High-Yield Methods

O/S Process is emerging from the shadows. The rapid migration of our economy from manufacturing-based to service-based has given O/S a push. So has increased focus on health care and education costs–both poster-segments for office process dysfunction. So has all the process attention already given to manufacturing, which has drastically reduced opportunities for manufacturing labor cost-cutting at a time when the bad economy requires additional streamlining. And let’s not forget about the ripple effects of companies becoming more customer-centric–an ambition only achievable when front and back offices seamlessly integrate their processes.

Process design is very context-sensitive. And O/S and manufacturing are totally different contexts.

Office/Service Environments	Manufacturing Environments
Low repetition	High repetition
Decision-based business process	Fixed business process
Adaptability critical	Consistency critical
Hundreds of key workflows	Dozens of key workflows
80 - 90% of defects in hand-offs	Majority of defects in individual work
Majority of work activities interdependent	Most work activities independent
Invisible defects	Visible defects
Empowered staff	Compliant staff
Business process is the work	Business process guides the work
Adaptable to different work styles	Requires uniform behavior
Fully joined workflow & information flow	Largely detached workflow & information flow
High-dependence on application software	Partial dependence on application software
Application data integration critical	Data integration irrelevant
Managed by macro-level metrics	Managed by micro-level metrics
Responsive to customers and other external stakeholders not under the company’s control	Controlled environment, responsive only to internal cues

Avoid pounding square pegs into round holes
In the past, O/S process improvers have had to make do with traditional process approaches designed for manufacturing. While fine process design methods in that context, the further along the continuum work goes from the production floor to points of customer contact, the less effective traditional process methods get. And in service, environments, they often damage more than they fix.

The need to work outside-in
Manufacturing process methods work inside-out. They’re company-centric, product-centric, or both. They’re guided by internal goals and principles and work out into the organization until they hopefully reach the customer. The inside-out view of customer interaction is mostly sales-oriented rather than relationship-focused.

In contrast, effective O/S process design works outside-in. It starts with developing a firm understanding of customer experiences, wants, needs and preferences–plus potential opportunities to exceed expectations (more such opportunities should arise during process redesign). Every significant (and some insignificant) process element should meet or exceed customer expectations.

Actual design work starts with how customers come to the company–or relate to the company in between contacts. Next comes the contact/interaction level, which may be personal, phone, web, e-mail or social media and involve sales, customer service, warranty and any other direct contact roles. Next comes direct support provided to the interaction level, including product support, procurement, inventory management, accounts receivable, order-entry, credit and collections, logistics and more. Then comes indirect support that influences the interaction level, such as IT, product design, compliance and others. And last come “non-customer related functions,” such as HR and finance. All outside-in and working from the customer back inside the company.

Moving from one process dimension to four.
Traditional, inside-out process methods focus on fixing how work is done. In manufacturing, how is the primary variable, sometimes the only one. But the O/S environment has four variables, and process design has to address each.

Fortunately, a new generation of multi-dimensional O/S process approaches are emerging, with HYM’s VISUAL WORKFLOW the first. VW scans complex back and front office environments to spot defects, bottlenecks, bad handoffs and organizational misalignments that disrupt work. And most importantly, VW designs solutions.

Four dimensions of outside-in, O/S process
To work effectively in O/S environments, a process design approach should have these attributes:

O/S Process Design Principles
Take a customer-centric perspective	O/S process must align with business strategies that must align with customers in order to be truly effective. You can’t design O/S process in a vacuum (although many try).
Work with all four dimensions	The what, who, how and technology support all factor into O/S process design.
Accommodate variable process	O/S process incorporates “if-then” logic, otherwise known as “branching logic.” Examples would be a late invoice over 30-days past due requiring a different set of next steps than one over 90 days; or making an intuition-based judgment call regarding whether or invoke a credit hold.
Allow for employee decision-making	Knowledge workers don’t work by rote. Neither do most other O/S workers, even those performing “routine” tasks. In O/S settings, exceptions happen, and they happen regularly.
Focus on “empowering” rather than “compelling”	Although not always possible to eliminate altogether, multi-layer decision-making is the bane of O/S process streamlining. Excess supervision not only delays and complicates work, it also creates bureaucracy that customers love to hate. In fact, research and empirical evidence both show that empowering line employees to make more decisions adds substantially to customer loyalty.
Handle hundreds of cross-functional workflows	Large O/S environments are inherently complex. Deciphering the “as-is" then designing the “to-be” require efficient workflow scanning capabilities and integrative design capabilities
Uncouple individual work process from workflow	Bad handoffs and transitions create far more office process problems than individual work. Because considering individual process while working the upper level adds so much complexity (as in can’t see the forest for the trees), breaking the levels apart is essential.
Drive organizational change	The greatest benefits of O/S design come from redesigning roles and responsibilities–and taking down silo walls that inhibit efficient and effective work.

That’s O/S process, in a nutshell. For more detail please go to VISUAL WORKFLOW