Fast tracking process diagnostics for technology change

The client was planning for decommissioning of legacy workflow systems headed for end support. There was a need to have an alternate solution in place. It was therefore important to analyse multiple processes impacted by these systems so that the new technology system is aligned to the current business need and not just replace the legacy system.

At a glance

The Client

The client is one of the world’s largest banking and financial services organisations. With more than 39 million customers through four global businesses: Retail Banking and Wealth Management, Commercial Banking, Global Banking and Markets, and Global Private Banking. The client’s network covers 66 countries and territories in Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Africa, North America and Latin America.

Industry

Banking

Business need

Analyse processes impacted by replacement of legacy workflow systems.

Solution

The study was completed in short span of time. Stakeholders were provided with succinct analysis in the form of Diagnostic Map, metrics to measure, non-value-added steps and root cause analysis. The happy -path method helped with suggested improvements including new technology features as well as gaps in the current process. For example: merging some existing upstream processes could reduce hand-off and improve turnaround time.

Challenges

With the de-commissioning of the legacy workflow system, it was important to analyse process impact across various line of businesses (LOBs), departments, locations with dependencies on each other.

Projects of this kind are usually expected to take months in collecting existing documentation and obtaining inputs from a multitude of stakeholders. A lot of time is spent on documenting the as-is process typically using traditional process mapping methods.

Getting to a crisp summary of the specification for new technology is a tedious and difficult task due to the variations and complexities of these processes.

How we helped

The list of about 115 tasks were prioritized. The team identified that the top 15 tasks accounted for 60% of the volumes.

A detailed end-to-end deep dive was conducted with subject matter experts (SMEs) and managers that included the upstream and downstream processes. These sessions were limited to 2-3 meetings of 45-60 minutes each per process, which is significantly shorter than the usual time spent in such sessions.

Using Open Orbit “happy-path” methodology, diagnostic maps were produced for these processes. This captured all process attributes like Owners/System used/Risks/Defects and non-value add activities at each step.

The analysis also included impact of upstream processes, aggregate data extracted from the current system, as well as anecdotal data (like rework, wait time, touch time) from SMEs.

The team was able to rapidly identify gaps in the current processes and systems and recommend improvements for the future technology that will help perform these tasks more efficiently. For example – reduced hand-offs, enabling timely follow up, providing visibility on status and reasons for rework, mistake-proofing the manual data entry, etc.

This meaningful analysis was produced within weeks as compared to months.

Business Impact Delivered

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Time Invested in meetings

Significantly less time invested. 4 SME meetings lasting 90 minute each

Improved processes

Each process analysis creates an opportunity to identify and plug existing gaps

Scalability

The approach is extremely scalable as it uses technology to guide human judgment.