Best practice of business process automation projects from a professional. Part 2

Andrey Kochetkov - Head of Consist Business Group Consulting Projects *

In the second part of the article, the head of the consulting projects of Consist Business Group, Andrei Kochetkov, will share successful practices that are used in the implementation of information systems (IS) at the stages of examining business processes, preparing the automation concept, and developing TK. The material contains a description of the case study on the implementation of the IC in diHouse, a large wholesale distributor. We also recommend that you familiarize yourself with the first part of this publication , which was posted earlier on the pages of our corporate blog.

- Andrey, thank you for your recommendations and the story about the work of professional consultants. Now I would like to hear what nuances and difficulties you come across, on the example of a practical case. Tell us about your project on the development of functional requirements for diHouse. How is this company different from other customers?
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- diHouse is a company known in the distribution market, which for several years in a row has doubled its turnover from a niche player to one of the largest distributors.

- That is, you are faced with the fact that the company needed internal development, modernization of the business architecture? Assess the difficulties in examining the business processes in this company, have you encountered the resistance of key employees?

- The company feels quite well on the market, but competing companies were also developing at the start of the project. Therefore, we needed an impulse or impetus to development, which was supposed to help strengthen the company's position in the market in certain strategic areas in the medium term, streamline the internal business processes.
We did not encounter any resistance within the company. On the contrary, it was obvious to almost all employees that companies need to improve in order to successfully compete in the market and increase revenues. During the survey, we were faced with the fact that the business processes are somewhat larger than we expected before the project. Therefore, we had to pay more attention to identifying differences in similar processes in order to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the company and the reasons for such a business architecture.

- The survey process was longer than you expected?

- Yes. The survey phase was slightly increased. It was necessary. We collected complete information about the processes, strengths and weaknesses that allowed us to make the right decisions in the next steps.

- Andrei, being in the process of describing diHouse's business processes, how can you evaluate their quality of performance at that time?

- Employees understood all the basic functions of the processes and knew why they work this way and not otherwise. However, the processes were not regulated. We found insufficient automation of some processes, which affected the cost of their implementation. We also found the absence of some processes that, from our point of view, are necessary in modern conditions. In general, the survey showed that there is no need for global process changes, but optimization, design and implementation of new processes are needed, point automation and automation of certain areas is needed, which could improve internal processes and create an additional competitive advantage for the company.

- Tell us in more detail how the design and description of business processes were combined in the diHouse project?

- The project was carried out according to our methodology. We performed a survey, identified all the necessary parameters for optimization, proposed new process projects. We discussed all the projects of the processes with the key employees and came to a common opinion on how exactly they should be built in the future and what functions should be automated. Were also taken into account all the limitations and capabilities of systems that could be recommended to the customer.

That is, the design of future processes was carried out only after all the shortcomings and strengths of the company were revealed. All process projects were approved by the project team.

- Andrei, did you use the so-called Best Practice when designing the processes?

We know the best practices in the project in several activities: when designing new processes, when optimizing processes and when developing an automation concept. In optimizing processes, we used our internal automation competencies based on advanced information systems. When designing new business processes, we used the best known business architecture of companies in wholesale distribution and even companies from other industries. When developing the concept of automation, we used, first of all, our rich experience in the implementation of information systems, taking into account the need to obtain quick economic benefits from implementation.

- Did the diHouse project include all the standard stages of work that you talked about?

- Yes of course. As a result of the project, the concept of automation and the so-called TO DO sheet were presented. That is, the result contained two aspects: an automation program and a change program, which are necessary to improve the company's business architecture. Development of technical specifications in this project was not carried out.

- How was the project work organized by the customer? How are the managers and staff involved in the project?

- The customer was assigned a project manager with the highest authority. All key employees involved in the project were subordinate to the project manager. Weekly, we monitored the progress of project implementation with the presentation of the result to the project manager by the customer. A steering committee was held monthly, in which project managers and curators from both sides participated. At the steering committee, the project execution plan was monitored, open questions were discussed, decisions were made that affect the project progress. The transfer of all documents requiring a formal response from one side or another was recorded, the deadlines for the tasks were controlled by both parties.

Key project staff were involved in process design and analysis of the documents provided, answered questions, provided the requested information, made decisions on controversial issues related to business processes.

- What are the future directions of development of this project?

- After the completion of the project in accordance with our concept of automation, the first necessary step was a project to introduce a B2B platform. In this case, we recommended SAP Hybris platform. According to the results of our analysis, which was also presented in the concept of automation, this product best fit the developed functional requirements and allowed us to develop the processes under the strategic goals of our customer’s business. The implementation project clarified the requirements for automation, took into account all the strengths of the company, developed technical specifications for the development and integration with existing information systems. The introduction of such a platform had to be completed in a relatively short time. And today this project has been successfully completed. The next automation project was the implementation of the Oracle Transportation Management platform, which was also successfully completed.

- To describe diHouse business processes you used Business Studio. Tell me, please, what advantages did the use of the program give?

- At the moment, we in all our projects, not only diHouse, use the software product Business Studio. All project results in terms of describing business processes are recorded in a formalized form and are stored centrally. This is useful in terms of the accumulation and storage of knowledge and expertise. Even if the Customer has no strict requirements for process description notation, and even if we do not plan to coordinate the processes with the customer, they are entered into the BS.

The product is useful in that it helps to take a comprehensive look at the company's business architecture, to identify places that might not be fully worked out during the survey. The system allows a more structural approach to the description of processes, more strictly follow the terms, names of departments, positions, documents, events, functions of processes, which is important for presenting the result to the customer. In the system we can use various notations. We actively use the capabilities of the user configuration of the input information, use the ability to build reports.

As a result of the project, two Business Studio web portals were deployed at diHouse - the “pre-optimization” business process model and the optimized business process model. In this way, employees can at any time analyze how much their current functions differ from the reference optimized variants and adjust the processes in the Business Studio system themselves.

- What other benefits from the use of business design technologies in your work can highlight?

- In projects implementing IP information on the processes used by technical experts as the primary source of understanding of the business and features of the customer. At the stage of preparation for the implementation of information systems, the first thing that technical specialists, developers and consultants in information systems see and learn about the customer's business is the company's business architecture, the business process model in Business Studio. As practice shows, familiarization with the business architecture of the customer before the introduction of IP significantly speeds up the immersion of employees in the project and improves the quality of the final product.

- What results do you usually provide to the customer, and does Business Studio help you with the formation of the final result?

- As a rule, we use the following reports: process diagrams, process maps, textual descriptions of processes, process hierarchy, and analytical reports to control errors in the design of processes. In the process of introducing IP, we use Business Studio to create regulations, job descriptions.

We form all reports in Business Studio, which we provide to the customer, with the exception of very complex documents, such as: automation concept, feasibility study, KIS development schedule. To generate complex documents and other analytical reports within the project, we can also use Business Studio to extract the data collected by consultants during the survey.

- What are the prospects for the development of methods you have?

- Our constant goal is to improve the consulting techniques taking into account the new project experience from various industries and enrich the methodology with external best practices. Using the Business Studio product, we plan to expand the base of the best business processes in various industries and functional areas, as well as to increase the level of automation of our projects.

* Information about the company:

Consist Business Group combines the leading consulting assets of SC LANIT and Systematika Group. The business group is built on the basis of LANIT Consulting, TOPS Consulting, Sciener and LC Europe, and combines a management consulting, development, implementation and maintenance of IT solutions for working with customers from key sectors of the Russian economy into a diversified IT holding.