Framework for Implementation: Job Process Reengineering
Published: 1995-05-01T00:00:00

Fast Facts:

Highlights:
section_title: Why GAO Did This Study
paragraphs: GAO described its strategy to implement job process reforms and the roles and responsibilities of the project's key personnel.
section_title: What GAO Found
paragraphs: GAO noted that the objectives of the project are to: (1) implement reforms in the job management process that result in a reduction in average production time; (2) quantify the expected staff time and cost savings resulting from the process improvements; and (3) identify additional opportunities that will dramatically reduce cycle time and reduce the staff-days required to produce a product. GAO also noted that the Job Process Reengineering Team is responsible for: (1) implementing the process reforms identified by the Job Process Management Owners; (2) identifying the barriers to change and developing a change management plan; (3) developing and executing a communications plan; (4) executing an activity analysis to determine how people currently spend their time; (5) developing the transition plan and establishing performance measures; and (6) identifying and prioritizing further opportunities for process reengineering.

section_title: Letter
paragraphs: This document details the strategic framework and the roles and responsibilities of the key teams and players identified in the framework. It will enable GAO to successfully implement the process reforms proposed by the Job Management Process Owners and approved by the Quality Council. In addition, it will enable the Job Process Reengineering Team to identify further reengineering opportunities that may dramatically improve cycle time and reduce staff-days.
Section 2 of this document describes the strategic framework. It details the objectives of the project, the structure and interrelationships of the various teams and stakeholders, the time frames for undertaking the projects, and the measurements that will be required to monitor and evaluate the projects.
Section 3 details the roles and responsibilities of the key players in the project. Where appropriate, the approach and the methodology that could be adopted by the teams are also discussed. To lay out an implementation plan and methodology that will fit all situations is not possible, however. Much of the implementation plan will depend on what the “end state” process design looks like. The plan then will identify the steps necessary to bridge the gap and move from the “current state” to the desired “end state.”
The work was performed with the assistance of Arthur Andersen LLP.
subsections: section_title: 2. Strategic Framework
paragraphs: This section details the objectives of the project, the structure and interrelationships of the various teams and stakeholders, the time frames for undertaking the projects and, the measurements that are required to monitor and evaluate the projects.
subsections: section_title: Objectives
paragraphs: To implement reforms in the job management process that result in a reduction in average cycle time to produce a “product” by 100 days.
To quantify the expected staff time (and cost) savings resulting from the process improvements.
To identify additional opportunities that will dramatically reduce cycle time and reduce staff-days required.
section_title: Project Structure
paragraphs: To enable the core project team to maximize its chances of success, the following structure has been established: Central to the successful rollout of the identified initiatives is the Job Process Reengineering Team. This Team is responsible for coordinating all the various initiatives identified by the Job Management Process Owners (JMPO) and approved by the Quality Council.
Section 3 provides more details on the roles and the responsibilities of the teams. Detailed below are high-level descriptions of their roles.
Executive Committee - Made up of the organization’s most senior people, the committee will be responsible for supporting the Team and helping the Team overcome organizational barriers. This committee will meet biweekly, resolve any coordination matters, and make decisions necessary to keep the project moving toward the goals.
Job Process Reengineering Team - The Team will have primary accountability for implementing the process reforms identified by the JMPO and approved by the Quality Council. They are ultimately responsible for meeting the objectives for reductions in cycle time and staff-years. Central to this will be the integration of the initiatives. The Team will monitor and compare the pilots and the rollout with the targets. It will also be responsible for allocating resources among the project teams and the day to day coordination of those teams. The members of the Job Process Reengineering Team will also participate in the project teams.
Process Champions - For any change initiatives to be successfully implemented in the divisions, they will require the full backing of the respective Assistant Comptrollers General (ACGs). Therefore, each initiative will be championed by an ACG. It is likely that initiatives in each key area (such as Job Design) will be grouped together and championed by one individual. This does not negate the role of the Planning and Reporting (P&R) Directors or others who will still be heavily involved in integrating all the change initiatives.
