Additional Learning Features Illustrated within Innov8 2.

Learning Feature
Successful implementation of BPM
usually requires a strong partnership between the Line of Business
and IT.

Context within Innov8

Logan finds a poster describing the partnership between business and IT
in the main IT room, and wonders if it is all just fluff. Then, in the Level
2 Collaboration, IT and the business work together to recommend and
eventually implement needed process improvements. IT provides the
tooling and implementation support, while the LoB supplies process expertise.

To help maximise ROI, process im- In the Opening Cinematic, Mike provides Logan with a Heat Map which
provement efforts should be guided assesses various business areas with respect to opportunities for lowerby some overarching strategy.
ing costs, gaining revenue, etc.
The point is not that a specific methodology must be used, but rather
that an organisation should have some rational approach to prioritising
potential improvement projects.
There are many ways to help reduce Logan and AFTER Inc manage risk in a number of ways, including: Execurisk during a business process imtive sponsorship from Mike; recruitment of Logan to drive the project
provement project.
(she supposedly is uniquely qualified for her mission); group collaboration during process re-design; use of simulation to test To-Be model variants; etc.
You don't always have to start from Sam advises Logan to look for someone in Operations who might have an
scratch. Often there is someone
existing process map which can be used as a starting point.
who can provide a helpful starting
point.
You may get erroneous and even
intentionally misleading inputs from
some individuals and you have to
be able to sort that out somehow.

Logan obtains a process map from Stavros, a self-described Business

Analyst extraordinaire. But Logan learns from Call Center guru that the
map is out-of-date. Logan might have guessed there would be problems
with Stavros map, given his poor attitude towards work and his lack of
eagerness to help Logan in her quest.

You should always validate As-Is

process flows with real experts, i.e.
people that know the real business
flow first-hand.

This is a corollary to the point above. The point is that you can't always
trust supposed experts who may have personal agendas, nor information
sources like procedures manuals that are often obsolete and may never
have been accurate in the first place. Too often, current process maps
portray processes as they used to be, or are thought to be, or as they
should be, rather than as they are.

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Learning Feature

Context within Innov8

Successful modeling typically reLogan puts this critical skill to use in the Drag and Drop exercise of Level 1
quires translating verbal or text re- and the Collaboration exercise of Level 2.
quirements into representative diagram segments and/or elements.
A standard set of modeling symbols
helps to communicate effectively &
to share design information between tools seamlessly.

Sam stresses that the modeling software is standards-based and mandated by the CIO, partly because it enables better communications. Stella
leads Logan through the Drag and Drop exercise where standard symbols
are used to construct the As-Is model. Then, in the Level 2 Collaboration,
individuals from all areas of the business are able to quickly understand
model changes which Logan has made.
In the real world, there is no one standard set of symbols used by all
modeling software vendors, although the industry appears to be moving
in that direction with the growing acceptance of Business Process Management Notation (BPMN) a standard proposed and maintained by the
Object Management Group.

There are typically many variables Sam makes this point with Logan, following the Drag and Drop challenge.
(resource levels, event arrival rates, Logan must visit all four departments within Level 1, in search of data to
etc), within the process, which must populate the model.
be specified correctly if the model is
to reflect reality. The better the inputs, the more reliable the outputs.
Best practice usually suggests validating the As-Is model before embarking on the To-Be process.

This only makes sense, because the To-Be model is typically an adaptation of the To-Be. And validating the As-Is can build needed credibility in
the face of difficult process changes.
Logan validates the model flow with process expert Stella, and then uses
simulation to validate the complete model against empirical data (KPIs).

Collaboration can greatly accelerate The Collaboration meeting of Level 2 brings together individuals from
process improvement and innova- several areas of the business, each contributing their own perspectives,
tion.
expertise, ideas and values.
Flexible business rules make a
In the Level 2 Collaboration, the team decides to implement business
process more dynamic and respon- rules to control call flow, allowing Logan to react to new information and
sive to changing conditions.
tweak performance, in response to changing arrival rates and call mix.
Simulation can help identify bottle- In the nerve center level, Logan can adjust the business rules and simunecks prior to implementation.
late prior to implementation.

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Learning Feature
There is no such thing as an optimal process because, in theory,
there is always some way to reduce
costs, shorten durations, etc. for
particular process activities.

Context within Innov8

In this case, for example, AFTER Inc. could always spend more money on
call-taker education, seek a new business partner who is willing to undercut the prices set by Partner 1, or invest more money in Knowledge Base
and Virtual Agent software to achieve greater efficiencies.

For a given business process and

In the Level 3 Nerve Center challenge, there are many combinations of
scenario (use case), depending on
business rule setting and resource levels which will result in KPI values
the objectives there can be multiple that meet Mikes objectives.
good, "right", or acceptable solutions.

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