Hisham El Sherbini MPSP Assignment v2.0 (For Pub)

MPSP (Managing Processes, Systems and Projects)

Individual Assignment The Resource Allocation Process at

CompanyX

Name: Hisham El Sherbini

Elective Pathway: Leading the Operations Function

Course: Executive MBA – EM12

Date: 25th of December 2012

Table of Contents

1. Executive Summary ....................................................................................................................... 1

2. Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 1

2.1. Overview of the organisation and Function .......................................................................... 1

2.2. Overview of the Relevant Context ........................................................................................ 2

3. Part 1: Analysis of Current Issue ................................................................................................... 3

3.1. Operations Strategy .............................................................................................................. 3

3.2. Does CompanyX take a Process View? .................................................................................. 4

3.3. How about a Systems Perspective?....................................................................................... 7

3.4. Trade-Offs? ........................................................................................................................... 9

3.5. Impact of Demand ................................................................................................................ 9

3.6. Findings ............................................................................................................................... 10

4. Part 2: Proposed Future Course of Action – Recommendations & Justifications ........................ 11

4.1. Process Redesign Approach ................................................................................................ 11

4.2. Improving the Process Technology ..................................................................................... 12

4.3. Redefining Job Design ......................................................................................................... 12

5. Part 3: Implementation and Impact ............................................................................................ 13

5.1. Developing the Business Case ............................................................................................. 13

5.2. Managing the Project .......................................................................................................... 14

5.3. Managing the Stakeholders ................................................................................................ 14

5.4. Managing the Risk ............................................................................................................... 16

5.5. Measuring the Improvements – CSFs (Critical Success Factors) .......................................... 16

6. Reflection .................................................................................................................................... 17

6.1. Strengths and Weaknesses of the Systems and Process Approach ..................................... 17

6.2. Influence on my Thinking about and my Approach to Management .................................. 17

7. References .................................................................................................................................. 18

8. Appendices ................................................................................................................................. 19

8.1. Glossary............................................................................................................................... 19

8.2. Project Definition ................................................................................................................ 20

8.3. Transition Cycle ................................................................................................................... 21

Hisham El Sherbini MPSP Assignment

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1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This report will attempt to analyse an operational issue involving the Resourcing function at

CompanyX. The process at the heart of the issue is the RAP (Resource Allocation Process).

The issue is perceived to be complex with multiple factors contributing to and resulting from it. The

report will illustrate the inefficiencies in the process itself, that the technology in use is not fit for

purpose as well as the lack of visibility and the right information at the right time to make decisions

involving efficient utilisation of Consultants. All of that has led to, on one hand, Customer

dissatisfaction and delay in realizing financial project benefits if not losing the customer altogether.

This is because Customers have expressed their concern at the Consultants not being available when

needed and that, when they are, their performance is not meeting their expectations. On the other

hand, it yielded a negative impact on the motivation, engagement and, whether directly or

indirectly, the utilisation of the Consultants. This can be reflected as well in the increase of rate of

attrition of the Consultants.

The report will recommend improvements to the process, the quality of information being collected,

optimising the use of technology, as well as increasing motivation and engagements of the

Consultants. Justification for the recommendations will be presented as well as an implementation

plan including means of measuring the benefits.

Data was collected through informal interviews with Mark, the Head of CS (Consultancy Services),

several Consultants in CS, the Resourcing team as well as several SAMs (Sales Account Managers). In

addition, some Customers were casually asked for feedback regarding their experience and level of

satisfaction with the CompanyX’s Service Delivery operation.

2. INTRODUCTION

2.1. OVERVIEW OF THE ORGANISATION AND FUNCTION

CompanyX is one of the UK’s leading IT infrastructure partners. It was founded in 1990 in Reading,

UK. Today, CompanyX has over 280 employees and achieved a turnover of £67m to March 31, 2012.

Almost 40% of CompanyX’s profits (30% of revenues) come from CS. The Resourcing function can be

seen as pivotal to the business. It lies at the heart of Service Delivery as it is the channel through

which Knowledge and Skills flow from the Consultants pool through Sales to Customers. The

following organisation chart can help illustrate the relevant structure of CompanyX and highlight the

position of CS and Resourcing in that structure.


