You’ve decided your business processes can do with a boost, but what do we actually provide. Unsurprisingly we have a process for supporting you. Our 7-stage process assumes you want us to help you with the whole project, but we can tailor this to provide the services you want support with.
Stage 1 – Learning
We take the time to talk to you understand, what your process is. It doesn’t matter how mature it is. We don’t mind whether the process only exists in the heads of staff or whether it’s mature, documented and workflow controlled – there is almost always something to learn and improve.
Stage 2 – Analysis
We can analyse your process in terms of the following (and more):
- Workflow efficiency
- Documentation
- Risk & opportunity
- Responsibility and authorisation
- Records and traceability
- Compliance obligations
- Leadtime and durations
- And more
Whatever terms we agree to analyse your process under, we can provide a documented process map and a performance score for the process. The process performance score can be used to quantify the magnitude of improvement we expect our proposal to have.
Typical Deliverables: Process maps, diagrams and charts, risk and opportunity analyses, annotated Client documents (such as process maps, procedures or workflows)
Stage 3 – Proposal
Where the Stage 2 – Analysis suggests improvements, and we can assist with them we’ll provide a proposal that outlines what improvements we think we can make and the costs of achieving those improvements. The proposal may be simple as the provision of an off the shelf piece of software. Equally it could be a complex solution that requires significant planning, consultation and change management. Again, we can help with as much of this as you need.
Typical Deliverables: A fixed price proposal identifying the issues with the current process, the proposed solution. It will include an indication of the likely benefits and where possible, the costs of the subsequent agreed stages. You will be under no obligation to proceed.
Stage 4 – Design
Where our customers commission us to design a new process, that process will be a revised version of that recorded in Stage 2. The design will provide a much better idea of what the solution is going to look like and how it will operate. For instance, a SharePoint solution would detail each library, view, workflow, webform and app to be created. It would detail all the critical settings, dependencies, access restrictions, process controls, formatting, and the interaction of the process elements.
These documents can be quite comprehensive, but they also provide the developers with a ‘blueprint’ for the build.
Typical Deliverables: Design documents containing the major
Stage 5 – Build
Where we build solutions, we try to focus on the software already in the business. This has two advantages. The first is that there is typically little or no additional licensing costs. The second is that adoption success rates are much higher for software that people are already familiar with. As such, most of our solutions focus on Microsoft products and occasionally Google products, but that’s not all we get involved in. We often build Microsoft solutions that are used alongside other major applications such as Xero, Zoho, and much more.
The build process goes on largely behind closed doors. However, the solution may involve multiple client consultations and demonstrations as the build comes together.
Typical Deliverables: Documented copies of critical decisions made during the build and accordingly revised design documentation. Any reporting tools.
Stage 5 – Testing
The consultation and demonstration stages often include some testing, but at the end of any builds we do our own testing.
The level of testing is based on the complexity of the project and nature of the solution. For solutions where a failure would be catastrophic, we will document and seek approval for a full testing program.
At the other end of the spectrum, a basic solution only assisting an established process can largely be tested as part of implementation. We adopt an integrated approach for testing and implementation Where a process can continue with or without our solution, we can adopt an integrated approach for testing and implementation. This helps to keep costs down.
Typical Deliverables: The results of any testing. The completed build including any reporting tools. Access to Source code.
Stage 6 – Implementation
Is typically the deployment of the solution. The deployment may involve providing documentation for users, administrators and even IT professionals. It may incorporate elements of change management, such as training, presentations, information bulletins, disaster recovery arrangements or whatever else the change management planning dictates. Either way we will listen to our client and provide whatever support is required.
Typical Deliverables: Operation and administration manuals. Training and communication presentations. Reporting tools.
Our service is never a ‘one size fits all’. Every customer is different, with different process issues and different support needs.
Managing Director, 2023
Why our business processes rock
- We spend time understanding your process and its pain points.
- We propose solutions aligned to your needs that address your issues.
- Our organisation has proprietary solutions that we can leverage.
- We manage the project and we document the output of each stage.
- We typically use the software which is already licensed on your business computer.
- We can provide solutions tailored for the cloud or for your servers.
- We only invoice on successful completion of each stage.