A Truly Path-Based Approach

This month’s edition (March 2008) of the Harvard Business Review contains an article by David Upton and Bradley Staats called ‘Radically Simple IT’. It proposes an approach to implementing new IT systems that is preferable to the ‘big bang’ or ‘incremental’ methods favoured by most organisations.

The ‘Big Bang’ method involves spending a long period of time developing a system and then implementing it in one foul sweep. This clearly is problematic as the new system may end up being ‘legacy from the day it is turned on’. The incremental approach involves replacing an existing system one small piece at a time. This can take even longer than the ‘big bang’ approach and usually ends up duplicating what it replaces which prevents innovative advancement in the business.

Upton and Staat’s suggestion is one that has been used with particular success at a Japanese company called Shinsei. It is called the path-based approach. The idea behind the path based approach is to focus on providing a path for the new system to be developed over time rather than the functionality that will be in it. This approach takes into account the problems inherent in the implementation of new systems namely,

· People often cannot specify everything they will need at a project’s inception
· Unanticipated needs almost always arise once a system is in operation
· Persuading people to use and own the system after it is up and running is much easier said than done

Three foundational elements of the path-based approach are: -

1. Build a low-cost, efficient platform for running the company’s existing business
2. Ensure that platform is flexible enough to support the company’s growth into new areas (i.e. tweakable)
3. Forge together (don’t just align) business and IT

I was speaking recently with a man in South Africa who has used Serena TeamTrack to build such a foundation for his company. This bank operates in 38 countries round the world and employs about 40,000 people.

At his bank, over 30,000 users can log into TeamTrack to participate in over 300 different processes ranging from HR related processes to server commissioning to SLA management. In other words, TeamTrack extends into all parts of the business and links those parts together.

Continual Improvement is something that Shinsei also recognises as important. By using TeamTrack, companies are able to perform continual improvement even after a system is rolled out. The system can be tweaked extremely easily. Any changes that are needed can be implemented by configuration rather development. Business users can make changes themselves rather than having to renegotiate with software developers every time a change is needed.

So how does TeamTrack meet the three foundational elements of the path-based approach? TeamTrack provides a low cost framework (element 1) that can be easily modified to facilitate growth (element 2) by business people as well as IT people (element 3).

If you would like someone from Client Solutions to contact you to discuss how you might be able to leverage the power of TeamTrack in your organisation, please get in touch.

Modelling as the future

This interesting blog article by Jeremy Burton looks at the focus Microsoft is putting on Modelling as the ‘Holy Grail’ of programming. The idea is that programmers will be able to develop applications in the future simply and quickly by linking together services using a graphical tool.

The developer essentially draws a picture of a process (model). When she is happy with that process she can turn it on and it becomes available to the entire organisation. The new process is automatically enforced which frees up employees from focusing on operational issues and instead allows them to spend their time pursuing strategic goals. This is already possible with Serena TeamTrack which organisations all over the world have been using for years to manage their businesses.

The next generation of modelling that Jeremy speaks of is the ability to have non technical people draw these pictures and be able to expand their process pictures to tie in with other applications in the organisation or websites that are outside it. These websites can include SalesForce, Google Earth, QuickBooks online, or any other website that exposes a web service.

While Microsoft talk about this Modelling as an aspiration, Serena is about to release a product that will accomplish it.

Business Mashups are coming early next year.

Augmenting your SharePoint system with TeamTrack

Many organisations have a Microsoft SharePoint system in place which they use primarily as a document library. Often it can grow to become a monster that is full of redundant documents and is impossible to navigate and maintain. TeamTrack, a business process management tool, can be used with SharePoint to enforce a more controlled solution.

To understand how this can be done consider the following core strengths of both SharePoint and TeamTrack.

SharePoint
SharePoint is mostly used as a browser-based document management system. Individuals within the organisation create site collections, sites and personal sites in which libraries can be hosted. SharePoint can tightly integrate with Microsoft Office (2003 and later versions only) so that documents can be added to SharePoint libraries directly from within the Microsoft Office application itself.

Users can also ‘check out’ a document from within the Microsoft Office application itself which effectively locks it down so that other users cannot edit it until it is ‘checked in’ again.
Some basic process management can also be implemented in SharePoint such as a predefined approval process though it is limited and difficult to change.

TeamTrack
TeamTrack is a full business process management tool that enables an organisation to quickly define and automate its own internal processes. It can enforce agreed standards so that control is put on the routing and authorisation of items such as documents or issues. Versioning can also be enforced and any changes to the process can be rapidly implemented.

Processes that have been enforced can be viewed graphically so that users can easily see what the document has gone through in order to be in its current state and where it will be routed next.

Combining SharePoint and TeamTrack
A solution that combines both SharePoint and TeamTrack would be the ideal as it would effectively wrap the SharePoint library with the control provided by TeamTrack as shown in the graphic below.

TeamTrack Process Wrapping your SharePoint Libraries

Taking advantage of TeamTrack’s open APIs; integrations to established third party change management tools can be easily implemented. This level of version control is not present in SharePoint alone and is important from an auditing perspective.

Rather than forcing your employees to provide required documents as a method of controlling how they work, this solution will allow your existing processes to drive the business and where documents are required along the way they can be attached. This is a subtle difference but it results in a solution that is more in tune with how you do business. Any collaborative business process can be represented in TeamTrack quickly and easily. Where you rely on SharePoint alone to manage your documentation you can miss out on this.