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Figure 1 - CompanyX Org Chart

2.2. OVERVIEW OF THE RELEVANT CONTEXT

CompanyX, being a KIBS (Knowledge Intensive Business Services), is operating in a sector where

it can benefit from a lot of opportunities. The Cabinet Office (2011) stresses that ‘ICT is critical

for the effective operation of government and the delivery of the services it provides to citizens

and businesses’. CompanyX ‘went through the dot-com boom’ and was least affected by the

latest recession, as per its financial figures. ITU (2009: 9) suggests that ICT ‘is founded on

innovation and, while the economic turmoil may challenge some, it can also overturn the

established order and stimulate the emergence of new entrants with new technologies’. More

opportunities can be realised from the “sustainability” trends. The Green IT Magazine (2012)

suggests that the ‘IT sector can become a leader in showing how industry at large can benefit

from a low carbon economy and maximise new commercial opportunities as they arise’.

All of that can introduce opportunities for CompanyX to grow and prosper. However, it can also

introduces challenges, particularly related to the speed by which technology evolves and

increased market demand but also due to the competition from other highly established

Consultancy and Professional Services companies.

Efficient allocation of Consultants, can give CompanyX this competitive advantage and is

perceived as key to the success of CS and the business as a whole. It can also keep the

Consultants engaged and motivated which can directly contribute to retaining them. Consultants

are seen by their peers and the industry as highly skilled, experienced and accredited and they

can easily move between companies, even to a competitor.

Chief Executive

Sales Director

External

Internal

Services Director

Head of Consultancy

Services

Consultants Pool (25 Consultants)

Resourcing Manager

Resourcing Administrators

Project Management

Office


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3. PART 1: ANALYSIS OF CURRENT ISSUE

A good place to start can be the ADO model (Henley Business School, 2012b) as it can help illustrate

the life cycle of the operating system involving the process under consideration.

The RAP has been in place for a couple of years and, hence, the natural starting point could be an

evaluation of current system performance, which can lead us to confirm whether what we are doing

is broadly in line with our strategic intent or whether we need a more fundamental re-evaluation

(Henley Business School, 2012b).

The RAP can be seen as a ‘primary/operational’ process rather than ‘strategic’ or ‘support’ as it does

indeed ‘provide services to external customers’ and it ‘cuts across many functions’ (Henley Business

School, 2012b). Even though only few would disagree that Service Delivery at CompanyX has evolved

over the years, partially thanks to the RAP, one can still struggle to visualize the structure of the RAP

by which CompanyX intended to produce value for their customers. Hence, we first need to

understand the strategic intent behind the RAP, the views adopted by CompanyX, the process itself,

demand, as well as the performance objectives.

3.1. OPERATIONS STRATEGY

Slack & Lewis (2008) suggested that ‘Operations strategy…is concerned with how the competitive

environment is changing and what operations have to do to meet current and future challenges’.

They also stressed on the long-term development of resources and processes to sustain the

advantage. It can be argued that CompanyX is missing the opportunity of being the ‘best in the

industry’ or, even, ‘redefining industry expectations’ (Slack et al, 2012).

Figure 2 - The ADO Model

(Race, 2012)


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The Four Perspectives by Slack & Lewis (2008) can help identify the missing pieces in CompanyX’s

Operations Strategy.

We can then deduce that, in general, there seems to be an alignment between Operations Strategy

and Delivery Systems. However, what seems to be missing is the focus on engaging and motivating

the Consultants which can increase retention as well as investing in enhancing the technology that is

used as an enabler.

3.2. DOES COMPANYX TAKE A PROCESS VIEW?

Excerpts from the process definition by Davenport (1993, cited in Henley Business School, 2012b:11)

include:

A structured, measured set of activities designed to produce a specific output for a particular customer or market…. A process is thus a specific ordering of work activities across time and space, with a beginning and an end, and clearly defined inputs and outputs: a structure for action….