Process Owners - The P&R Directors as the JMPO will continue to play an active role in the project. They will be advised on the development of the initiatives as they are taken from concept to pilot and ultimately to rollout. In addition, they will support the ACGs in championing the initiatives. They will also be responsible for following up on the pilots ongoing in their divisions and provide feedback on the success and the effectiveness of the pilots.
Project Teams - The project teams will be responsible for the successful piloting and implementation of the initiatives. They will support the Job Process Reengineering Team; their members will come from all areas of GAO, including the Job Process Reengineering Team, and thereby introduce diverse views and build ownership.
Each team will be responsible for a particular subprocess such as Job Acceptance and Staffing, Job Design, or Data Collection and Analysis, which corresponds with the structure set up by the JMPO. Initially, the teams will design, implement, and integrate pilots and projects based on concepts developed by the JMPO and approved by the Quality Council.
section_title: Time Frames
paragraphs: The Team’s objective is to ensure that all current initiatives have entered the full-scale rollout phase by January 1996. To do this, each initiative will be rolled out as soon as it has been successfully piloted.
Recently, the JMPO agreed to the title and the principle and minimum essential requirements for the following initiatives: Job Acceptance and Staffing, Job Design, and Product Development and Division Review. The Confirmation Letter (Terms of Reference) and the Expedited Agency Comments initiatives are approved and the pilots have begun. The Risk Assessment/Job Acceptance and Staffing team has begun to develop the concept details for the pilot.
The charts below lay out the potential time frame for rollout of the projects. As the data collection and analysis subprocess was not in the original scope of the JMPO efforts, the full-scale rollout of any initiatives in this area will not occur until mid-1996. (Time frames are not final for Benchmarking, Staffing, and Product Output initiatives.)
section_title: Measurement (Goals)
paragraphs: The teams must quantify the time that each project is expected to save. The savings will be quantified in terms of both calendar days and staff days saved through more efficient processes.
Performance measures provide direction and help focus efforts on attainment of goals. In addition, they allow the organization to benchmark its performance against that of other organizations. are simple to understand and use, are few in number, are aligned with organizational strategies and focused on customer wants.
The performance measurement system will support continuous improvement, monitor the critical steps in the process, help anticipate and prevent problems, change as the organization’s strategy changes.
Once the initiatives have been rolled out, these measures/targets provide the basis against which further improvements may be evaluated. The diagram below illustrates the circle of continuous improvement.
section_title: 3. Roles, Responsibilities, and Approach
paragraphs: This section details the proposed roles and responsibilities of the key players in the project. Where appropriate, the approach and the methodology that could be adopted by the teams is also discussed. To lay out an implementation plan and methodology that would fit all situations is not possible. Much of the implementation plan will depend on what the “end state” process design looks like. The plan then will identify the steps necessary to bridge the gap and move from the “current state” to the desired “end state.”
subsections: section_title: Executive Committee
paragraphs: Made up of the organization’s most senior people, the committee will be responsible for providing support to the Job Process Reengineering Team and help it overcome organizational barriers. This committee will meet biweekly, resolve any coordination matters, and make decisions necessary to keep the project moving toward the goals.
The culture must change. Having an Executive Committee to which the Job Process Reengineering Team reports sends a clear message GAO-wide as to the magnitude and the importance of the reforms required. It will lend credibility to the Team, foster participation by a wider cross section of the organization, and enable the Team to cut through organizational barriers. In addition, it will allow for the rapid resolution of any conflicts, thereby enabling the initiatives to be implemented in the time frames established.
