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Business
Process Management Articles
The
Eight Wastes in a Process
Daniel J. Madison, Value Creation Partner,
BP Trends Newsletter and Website, January 10,
2007.
Taiichi Ohno, a major contributor to the
Toyota Production System, identified seven wastes that can exist in
processes. Jeffery Likert, a professor at the University of Michigan
added an eighth. If the wastes are removed or reduced, significant
benefits can be realized.
Measure
Then Model? An Alternative Process
Bruce
Silver, Bruce Silver Associates, BP Trends Newsletter and
Website, January 16, 2007.
BPM users are familiar with the process
lifecycle. It starts with process modeling. Business analysts
document the as-is process, and analyze its shortcomings – handoff
inefficiencies, exception handling, inconsistent application of
policies and rules. From the model they can define KPIs for the
process and estimate their value using simulation analysis. Then
they model proposed process improvements, and project the expected
benefit using simulation, before committing resources to the
implementation.
Threads
of Success and Failure of Process
Improvement
Daniel J. Barata, iSixSigma Website and Newsletter,
January 29, 2007.
Process
improvement. By now anyone involved in any type of manufacturing or
service industry is familiar with this term. Although there may be a
vast array of particular meanings that may be assigned to the term,
everyone agrees process improvement is a necessary part of
maintaining a viable business. While most of the readers of this
article are likely to be users of the Six Sigma methodology, many
process improvement methodologies, when applied correctly, achieve
comparable results. What is important to know is those common
threads that run through all process improvement efforts that
succeed or fail.
A
Process-Centric Approach to Business
Intelligence
Colin
White, BI Research, BI Review Website and Newsletter, January 11,
2007.
Vendors and analysts often talk about
the need to make business intelligence (BI) process-centric. Despite
this ongoing discussion, there is no clear definition of
process-centric BI, and little has been written about its benefits
compared to a data-centric approach.
Ajira Drills
Down on Process Management
Dian
Schaffhauser, Sourcingmag.com Website and Newsletter, December
13, 2006.
If you don't make a quick connection between
business process outsourcing (BPO) and business process management
(BPM), you're not alone. Vendors tend to focus on one area or the
other with their solutions -- be it software or services. Yet, when
a company enters into a BPO initiative with the intent of
transforming their operations, it only makes sense that the service
provider should apply good ol' process management to the effort. As
research firm Tower Group has written, "Continuous improvement and
automation of enterprise processes that are repeatable and scalable
require BPO providers to put robust BPM models and technologies at
the core of their offerings."
Business
Process Outsourcing
Articles
Dealing with
SLAs and Visitors from 'Outlier' Space
Gary A.Gack,
Six Sigma Advantage,
Sourcingmag.com Newsletter and Website, January 29,
2007.
Service-level
agreements (SLAs), which define the performance a customer can
expect from a particular process or service, such as a help desk.
Often, these agreements are established by negotiation rather than
by a more scientific approach that would be used in a Six Sigma
process (where SLAs would be termed specification limits). There is
an approach for setting SLAs that can help avoid most common
mistakes and that can be applied in many situations without
committing to full-blown Six Sigma training and deployment.
10
Criteria to Use for Evaluating Six Sigma
Projects
Thomas Bertels, Arne Buthman,
Valeocon Consultants, iSixSigma Europe Website and
Newsletter, January 24, 2007.
Projects are the core of every Six
Sigma initiative. Identifying the right projects, having skilled
people on board, and providing a proper environment for project
execution determines whether the intended process and business
results can be achieved and whether Six Sigma will be perceived as a
powerful approach to contribute to business success. A relatively simple 10-point checklist can help evaluate
projects at specific milestones as well as be part of a lessons
learned exercise after project completion. Anticipating potential
project failures also can drive an effective project
selection.
BPO Trends 2007
ValueNotes Outsourcing Weekly Newsletter and Website, December 08,
2006.