If we apply it to the RAP, we can only see some correlation to that definition as it is not perceived by

the Consultants to have “clearly defined inputs and outputs” or that its being reliably “measured”. In

addition, the Consultants reported different experience when interacting with the RAP. However,

the Resourcing function has a different opinion and they believe that they follow the process every

TOP-DOWN (CORPORATE STRATEGY TO

BUSINESS STRATEGY

GROWTH

MEETING CUSTOMER NEEDS

ATTRACT AND RETAIN

MARKET REQUIREMENT

CUSTOMERS REQUIRE HIGH QUALITY

WITHIN AGREED TIME BOUNDARIES &

THEY ARE WILLING TO PAY FOR THAT

CUSTOMERS EXPECT FLEXIBILITY AND

DEPENDABILITY

RESOURCES

PEOPLE ARE THE MAIN RESOURCE

IT IS USED TO SUPPORT AND ENABLE

SERVICE DELIVERY

OPERATIONS

STRATEGY

BOTTOM-UP

CONSULTANTS AND RESOURCING WORK

TOWARDS MEETING CUSTOMER NEEDS

IT SEEMS TO STRUGGLE TO COPE. MANUAL PROCESSES PREVAIL

CONSULTANTS ARE ATTRACTED BUT NOT

ENGAGED OR MOTIVATED

(Adapted from Slack & Lewis, 2008)

Figure 3 – Four Perspectives


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time. Using a SIPOC diagram can help, not only, model and visually map the process but also ‘depict

key interfaces with the process (suppliers and customers), key activities that make up the process,

and the principal inputs and outputs used’ (Henley Business School, 2012b).

Figure 4 - SIPOC Diagram

Suppliers Inputs Process Outputs Customers

SAM

(Internal)

Customer

(External)

Transformed

resources

(Information):

Customer’s

requirement

SAM’s Request

Transforming

resources:

People –

Resourcing

mostly but

also

Consultants

IT systems

Assignment to

deliver a

service

(billable or

unbillable)

SAM

(Internal)

Customer

(External)

(Adapted from Henley Business School, 2012b:38)

Customer notifies the

SAM of a requirement

SAM submits request to

Resourcing

Resourcing look for a

match between the

request and a Consultant’s

profile and availability

Resourcing contacts the

Consultant for

confirmation or just

reserves their time

Consultant contacts the

customer for more

information or goes to

deliver the work


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The use of a more detailed Process Map can help us identify possible failure points:

Figure 5 - Swim Lanes

Customer

SAM

Resourcing

Specialized

Consultant

Pool of

Consultants

Failure Point Notes

F1 Customer might not be able to communicate the requirements clearly and the SAM is

usually unable to understand them or inquire further.

F2 What the SAM submits to Resourcing is a simple form that does not capture enough

information about what is required.

F3 Consultant’s time is booked based on the current availability which is not guaranteed to

be accurate.

F4 Consultant is rarely notified in advance to be able to challenge the assignment, collect

enough information or prepare for the job. The notification is usually missing contact

details of the customer such as name, address and/or phone numbers.

F5 Consultant’s feedback might not formally be verified by fellow Consultants or logged.

Completes a basic

form requesting a

resource

Checks availability

of Consultant

Yes

A Consultant comes

back with advice

Sends Availability

to Customer

Is Customer Available? Customer Submits

requirement

Specialised Area

Clear?

Sends availability

back to SAM

Confirms or negotiates

availability

Yes

No

Reserves Consultant

Mass Email

Consultants

Consultant might be

notified

(Adapted from Slack et al, 2012)

No

F1

F2

F3

F4

F5


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The communication between the different entities above is done through either email or a basic

form. There is currently no automated workflow or an automated method of notifying the

Consultants of their assignment. This leads to a lot of confusion as well as “ping-pong” emails going

back and forth between the different entities attempting to resolve the situation.

It is worth highlighting Maister’s claim that:

the scheduling of work assignments is the single most important managerial activity in a professional service firm. Whoever makes the work assignment decisions is the person really managing the practice

(Maister, 1997 cited in Henley Business School, 2012b: 40)

Based on the above, we can safely say that it is the Resourcing function being responsible. According

to Maister (1997), ‘scheduling requires the reconciliation of four (potentially conflicting) goals: client

service, profitability, skill-building, and morale and motivation’. The Consultants as well as the SAMs

seem to agree that the Resourcing function lacks that insight especially when it comes to how

human capital is acquired, managed and developed whilst delivering ongoing services to clients.