The Executive Committee is composed of the Comptroller General, the Special Assistant to the Comptroller General, and the ACG for Planning and Reporting, the ACG for Quality Management, the ACG for Information Management and Communications, the ACG for Policy, the ACG for Operations, and the Deputy ACG for Human Resources.
section_title: Job Process Reengineering Team
paragraphs: The Team has primary accountability for implementing the process reforms identified by the JMPO and approved by the Quality Council. It is ultimately responsible for meeting the objectives for reductions in cycle time and staff-years. Central to this will be integrating the initiatives. The Team will monitor and compare the pilots and the rollout with the targets. It will also be responsible for allocating resources among the project teams and the day-to-day coordination of those teams. The members of the Team will also participate in the project teams.
Any changes in the job management process will have implications on the training curriculum. Therefore, the Training Institute must be involved throughout the project, both on the Job Process Reengineering Team and on project teams, where appropriate. In addition, because the proposed changes will have policy implications, it will be necessary to get representatives from the Office of Policy involved early in the process and at all levels.
While the project teams will be responsible for individual subprocesses or initiatives, certain activities are not confined to project boundaries. The Job Process Reengineering Team should create the appropriate infrastructure necessary to support the project teams. This support may include providing skilled facilitators, advice on appropriate methodologies, providing automated tools, and assisting in planning and documenting the various efforts. In addition, the Team will be responsible for identifying the barriers to change and developing a change management plan; developing and executing a communication plan; executing an activity analysis to determine how people currently spend developing the transition plan, including establishing performance measures; and identifying and prioritizing further opportunities for process reengineering.
subsections: section_title: Change Management Plan
paragraphs: The objective in developing the change management plan is to anticipate, avoid, and solve implementation problems that stem from peoples’ feelings about change. To develop an effective change management plan, one must first clearly identify the sources of resistance. To do this one may consider the following questions:
Why have previous initiatives failed?
What will be the employees likely reactions?
How do the performance measures/appraisal systems support/detract from the initiatives?
What barriers to change exist within the current culture?
section_title: Communications Plan
paragraphs: A well-planned communication strategy is required to inform the rest of the organization of the projects objectives.
An effective communication plan will accomplish the communication goals of an organization by providing accurate, useful, and timely information. Specifically, an effective communication plan will exploit existing communication channels in the organization; convey accurate and useful information to targeted receivers; present information in a timely fashion relative to certain events; provide feedback channels; replace the rumors which can hinder acceptance of change; and, foster commitment to the changes.
section_title: Activity Analysis
paragraphs: An activity analysis is a tool designed to identify how people spend their time. It will enable the project teams to determine whether the demands being placed on staff are reasonable and therefore whether the workloads expected as a result of any process reforms are acceptable. The analysis process can be a powerful and effective way to understand key processes and interfaces. It identifies key activities, attributes them to functions or business processes, and identifies specific activity drivers.
The results of the activity analysis will also provide the basis for quantifying the potential time savings.
section_title: Transition Plan
paragraphs: The objective of the transition plan is to develop an “end state road map.” It is a translation of the high-level concept, supplied by the JMPO, into the operating requirements for the process. Michael Hammer (Reengineering the Corporation) uses the Business System Diamond to describe the changes necessary.
Business Process (or Subprocess)
The business process should be focused on meeting or exceeding the expectations of the customer. To do this, the team should first identify and describe the customer. After doing this, the team should address the following questions when planning the integration of the initiatives:
What are the major subprocesses and tasks?
Where is the work done?
What are the process triggers and outcomes?
How does this business process link to other processes?
What are the primary customer impacts?
In answering these questions, the Team can plan for the implementation.
Once the redesigned business process has been established, the Team should then examine how the work will be done. Any changes to the process will affect the nature of the staff’s jobs and potentially, how staff are grouped. The following questions should be addressed:
What new jobs are created?
What current positions are affected?
What are our preliminary training requirements and capabilities?
What are the fundamental structural implications?
Will we have individual or team oriented work?
How will we reward people?
Management and Measurement Systems (Stakeholder Impact)
Changes to the business process will have implications for jobs and structures, which in turn, may affect the management systems. Integrated processes typically give rise to multidimensional jobs. This could require that staff be organized more in teams, which could affect recruitment, evaluation, and compensation. Listed below are some of the management systems that may be affected. recruitment, communication, compensation and benefits, education and training, and career development.
