Definition
of terms:
MRE- Maple Ridge Engineering Group
GEMS- Global Engineering Management
System
Documentation
and recommendations in relation to the GEMS system
a. Documentation
on MRE business processes and identification of faults
Business process improvement refers to
the identification and analysis of the operations of a business with an aim to
conducting a review that would lead to the improvement of the efficiency of
such a business. This process must be done in accordance with the understanding
of the goals and objectives of an organisation with a firm focus on the
efficiency of the process. The importance of focusing on the goals of the
organisation is to ensure that the process improvement does not conflict with
overall organisational goals. For instance, most organisations emphasise the
need to run operations profitably and in a manner that ensures the highest
levels of customer satisfaction.
Customer satisfaction
requires timely delivery, accurate and timely updates, and the delivery of
solutions that are in line with the specifications needed (Keill and Johnson,
1994). This therefore requires good communication systems that ensure accurate
interpretation of customer needs. It also requires utmost cooperation between
departments with accuracy being consistent across all levels of the
consultation process. As analysts would point out, profitability moves most
organisations and every business process consultant should focus their
attention on how to ensure that the processes cut down on unnecessary wastage
and duplication, and delays arising from inefficient systems (Ahmed and Islam,
2012).
The business process at MRE’s training
functions can be summarised as follows:
i. The
customers identified are contacted to determine their needs. The needs
identification culminates into the creation of a preliminary curriculum
ii. The
training department consults with members of the technical team to generate the
final curriculum which then forms the basis for training
iii.
The department identifies the suitable
trainers for the programs generated
iv.
The capabilities of such trainers is
evaluated via the established resource management systems and training
conducted as per the final curriculum generated
v. Manuals
and other deliverable necessary for successful training are prepared and
delivered to the customers
vi.
Training commences with the team leader
expected to submit a project summary within 5 days of commencement.
vii. Once
training commences, trainers are expected to provide regular feedbacks to the
status of the projects. However, the frequency of such reporting is hampered by
the fact that most trainers are often in remote regions and therefore not always
available to provide the feedback. Matters are complicated further by the fact
that the reporting cannot be done through communication with officers in the
office by virtue of the fact that trainers are only available for the exercise
after working hours.
An analysis of the MRE
business process can be summarised using the data flow diagram below:
From the business
process outlined above, a number of strengths can be picked out. To begin with,
the process emphasises the importance of the flow of information between the
company and the clients and between the training department and other technical
departments. This emphasises the need for the organisation to work as a team
with the greatest need for cooperation being between the training department
and the engineering departments. The second strength relates to the simplicity
of the process. The business process is easy to understand and follow through.
It is therefore easy to design a management system or software that can be
implemented with relative ease.
The weaknesses of the system can be
itemised as follows:
i.
The process of consultation with clients
to determine their needs is unstructured. While structured enquiries may seem
rigid and unyielding, their presence is important to provide guidance and
introduce some form of standard in the service delivery of the company. This
form of benchmark was found to be lacking.
ii.
Inadequate reference to the financial
perspective of the process. A business process is incomplete without the
mention of its contribution to the bottom line. In terms of process, it should
be clear who provides the information used to determine the cost of the
service. The process should be clear on how and at what stage invoicing is done
and by whom.
iii.
The process of consultation within the
organisation appears haphazard with no clear guidelines on the persons
responsible for such consultations. It also appears that such consultations are
unstructured and therefore likely to be inadequate or at the very least fail to
provide the customers with the best solutions available. This places the
company at the risk of failing to generate the requisite customer satisfaction
levels.
iv.
The business process was also found
wanting in terms of allocating responsibility to specific individuals. The
responsibility of departments seems to be well established. However, it becomes
difficult to trace the cause of failure in cases where a process appears to
stagnate.
v.
A
fault was also identified in the reporting systems where trainers may be unable
to record their progress on projects due to the fact that they are often
stationed away from the office. The option of calling in is also hampered by
the fact that remote trainers are only available for such updates long after
the responsible persons are out of the office. This leaves a vacuum in
reporting with the responsible persons unable to track progress and update the
customers accordingly.
vi.
It was also observed that the paper
reporting system was hard to track. Reports would have to be generated through
a tiring process and the organisation would therefore not be able to provide
prompt updates to clients. Moreover, quick management decisions would be
impossible as the figure needed would have to be generated through the time
consuming process. Weekly reports are an inconvenience and better systems need
to be put in place.
vii.
It was also observed that the paper
reporting system often results in information loss and inaccuracies. Papers are
cumbersome and difficult to cross-reference. Where the report making process
generates mistakes, such mistakes may not be easily detected hence leading to
decision making based on inaccurate information.
b. Recommendations
for GEMS system
The GEMS system is supposed to be
designed to resolve the issues identified in the current business process at
MRE. Good business processes should eliminate redundancies, duplication and
opportunities for the distortion of information. The following recommendations
would see the GEMS system solve the operational issues identified at MRE:
- Establishment
of direct reporting line. A good information management system should be
able to trace given tasks to the officer directly in charge. An area that
could easily benefit from this feature is the progress reporting stage by
trainers. Specific trainers should provide their feedback and the system
should be able to pick out promptly the officers that fail to do so.
Analysts have held and continue to hold that the provision of timely
updates is a crucial element in generating satisfaction among clients
(Ahmed and Islam, 2012). Clients need to be kept informed and they need to
be confident that the information given at any point is accurate and
factual.
- Offsite
reporting can be facilitated through the system. This can be done through
granting special access to trainers where they can log into the companies
intranet and update their progress as appropriate. This would eliminate
the need to engage other staff members whose involvement may lead to
distortion. It also gets rid of idle capacity, duplication and possible
redundancy.
- Management
decisions need to be based on facts and are in many cases made on short
notice (Ngwenyama and Norbjerg, 2010). It therefore requires that the
managers be able to obtain the information needed for such decisions
promptly. The GEMS system is supposed to facilitate the generation of such
reports at the click of a button. Information on the total number of
projects pending, amounts charged for each, category of projects and other
information should be produced with ease and facilitate decision making.
- The GEMS
system is also expected to improve internal communication mechanisms.
Assignment of specific duties in regards to the delivery on given projects
can be facilitated with section heads able to monitor the progress of
various projects with ease. This eliminates the need to have several
supervisors and helps save money for the organisation. Automation could
also be applied to the invoice generation processes which facilitate
timely payments. This is inconsistency with the findings of Ngwenyama and
Norbjerg (2010) who found that automation eliminates cases of inaccuracy,
improves accountability and facilitates fast collection of fees owed by
customers.
In conclusion, the GEMS system allows
for the organisation to get rid of some of the operational hitches that the
company has had in its business processes. It helps in the introduction of a
benchmark in terms of accuracy of information and speed of consultation. It is
also expected to aid in the supervisory and management function with managers
given the tools to make timely and reliable decisions based accurate and easily
accessible information.
References
Ahmed, D.M., Islam, S., 2012. Business process
improvement of credit card department: case study of a multinational bank. Business Process Management Journal, 18(2),
pp. 42-65
Keill, P., Johnson, T., 1994. Optimising performance
through process improvement. Journal of
Nursing Care Quality, 9(1), pp. 1-9
Ngwenyama, O., Norbjerg, J., 2010. Software process
improvement with weak management support: an analysis of the dynamics of
intra-organisational alliances. European
Journal of Information Systems. 19, pp. 303-319
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