3.3. HOW ABOUT A SYSTEMS PERSPECTIVE?

Henley Business School (2012b) warns that ‘process thinking can be very powerful, but there are also

potential disbenefits to taking a view that is too narrowly focused on process’ and that we might

want to ‘shift our orientation somewhat and think not just in terms of processes for the delivery of

goods and services but of operating systems’. Hence, using a framework such as the Process Strategy

Matrix can help us look at the bigger picture as well as yield a stronger focus on operations

resources.

Before we can apply this model, we need to define the different Performance metrics. Quality is the

ability to provide the most appropriate Consultant for the Job who can deliver exceptional

performance to satisfy Customer needs. Speed is how quick can to respond and provide resources to

the Customer. Dependability is how resources can be provided consistently and at the time

promised and expected by the customer. Flexibility is the ability to respond to changing customer

needs. Cost involves assigning the most profitable resources with the least overheads possible.


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Figure 6 - Process Strategy Matrix

Process

Performance

Objectives

Quality 4 Not

designed

for Quality

Limited/Inaccurate

information

Speed 3 Slow and

inefficient

Generally

responsive/

contribute

positively

Manual/No

notification

Missing

information causes

delays

Dependability 4 Repeatable Committed

Flexibility 3 Rigid Don’t

contribute

positively

Not

designed to

be flexible

Cost 3 Not

designed

for cost

efficiency

unaware Unable to

contribute

Not enough

Process People Technology Information

(Adapted from Race, 2012)

Looking at the competitive importance, on a scale of 1 to 5 where 5 is high, we can see that the

quality, in general, is high importance and that is what customers pay for and expect as Johnston &

Clark (2008:42) put it: ‘[customers] go to a firm of consultants for ‘peace of mind’’. That is also why

cost is not generally of a high importance as customers understand that the cost of ‘peace of mind’

can be high and they are generally willing to pay for that. CompanyX seem to be less keen on getting

into price wars with competitors and, since the profit is already high, they prefer to focus on quality

and dependability. Customers expect their solutions to be “tailored” hence flexible enough and they

expect CompanyX to deliver on time because of the deadlines the customers usually have. The

speed of responding is not usually key as long as the promised deadline is met, hence dependability

is high.


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We can also deduce from the matrix above that the contribution of Technology is not as we would

expect. It seems to be not fit for purpose. The information collected does not contribute positively to

any of the performance objectives. The people seem to be generally committed but unaware of their

role in providing cost efficiency. They also tend to be rigid and rather inflexible.

3.4. TRADE-OFFS?

There is a very important point to highlight which is the trade-off between the different

performance objectives. The trade-off decision made by the Resourcing function involved favouring

Dependability and Speed over any of the other objectives. They admitted focusing on the process

and ensuring that it is repeated every time a resource is required. However, unawareness of the cost

of allocating the resource has been leading to resources being allocated inefficiently. The Resourcing

function have been using a First-In-First-Served approach. Consultants often complain that they are

allocated to assignments involving over 2hrs commute each way every day. Some of them had to

book local accommodation which added to the cost incurred by CompanyX. At the same time, there

were assignments within 30mins commute that the same Consultants could have been allocated.

Quality is affected when the Consultants have to endure long and frustrating commutes; they

admitted that they are not able to give their best.

3.5. IMPACT OF DEMAND

Having mentioned demand in section 2.2 as a potential challenge, Slack et al (2012:20) suggest that

‘Four characteristics of demand in particular have a significant effect on how processes need to be

managed’. Applying the Four Vs to the RAP can yield the diagram in Figure 7:

Volume

Variety

Variation

Visibility

Low

High

High

High

Low

High

Low

Low

Figure 7 - Four Vs

(Slack et al (2012)


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The volume of customer requests processed through the RAP and the resulting output can be

perceived as relatively low compared with other products and services developed either by

CompanyX or within the Industry as a whole. Repetition seems to be low but there is a fair bit of it

since the use of templates and trying to standardize offerings are becoming commonplace.