The management systems (how people are recruited, evaluated, and rewarded) will shape employees values and beliefs. These are the issues and concerns that GAO staff think are important and to which they pay significant attention.
To bring about process changes, individual behaviors must change. Therefore, both current and desired values and beliefs must be identified. In particular, it is important to surface staffs’ values and beliefs regarding the customer because new processes need to be focused on that customer. In understanding these issues, the Team can identify the steps required to move people from the current to the desired value system.
section_title: Process Reengineering
paragraphs: Some of the initiatives to date, such as the Team Ag efforts and the proposed risk assessment, can be considered as reengineering. To the extent that the Team identifies further opportunities for reengineering, a more substantial methodology may be applied.
section_title: Process Champions
paragraphs: For any change initiatives to be successfully implemented in the divisions, they will require the full backing of the division ACGs. Therefore, each initiative must be championed by an ACG. It is likely that initiatives in each key area (such as job design) will be grouped together and championed by one ACG. This does not negate the role of the P&R Directors or others, who will still be heavily involved in integrating all the change initiatives.
The champions will be involved in the design, the pilot, and the implementation of initiatives in their selected areas. They will also act as advocates, communicating the benefits of the reforms to others. They will be supported in this by their P&R Directors. The Process Champions, it is also hoped, will communicate informally with one another.
section_title: Process Owners
paragraphs: The P&R Directors as the JMPO will continue to play an active role in the project. They will be advised on the development of the initiatives as they are taken from concept to pilot and ultimately onto rollout. In addition, they will support the ACGs in championing the initiatives. They will also follow up on the pilots running in their divisions and provide feedback on the success and the effectiveness of the various efforts.
The Process Owners will help assure that the process reengineering results can be implemented with a high level of confidence. They can act as the teams’ critics, spokespersons, monitors, and liaisons. In a process-oriented organization, process, not function or geography, forms the basis of organizational structure. Every process continues to need an owner to attend to its performance, especially once the process reengineering is complete.
section_title: Project Teams
paragraphs: The project teams will be responsible for successful piloting and implementation of the initiatives. They will support the core Team; their members will come from all areas of GAO, including the Job Process Reengineering Team, and thereby introduce diverse views and build ownership.
Each team will be responsible for a particular subprocess, such as Job Acceptance and Staffing, Job Design, or Data Collection and Analysis. The teams initially will focus on taking the concepts developed by the JMPO and approved by the Quality Council and then designing, implementing, and integrating the pilots and projects. Teams will vary in size (3 - 10 members) and membership depending on the complexity of the change being identified. They will consist of both full-time and part-time members. Part-time members may include representatives from the Training Institute; issue areas involved in similar ongoing pilots; and specialty staff, such as congressional relations staff.
For those initiatives already identified by the P&R Directors, the following steps should be completed: 1. Form project team
Make sure everyone has the same objectives Include “insiders” and “outsiders” 2. Understand work to date
Review “one-pagers” from JMPO
Review work relating to initiatives
Obtain briefings from key parties 3. Define attributes of the proposed initiatives
Objectives
Scope: defined boundaries (inside and outside)
Process triggers
Process outcomes
Process flow: graphic representation of scope from beginning to end
Process structure: graphic picture of scope relating processes to
Process rules: governing statements
Process performance targets: desired measurable outcomes 4. Design the pilot
Develop detailed design
Test and validate design with key stakeholder groups 5. Pilot the process
Operate the design in a pilot area
Measure results and refine the pilot
Plan for rollout
Rollout the new process design The project teams should also develop detailed work plans. This is best done by first setting goals and target completion dates and then determining how to meet the goals by those dates. Teams should pay particular regard to critical program requirements, such as information technology and human resources as well as change management. It should be noted, however, that whatever is in the plan will change!
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