Although it
sounds clichéd, the BPO industry is maturing and innovating at a
frenetic pace. While the traditional 'low-cost' driver for
offshoring will remain a big factor, forward-looking vendors and
buyers are now moving towards 'strategic sourcing'. Even as large
firms enthusiastically embrace the "globalization" of delivery
capacity, there is a distinct move towards more innovative service
offerings within established vertical practices. ValueNotes looks at
some of the key emerging trends and how these might play out in 2007
and beyond.
The Future of
Outsourcing in India: 8 Scenarios
ValueNotes Database, Sourcingmag.com
Newsletter and Website, January 17, 2007.
Sourcingmag.com asked ValueNotes, a
well-known analyst firm focused on outsourcing, to explore multiple
situations and scenarios for the future of offshore outsourcing in
India. It has developed two "situations," both of which examine the
potential impact of changes in the availability of a qualified
workforce in India and American perception of
outsourcing.
Insurance
Underwriting - Will it take off in India?
ValueNotes Outsourcing Weekly Newsletter and Website, January 5,
2007.
Global insurance companies, in general, have been
relatively slower adopters of outsourcing (both IT and BPO) compared
to banking and financial services.
However, with severe competitive pressures and a stricter regulatory
environment, the industry has been more open to automation and
business process outsourcing. Insurance carriers are
under pressure to bring newer and more innovative products to the
market quickly and improve profitability.
Agile
Outsourcing: Metrics for Outsourced Software
Development
Nari Kannan, Ajira
Technologies, Inc., Sourcingmag.com Newsletter and Website, February
5, 2007.
Your software development
effort has been outsourced to a CMM Level 5 vendor. You think you
have strict project management controls and disciplined measurement
and reporting of metrics. After all, you have many Gantt charts,
graphs and dashboards to prove it. Yet your software development is
still in deep trouble and your users are unhappy with the software
releases you're getting. This scenario is more common than you might
imagine. The question to ask isn't whether you're measuring a lot of
things right, but are you measuring the right
things?
Notable
News
GM
Outsourcing Overhaul, 1 Year
Later
Doug Bartholemew. Baseline
Magazine Newsletter and Website, January 7,
2007.
The new multi-vendor
outsourcing deal is already helping to further slim GM's global I.T.
costs. The automaker's new service providers will further
consolidate its computing resources and data centers, Ralph
Szygenda says. "GM is saving a lot of money," he says. "We expect
much lower costs over the five-year period."
Applying
Lean Six Sigma Tools to an Internal Audit
Leah Lutz, The George Group,
iSixSigma Financial Services
Website and Newsletter, January 10,
2007.
An internal audit by a team using Lean Six Sigma tools solved
the mystery of what happened to about $1 million of a liquid
chemical "misplaced" at a global chemical company. Case study shows
how the team used a Kaizen event and DMAIC methodology to unravel
this mystery!
Reducing
Delayed Starts in Specials Lab with Six
Sigma
Lewis Brown, Denise Taylor, Baptist St.
Anthony's Hospital, iSixSigma Healthcare Website and
Newsletter, January 17, 2007.
A hospital's Specials Department
project was successful in improving start times, increasing
throughput, implementing control mechanisms for continuous
improvement and providing feedback to ancillary departments
concerning performance. By using data-driven tools and utilizing
stakeholder teams, the project results at Baptist St. Anthony's
Hospital demonstrates how outcomes as well as culture can be changed
for the benefit of customers.
2007
Claims Opportunities: Predictive Analytics to the
Rescue
Karen
Pauli, Tower Group, Insurance
& Technology, January 5, 2007.
In 2007 it will be imperative for carriers to
establish claims data management initiatives so they can undertake
predictive projects.
Indian
Mortgage BPO: Acquisitions Galore
ValueNotes Database
Newsletter and Website, January 27,
2007.
BPO
vendors, especially the larger Indian vendors, seem to think that
mortgages is where the action is, judging from the acquisition
spree. While multi-service providers such as Genpact, OfficeTiger
and WNS are driven by the need to broaden their range of services,
specialized players such as Adventity have acquired to gain market
access.
Notable
Events
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