Customer requirements highly vary, they are usually quite specific. However, resemblance can

sometimes be seen between the different requests and slightly analogous approach to fulfilling the

customer requirements can be followed. This coincides with the claim that an important aspect of

service delivery ‘concerns the investment in methods, procedures, and modular solutions, which

allow for a more efficient service delivery the next time a similar problem arises with a client’

(Løwendahl, 2005 cited in Henley Business School, 2012b: 41). This in turn raises the challenge of

how to use such standardised procedures and still deliver unique service to the client. With regards

to variation, the Resourcing team reported that some patterns can be detected across the year and

that, to some extent, they can predict the demand. They said that they usually see higher demand in

the shoulder months (end of September to middle of December and end of January to end of June

with a drop perhaps around the Easter period) than they do for the rest of the year. Still, it is fair to

say that there is high variability which is a characteristic of Service processes (Henley Business

School, 2012b). There is a fair bit of visibility in the RAP process. Even though a SAM mainly manages

the Customer relationship, receiving the request and looking to fulfil it, the Customer often interacts

with the Consultants directly in the initial phases to better communicate the requirements and,

possibly, with Project Managers in the planning and execution phases later. So, we can fairly suggest

that the customer does have a degree of visibility of the process which agrees with Henley Business

School (2012b) claiming that ‘Many service processes are high visibility’.

3.6. FINDINGS

From the above analysis, we can conclude that CompanyX seems to have used more of a “Machine

Metaphor” or “Closed System” view where ‘much emphasis is placed on control while little emphasis

is placed on environment’ (Flood & Jackson, 1991:8).

In the SIPOC diagram (Figure 4), we can see that the Resourcing function is the main transforming

resource. Also, from the detailed Process Map – Swim Lanes, we can see very limited contribution

from the Consultants.

There is little Demand Forecasting being exercised and the First-in-First-Served approach followed by

Resourcing seems inflexible and cost-inefficient. In addition, it leads to demotivation and

disengagement of the Consultants.


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The technology used is clearly not fit for purpose. The information collected is little and inaccurate.

All of that is putting more pressure on the Resourcing function to focus just on dependability rather

than the other performance objectives.

When referring to the definition of the Service Concept laid out by Johnston & Clark (2008:42) being

‘a shared understanding of the nature of the service provided and received’, we can also see little

resemblance to how the Resourcing function perceives it. They were doubtful about the organising

idea, the service experience and the service outcome. They seemed to be more focused on the

process itself.

4. PART 2: PROPOSED FUTURE COURSE OF ACTION – RECOMMENDATIONS & JUSTIFICATIONS

4.1. PROCESS REDESIGN APPROACH

The inefficiencies identified in the process need to be addressed. As suggested by Race (2012), there

can be different ways of designing and redesigning processes. Figure 8 illustrates those different

approaches:

Figure 8 - Process Redesign Approaches

Tactic Driver Approach

Simplification Eliminate redundancies and

duplicated effort in processes.

Increase the visibility of the availability of Consultants to

both the Consultants themselves and the SAMs. That can

reduce the number of emails going back and forth hence

simplifies the process and speeds it up.

Gaps and

Disconnects

Problems occur when

information or materials are

passed between departments or

functional groups.

Improve the quality of the forms that collect requirements

from SAMs forcing them to better understand the customer

requirements and communicate them.

Variability

Reduction

Reduce variability throughout the

process.

Work closer with the SAMs and use statistical data to better

forecast demand which can reduce the variability.

Bottelneck

Reduction

Manage the constraints that

govern flow through the process.

Engage the Consultants more during the process to reduce

the bottleneck effect experienced at the Resourcing level.

(Adapted from Race, 2012)

Elaborating on the last tactic, Henley Business School (2012b:40) suggested that ‘the key

transforming resource in PSFs is going to be people with highly specialised skills’. Hence, we can

deduce that it would be beneficial to increase the contribution of the Consultants.


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4.2. IMPROVING THE PROCESS TECHNOLOGY

Slack et al (2012:125) suggested that:

Generally, processes that have high variety and low volume will employ process technology with lower degrees of automation… [They] generally require process technology that is general purpose

From that and based on the findings in section 3.6, it is crucial to implement a process technology

that is more fit for purpose. It does not have to provide full automation but a certain degree of

automation will be sufficient. It also needs to increase the visibility of both the technical skills of the

Consultants and their availability to all stakeholders.

Using the enhanced technology, we can enforce rules on the forms used to collect requirements and

other details from the SAMs to ensure the quality of information is improved and sufficient, assisting

in the decision making.

Tight coupling of the workflow system, a web-based application improving the visibility of the

availability of Consultants as well as an intelligent notification system can give fast process

throughput, as suggested by Slack et al (2012).

