago, you learn after a while to keep track of what’s really important, ignoring the occasional slip while making sure the captured data points can be used to improve the team’s overall performance. Since then, I’ve learned that well-managed enterprises, including some in government, use a similar approach.

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Why is it Process Improvement Initiatives Never Quite Pan Out as Advertised?

Why is it Process Improvement Initiatives Never Quite Pan Out as Advertised?

Author(s):

Owner, Vitae Dynamics Inc.

Farah looked over a new operations process. At first glance it seemed to address some long-standing concerns she and other colleagues had. Farah ensured that she had entered into a meaningful dialogue with all of the departments to ensure that everyone had their say and agreed with the changes. Perhaps more importantly, Farah made sure that the changes in the process respected product requirements, safety regulations and her company’s quality standards.

For the first week the process seemed to work very well. Farah was very pleased to see quality improvements. Then after about three weeks of implementing the new process, Farah started noticing some hitches and hiccups. Every now and then she gently prodded an employee to more closely adhere to the new process and for a short time the employee would do so. But it seemed to Farah that within a day or so many of the employees would mix the new and old processes and the results of this were less than ideal.

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Extending your enterprise – SOA vs. APIs

Extending your enterprise – SOA vs. APIs

Author(s):

VP and Chief Architect, Aetna, Inc.

The nature of APIs
In a digital economy with open business ecosystems, channel experiences and backend systems evolve at different speeds.  Nevertheless, an engaging experience must combine the two. Being able to see health statistics is useful, for example, but being able to do something with those statistics in the context of your personal health is the differentiator. Thus, truly engaging apps must leverage data and functions across backend systems of record as well as smart systems of insight.

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How to Facilitate Successful Process Mapping Sessions

How to Facilitate Successful Process Mapping Sessions

Author(s):

Principal, MyLeanBusiness, Inc.

Process mapping is often the first step in business process improvement.  It is a necessary activity that provides a baseline from which improvements can be measured and is the key to identifying and localizing opportunities for improvement.   Therefore it is important that facilitators capture the right information to help steer process improvement initiatives in the right direction. 

Facilitators must possess the ability to lead (steer the direction of meetings), manage people (deal with conflicts and diversions), and persuade participants to open up and share the knowledge they possess to have successful mapping sessions.  This can be challenging when dealing with large groups and complicated processes.  Following the guidelines outlined in this article can help to ensure that you have a successful process mapping session.    

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Leadership as a Process

Leadership as a Process

Author(s):

Owner, Vitae Dynamics Inc.

Cora was new at her position and her company. She had been brought in to manage a project that was not performing well. The project was well behind its deadlines and so over budget it amazed Cora that the company still wanted to go ahead with it. Knowing that there would be a lot of pressure on Cora and her team to salvage the project, Cora set her mind to getting to know as much as possible about the project from day one.

It was obvious to Cora that the team had tried many solutions and strategies and all of them failed. The team knew the goal but not the way to achieve it. So for the first days she listened. She went to see each and every one of her team members to introduce herself, get to know them a little bit, and get their take on what was happening with the project.

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Responsive Business Architecture

Responsive Business Architecture

Author(s):

Enterprise Business Architect, Wells Fargo & Company

Responsive web design is fast becoming a mantra in the digital media design.  The idea is to create compelling experiences that adeptly respond to how a person interacts with digital media. It doesn’t matter what device I use to browse an electronic commerce website; the form and content should make it easy for me to find what I’m looking for.  And maybe buy more of their products, more often.

I make the same case for responsive business architecture. As a decision-maker, I need all the tools, techniques, and information I can get to make the most-informed decisions on a daily basis.  Decision making is both an art and science.  I can turn to a business architect and listen to the options available to me. And I can ask my lawyer, accountant, fellow Board members, or any subject matter expert for their opinions.  In the end, I synthesize data and information to come up with the best possible decision at that time.

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Houston, We Have A Problem: Why Effective Communication is a Key Component for BPM Efforts

Houston, We Have A Problem: Why Effective Communication is a Key Component for BPM Efforts

Author(s):

President and CEO, FMT Systems Inc.

Do you wonder why some BPM efforts seem to proceed more smoothly? Stakeholders have provided clear directions regarding improvements. The project manager has the pulse of all the activities happening on the project. The process owners and technical experts are collaborating and making changes to processes that will enable the organization to improve its operations substantially.

No this isn’t someone’s dream, and it does happen, albeit rarely!

Project members’ poor communication is one of the reasons business process efforts aren’t more successful. In fact, failure is virtually ensured if just one of these groups doesn’t communicate clearly. 

Good communicators know before they open their mouths what they want to convey. They are clear about the message they want to communicate. Accomplished communicators are specific and use words and language that resonates with their listeners.

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What to do in BPM When You are Starting, Growing or Dying

What to do in BPM When You are Starting, Growing or Dying

Author(s):

Faculty Member, BPMInstitute.org and President, i4 Process

STARTING:

  • Are you ready to look at your work from a customer’s perspective?
  • Do you want to streamline workflows to increase your competitive advantage?

GROWING:

Have you been doing process improvement projects for more than a year?  Now…

  • Do you want to take your organization to larger returns—seeing the benefits of end-to-end improvements?
  • Would you like to build continuous improvement behaviors into daily management and employee life?

DYING:

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Leveraging Organizational Knowledge with Decision Modeling

Leveraging Organizational Knowledge with Decision Modeling

Author(s):

VP Consulting & Principal Consultant, Decisions Management Solutions

Organizational decisions are not as effective because we have not been able to explicitly connect organizational Knowledge to decisions. Formal decision modeling helps deploy existing knowledge and highlights knowledge gaps that need to be filled.

Knowledge is diffused across the organization

How do we know if we are making good decisions? When we are confident that we have used all available knowledge in making that decision.

How can we tell if our knowledge is good or bad? There is no clear measure of knowledge but its value is understood and appreciated. We know that there is a lot of effort and investment in increasing organizational knowledge. Procedure Manuals, Training Programs, Collaboration Sites, Intranets, Portals, Share point and others are all geared towards making organizations better through pooling and managing the communal knowledge.

Decision makers are supposed to become knowledgeable on their own

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Shared Services: A Model for Achieving Government Efficiencies

Shared Services: A Model for Achieving Government Efficiencies

Author(s):

Senior Principal, MITRE Corporation

“I think many [agencies] would greatly benefit from a top-to-bottom efficiency analysis . . . done by people who understand government. The results of such an analysis . . . can provide a menu of choices for . . . officials as they work through the real nitty-gritty issues of efficiency in government.” John R. Bartle, dean of the College of Public Affairs & Community Service at the University of Nebraska at Omaha

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