Finally it is worth pointing out that this combined solution will also be Mashup-Ready as the next version of TeamTrack (due out in the next couple of months) will allow quick integration with any Web 2.0 application that exposes web services such as SalesForce, PeopleSoft or Google Maps. More about that in other blog articles.

Conclusion
Integrating SharePoint and TeamTrack provides a stable, extensible, enterprise-wide solution. It will allow you to easily manage your documentation ensuring any approval or change processes are well managed and audited. If you would like to discuss augmenting your SharePoint system with TeamTrack please do not hesitate to get in touch with us.

Business Process Modelling third in top 10 technologies for 2008 (Gartner)

According to Gartner, Business Process Modelling is one of the top technologies to focus on in 2008. While BPM is not technically a ‘technology’ (it is more a field of knowledge), it must be in place before really useful SOA (Service Oriented Architecture) applications can be developed.

This supports comments in an earlier blog article where I suggested that more formal automation of business processes must occur in organisations to accommodate recent changes in the general business environment. In that article I argued that organisations cannot enforce their processes without some process automation tool like Serena’s TeamTrack.

Gartner’s full top-ten list can be found here.

What has changed that businesses need process management software?

The business environment in which we all operate has changed fundamentally over the last decade or so. The need for organisations to employ some form of process automation is greater than ever. So what are these environmental changes and how have they impacted businesses? In this article I will look at five environmental factors that every organisation must consider.

1. Globalisation
The Internet and email have made the world a much smaller place. This has had two profound effects on business. First, competitiveness has increased as greater numbers of companies are able to enter the most lucrative markets. You no longer need to be physically close to your customers to do business with them. A well designed Internet site can attract customers and manage the sale without the need for any personal interaction.

The Internet has also permitted the free flow of information. Information about company offerings and pricing are easily accessible to both customers and potential competitors! The net effect of all this free flow of information is that companies are becoming more homogenous. It is increasingly difficult to be dominant in a market from a cost leadership or differentiation strategy. Increased competition is driving down margins and increasing the flow of information so that any advantage gained from a differentiation strategy is soon eaten up. The only strategy left is to be more customer focused, or operationally excellent. RyanAir is a great example of a company which is doing this. The difficulty with being operationally excellent is that you need good processes that are strictly adhered to. This is something that is impossible without some form of automation.

A further effect of globalisation is geographically dispersed workforces. Increasingly we are seeing companies outsource entire business functions. To ensure that these outsourced groups are participating in the business effectively, a high level of communication and collaboration is needed.

2. Increasingly regulatory environment
Various debacles in the world of business from Enron to WorldCom have necessitated the introduction of tighter regulations on how organisations do business. Required periodic audits now interrupt businesses on a regular basis. Manually, such audits can take weeks to complete but an automated system can reduce them to a few hours.

3. Changing Labour Markets
Charles Handy introduced the term 'Portfolio Worker' to describe a way of working where individuals are mobile and move between organisations bringing their expertise with them for the duration of the project they are working on. While that prediction has not fully come to pass, it is increasingly the case that employees are staying for shorter periods in the one company and are seeking more flexible working hours and working arrangements. Where processes are embedded in employee's heads, the danger is that an organisation cannot learn from past experience. Processes need to be stored outside of individuals so that they outlast those employees in the organisation.

Employees that do stay with their organisation are also seeking more flexible working arrangements. These can include working from home one or two days a week or working hours that suit them. Obviously in an organisation where processes require immediate action from these employees, major bottle necks will begin to form. The good news is that these employees who seek more flexible working times tend to be willing to be contactable through their Blackberry, or equivalent, umbilical cords. Automated process management tools that can use these devices therefore, can overcome most limitations flexible working arrangements introduce.

4. More demanding customers
With increased competitiveness, customers have become more demanding. They are unwilling to tolerate issues getting lost in the cracks. They expect quick response times of 'minutes' or 'hours' rather than 'days' or 'weeks'. If they are not satisfied they will simply move to another supplier. All of these threats can be managed effectively with some form of automated process management system. No longer do companies need to depend on employee's remembering to keep issues open or to get back to customers with information or resolutions to issues raised. Instead automated systems can prompt employees to perform the actions necessary to enforce adherence to predefined processes.

5. Greater need for flexibility
Entrepreneurial Management is largely about managing change and being able to best position oneself to best take advantage of inevitable change. Many of the top business schools around the world have entrepreneurship management units or are offering modules in this up and coming discipline of management agility. 'Taking charge of change' necessitates having established, visible processes in place that can be quickly and easily modified. Unless these processes are managed by a tool, communicating changes can lead to confusion and mistakes.

Conclusion
The business environment has changed fundamentally in the last decade. Companies will increasingly struggle to keep up if their way of doing business (their processes) is not automated by software.

Serena TeamTrack is a web-architected, secure and highly configurable process and issue management system. It creates a clear process throughout the application lifecycle—from initial request to post-delivery customer support activities.

Thousands of companies around the world are using TeamTrack to manage processes across organizational silos and drive the highest levels of efficiency. With TeamTrack, you can control and automate any business process, manage issues throughout the lifecycle of your IT projects, and facilitate collaboration among all stakeholders across your enterprise and beyond.

For more information click on the link below or contact us to request a visit so that we can show you the power and advantages of TeamTrack.

http://www.serena.com/products/teamtrack/index.html