4.3. REDEFINING JOB DESIGN

Again, being a business with High Variety and Low Volume, the job design should be broad and

relatively undefined with decision-making discretion and intrinsic job commitment. In such

organisations, as Race (2012) suggested, there needs to be more focus on people, besides the

process. In the writer’s MPP assignment, it was highlighted the issues of demotivation and

disengagement that the Consultants were experiencing and improving the environment for the

Consultants can yield the aspired results on all fronts (El Sherbini, 2012).

Job commitment can be encouraged by the activities in Figure 9.

Figure 9 - Job Design

Job Design Approach Action

Job enlargement Allocating a large number of tasks that are broadly of the same time to the Consultants

Job enrichment Allocate tasks to the Consultants that involve more decision making, greater autonomy, and

therefore greater control over the job.

Job rotation The Consultants have multiple skills and the Resourcing function should periodically engage

them in different sets of tasks to provide some variety in their activities.

Empowerment The process technology should not constrain Consultants.

Team-working The new technology will include a collaborative platform that can enhance team-work.



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5. PART 3: IMPLEMENTATION AND IMPACT

According to Archibald (1992, cited in Henley Business School, 2012c:6), CompanyX can be seen as a

‘Project-driven organisation…where the core business is projects’. It is indeed a company that

supplies bespoke services to meet customer demands. It comes as no surprise then that CompanyX

have also employed the PMO (Project Management Office) concept, as seen in the Organisation

Chart in Figure 1. However, the scope has mainly been customer or external projects. Yet, we believe

that leveraging that PMO, the PM (Project Management) and the Software Development skills that

CompanyX possess can indeed contribute to the success of the implementation of the enhanced

process technology recommended above and, at the same time, reduce the cost.

It is crucial, however, to sell the idea to Management and secure people and financial resources.

Creating a sense of Urgency, helping others see the need for change and the importance of acting

immediately is vital (Race, 2012). Hence, the development of the business case can be seen as a vital

first step. In addition, Slack et al (2012) stress on the importance of managing stakeholders and how

key that is to the success of the project.

5.1. DEVELOPING THE BUSINESS CASE

The principle stakeholders in the Business Case document are Mike, Steve and Mark. They are the

ones who would use that document for decision making. Other stakeholders such as the Resourcing

Manager, Julie, and the Sales Manager would have an interest as well. In brief, the business case

document would comprise of the sections in the following table (Silburn, 2012):

Section Notes

Summary This project addresses the multi-fold issue involving irregular and low utilisation of Consultants,

dissatisfied customers, delay in realizing financial benefits as well as high attrition of Consultants

due to lack of motivation and engagement.

Project Scope The scope includes the implementation of a workflow-based technology solution to be developed

in-house by CompanyX’s Consultants and managed by CompanyX’s PMs.

Project Drivers The drivers include meeting customer needs, increasing and normalizing the resource utilisation,

increasing efficiency to beat the competition as well as engaging and motivating the Consultants

to ensure higher performance and loyalty.

Project Objectives 1. Increase Customer Satisfaction to be measured through surveys and the overall Sales

turnover of Consultancy compared with similar periods in the last few years.

2. Increase Consultants’ motivation and engagement to be measured through surveys and

compared with the current survey results.

3. Increase utilisation of all Consultants to over 70%.

Solutions Acquire a new software solution off-the-shelf:

o Expensive

o Will require customization to fit CompanyX’s needs

o Extra cost for maintenance

Develop a software solution in-house


Page | 14

o More cost effective

o Developers and PMs are more aware of CompanyX’s environment and needs

o Cost of maintenance reduced as it is in-house

o Increase motivation by involving the technical personal rather than

marginalizing them

Preferred

Solution

Developing a solution in-house as it provides best value for the company.

Financial

Appraisal

(Will be provided later as the right personnel are engaged and details of the investment are

calculated).

Procurement

Strategy

No hardware or software needs to be purchased as all the resources are available in-house.

Project

Programme

CompanyX use an adapted version of Prince 2 to run its external projects. A similar approach will

be followed to run this project internally.

Project Risks The primary Risk comes from stakeholders. The change to the process will face resistance and

hence appropriate management of Stakeholders is essential. The technology presents another

risk since the solution will be developed entirely internally. UAT (User Acceptance Testing), Stress

Testing and other methods can be followed to minimise the risk.

5.2. MANAGING THE PROJECT

CompanyX’s PMs are more than capable of handling the project through its different phases:

Initiate/Envision, Plan, Build/Develop, Test/Stabilize, and Deploy/Release. As mentioned before, they

follow an adapted version of Prince 2.

It is crucial to develop a Project Definition that highlights the Vision, Purpose, Objectives, Scope and

Strategy of the project to implement the enhanced technology. A lot of this information will come

from the Business Case document (More details on that in Appendix 8.2).

As suggested by Friis (2004), it is important to understand business requirements and transform

them into IT requirements. Involving the stakeholders from the beginning can assist with that. The

stakeholder analysis is detailed in the next section (Section 5.3). The Risk Management is discussed

in Section 5.4.

5.3. MANAGING THE STAKEHOLDERS

From Organization Chart in Figure 1 as well as the SIPOC diagram in Figure 5, we can identify the

following Process Stakeholders:

SAMs Manage the relationship with external customers.

Resourcing Process the SAM’s request for a resource and allocate it.

Consultant Is allocated to a SAM’s request to perform the job required.

Mike Chief Executive – Ultimate decision maker

Steve Service Director

Mark Head of CS


Page | 15

By placing them on a Power-Interest grid, we can better understand their interest and power.

We can see that Mike is the ultimate decision maker and his buy-in is crucial to the success of the

project. We need to keep him satisfied. Steve has direct interest as he oversees Service Delivery. He

is definitely keen on the success of his division and is powerful enough to influence Steve’s decision.

He needs to be managed closely to ensure his support. Mark has the highest interest and relative

power to fight for the project to go ahead and seek approval for budget. Mark demands continuous

involvement with the project. If we can see Mark as the “Sponsor” with all his enthusiasm ‘shooting

for the moon’ and being the champion of the project, perhaps we can see Steve as the “Steward”

who ‘bring the sponsor down to Earth’ (Turner, 2009:315).

The SAMs are likely to perceive this change as negative and, since they have considerable power

(mainly because they are the ones who “make the bucks”), they need to be won which can be done

by illustrating to them how the new project can improve their chances of winning more orders more

quickly which can improve their own performance and, accordingly, their commission. The

Resourcing has relatively less power but they showed high interest in improving their image. They

are perceived by the Consultants as well as the SAMs as the bottleneck of the process. The

Consultants have little power but keen on pursuing any chance to increase their motivation and

engagement.

By managing the stakeholders carefully, we can reduce the impact of the transition especially when

it comes to the initial shock followed by denial and dejection that can be experienced by the SAMs

and the Resourcing function, to be specific (Henley Business School, 2012b). The Transition Cycle

illustrates the above in Appendix 8.3.

High Low

Low

High

Stakeholder interest

Stak

eho

lder

po

we

r

Keep satisfied Manage closely

Keep informed Monitor

Mike

Steve

Mark SAMs

Consultants

Resourcing

Figure 10 – Power-Interest Grid



Page | 16

5.4. MANAGING THE RISK

Risks coming from the new in-house developed technology and the resistance expected from the

different stakeholders are the primary ones. However, a more thorough Risk Management exercise

will be carried out and led by the selected Project Manager as it is important to evaluate potential

risks, their likelihood and impact. As a result, the identified risks will be transferred, terminated,

tolerated/accepted, or treated/mitigated (Henley Business School, 2012b). This approach is more

illustrated below:

Figure 11 – Risk Assessment

(Race, 2012)

The risk coming from the resistance expected from the stakeholders should be seen and dealt with

as an opportunity.

5.5. MEASURING THE IMPROVEMENTS – CSFS (CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS)

CSFs are those few factors that are decisive for the success of the project. Having identified them,

these are measured by tracking KPI (Key Performance Indicators) (Henley Business School, 2012b):

Business Objective CSF KPI

Increase Profits from

Consultancy Services

Increase Resource Utilisation Percentage average utilisation over the quarter.

Reduce Consultants Attrition Increase Motivation &

Engagement of Consultants

Surveys using a scale of 1 to 10 where 10 is desirable

Increase Sales Revenues Increase Customer Satisfaction Surveys using a scale of 1 to 10 where 10 is desirable


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6. REFLECTION

6.1. STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES OF THE SYSTEMS AND PROCESS APPROACH

In the early stages of my career, I worked at EDS (THE EDS – Electronic Data Systems), an

organisation with around 100,000 employees at that time dedicated to IT Services. When I was

there, I learnt about “process”. I learnt how they structured any project, any change, into a process.

But I also learnt that it is not just the process that matters but the operating system indeed or, in

other words, the environment. I experienced, at first hand, the strengths of applying such an

approach on a wide level and the benefits gained including winning and successfully delivering major

multi-million, if not billion, dollars projects. But, also at the same time, how they are able to

motivate and engage team members and help them all feel responsible for the success of the

project.

Perhaps EDS was a perfect example. But I also experienced, and with CompanyX to be specific as

covered in this assignment, how things might sometimes be not that perfect and how, if some

elements of the approach were missing, that can lead to undesired outcomes. To me, the trick is to

ensure that both the mechanical elements (process, technology) and the human element (people)

are covered.

6.2. INFLUENCE ON MY THINKING ABOUT AND MY APPROACH TO MANAGEMENT

The study of the PSP Module Core showed me how difficult it is for managers, in any capacity, to

take decisions. The amount of information and insight they should have are just enormous.

I chose the “Leading the Operations Function” pathway specifically because I believe that the

strategic role of operations is often misunderstood, miscommunicated, undermined, or even

completely ignored. I totally believe that organisations succeed only if they can appreciate the

strategic role of operations and how operations can indeed be a source of strategic advantage

(Henley Business School, 2012a).


Page | 18

7. REFERENCES

Cabinet Office (2011) Government ICT Strategy [Accessed 16 Dec 2012]

http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/content/government-ict-strategy

Green IT Magazine, The (2012) About [Accessed 16 Dec 2012]

http://www.greenitmagazine.com/

Flood, R & Jackson, M (1991) Critical systems thinking: Directed Reading. New York,

Chichester.

Friis, M (2004) Transform business objectives into technology requirements. Fifty Lessons

(video)

Henley Business School (2012a) Leading the Operations Function – Elective Pathway, Henley

Business School

Henley Business School (2012b) Managing Processes, Systems and Projects – Module Core ,

Henley Business School

Henley Business School (2012c) Managing the Project-based Environment – Elective

Pathway, Henley Business School

El Sherbini, H (2012) MPP Assignment

ITU (2009) Confronting the Crisis – Its Impact on the ICT Industry [Accessed 16 Dec 2012]

http://www.itu.int/osg/csd/emerging_trends/crisis/report-high-res.pdf

Johnston, R & Clark, G (2008) The service concept. In: Service Operations Management, 3rd

ed. Harlow: Pearson Education, Chapter 2

Race, P (2012) MPSP Presentation Slides, Henley Business School

Silburn, N L J (2008) Developing the Business Case

Slack, N & Lewis, M (2008) Operations Strategy, 2nd ed. Harlow: Pearson Education

Slack, N, Brandon-Jones, A, Johnston, R & Betts, A (2012) Operations and Process

Management: Principles and Practice for Strategic Impact, 3rd ed. Harlow: Pearson Education

Turner, J. R. (2009) The Handbook of Project-based Management, 3rd ed, Chapter 15

http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/content/government-ict-strategy

http://www.greenitmagazine.com/

http://www.itu.int/osg/csd/emerging_trends/crisis/report-high-res.pdf


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8. APPENDICES

8.1. GLOSSARY

Acronym Meaning Note

CS Consultancy Services The business unit which is the focus of this report

CSF Critical Success Factors

KIBS Knowledge Intensive Business Services Business operations heavily reliant on professional

knowledge

KPI Key Performance Indicator

PM Project Management

PMO Project Management Office

RAP Resource Allocation Process The process at the heart of this assignment

SAM Sales Account Manager


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8.2. PROJECT DEFINITION

(Race, 2012)


Page | 21

8.3. TRANSITION CYCLE

(Adapted from Adams et al, 1976 cited in Henley Business School, 2012b)

Documents

Hisham El Sherbini MPSP Assignment v2.0 (For Pub)