The business analyst consulting is a vital role in any program or project. The analyst will cover no less than:

• Analysis of the business requirements be they operational, departmental, divisional or organizational.

The Kleiter Consultancy business analyst will source information from the customer’s organization and, where required from third party suppliers and customers. To be more specific:

Functional Requirements describe what the system, process, or product/service must do in order to fulfil the business requirements. These are often referred to as System Requirements although some functionality could be manual and not system based, e.g., create notes or work instructions.

See the 4 key core activities of business analysis:

• User Requirements are a very important part of the deliverables; the needs of the stakeholders will have to be correctly interpreted. This deliverable can also reflect how the product will be designed, developed, and define how test cases must be formulated. The Business Analyst will record requirements in a Requirements Management Tool; This will be done in a simple spreadsheet and / or a log-issue server application.
• Non Functional Requirements are requirements that do not perform a specific function for the business requirement but are needed to support the functionality. Like: system / user performance, scalability, quality of service (QoS) and SLA (Service Level Agreements), security and usability. Report Specifications define the purpose of a report, its justification, attributes and columns, owners and runtime specifications.
• The Traceability Matrix is a cross matrix for recording the requirements through each stage of the requirements gathering process. High level concepts will be matched to scope items which will map to individual requirements which will map to corresponding functions. This matrix should also take into account any changes in scope during the life of the project. At the end of a project, this matrix should show each function built into a system, its source and the reason that any stated requirements may not have been delivered.
• The Business Analyst is involved in User Acceptance Testing (UAT), including developing the UAT Plan and UAT Script. This UAT information will feed the Mid Stage Assessment & End Stage Assessment in the project.

The primary responsibility of the project coordinator is the maintenance and housekeeping work involved in keeping the project and its internal processes running smoothly; this includes a variety of tasks, such as keeping the announcement and open task lists updated, overseeing the assessment and review processes, managing the proposal and creation of task forces, and so forth. There is fairly little involved that couldn’t theoretically be done by any other editor but as often as people tend to assume that someone else is doing whatever needs to be done, it has proven beneficial in other projects to formally delegate responsibility for this administrative work to a specified person or group.

A Project Coordinator therefore operates on behalf of the Project Manager in order to assist in complex projects requiring the completion of numerous tasks.

The coordinator also has several additional roles like the project’s designated point of contact, and is explicitly listed as someone to whom questions can be directed in a variety of places around the project. In addition the role in: leading the drafting of project guidelines; overseeing the implementation of project decisions on issues like category schemes and template use; and tasks might include sourcing hardware, software and services through the internal sourcing departments or sourcing partners.

Other responsibilities would include the raising of purchase orders in a transparent and correct way or overseeing project budgets and informing the project manager if the project is going to overrun or has been miscalculated.

The Program Manager therefore is the key stakeholder who acts on behalf of the various project sponsors to ensure that each independent project is managed correctly thereby accomplishing the objectives set out within the wider program.

The Program Manager is responsible for guaranteeing that collectively, projects lead to an improvement of the business performance and ensuring that the project sponsors are kept abreast of the status of all projects in the program. Management of the following key areas is required:

• Governance.

Manage the structure, process, and procedures to control projects operations and any changes to the performance objectives.

• Standards.

Oversee the performance architecture and Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s).

• Alignment.

To ensure the program supports the higher level business strategies, goals and objectives.

• Assurance.

Ensure adherence to standards and alignment with the business strategy and goals. Verify and validate that the program is running correctly.

• Management.

Ensure that the correct projects managers, sponsors and suppliers are in place and that there are regular reviews on the progress of the projects.

• Integration.

Technically ensure all projects integrate correctly.

• Finances.

Track basic costs together with wider costs of administering the program.

• Planning.

Develop and manage the program plan by collating information on projects, resources, timescales, monitoring and control.

• Improvement:

Continuously assess performance, research and develop new capabilities and systemically apply learning and knowledge to the program.

]]> http://www.kleiter.nl/program-management-consulting/feed 0 http://www.kleiter.nl/project-management-consulting http://www.kleiter.nl/project-management-consulting#comments Mon, 16 May 2011 12:51:30 +0000 mkleiter http://business.kleiter.nl/?p=130 Projects can range from simple assignments involving very basic workflow implementations up to projects at enterprise level where complex key stakeholder cross different operations with different Profit & Loss balances.  The project manager uses the project  triangle:  Costs, Schedule, Scope = Quality and it’s a vital element in each project.

Our key performance indicators are leading to success of the project.

• Quantitative - which can be presented numerically
• Practical - that interface with existing company processes
• Directional - indicating whether an organization is improving or not
• Actionable - are sufficiently within a organization’s control to effect change

The mix of costs, Scope & Schedule is vital to manage a project effectively.

The Project Manager is the effectively the supervisor and facilitator and will:

• Create a project environment and manage the project.
• Manage the project budget.
• Control all the elements and resources for the project.
• Direct / influence stakeholders.
• Ensure timelines are met.
• Manage product delivery.
• Manage Stage Boundaries.
• Closing the project.

After the project mandate, the project process is described in the Prince process model.

A bi-lateral discussion, a mind mapping session is part of understanding the needs of the objectives of the client. A presentation, proposal will reflect the objectives and a clear strategy will be created. Kleiter Consultancy offers to create BCM together with stake holders. A imposed BCM idea is often a base for a good start of brilliant initiatives.

Inventory session:

An inventory of a current position in relation to a possible or existing project. Discuss and mind map ideas, provide innovating ideas and produce a short review of the agreed actions for all parties. A simple process map will be created to understand the project requirements in a better way.

Feasibility study:

A generic process mapping will be made of the current environment. Raw definitions and recommendations will be provided in the feasibility study. The Premedia supply chain ‘pain points’ will be identified providing key focus areas to be addressed. A high level financial baseline will be created providing an indication of the business commitment and technical consulting required to improve the Premedia processes. More detailed process mapping will be done .

Due Diligence of the operation(s):

Our business analyst comes in and will do an investigation of the volume of processed jobs, the type of premedia work, are Third parties involved, proofing requirements, approval and create a financial cost base line.

• Infrastructure
  • Key Activities: The activities necessary to execute a company’s business model.
  • Key Resources: The resources that are necessary to create value for the customer.
  • Partner Network: The business alliances which complement other aspects of the business model.
• Offering
  • Value proposal: The products and services a business offers. Quoting Osterwalder (2004), a value proposition “is an overall view of .. products and services that together represent value for a specific customer segment. It describes the way a firm differentiates itself from its competitors and is the reason why customers buy from a certain firm and not from another.”
• Customers
  • Customer Segments: The target audience for a business’ products and services.
  • Channels: The means by which a company delivers products and services to customers. This includes the company’s marketing and distribution strategy.
  • Customer Relationship: The links a company establishes between itself and its different customer segments. The process of managing customer relationships is referred to as customer relationship management.
• Finances
  • Cost Structure: The monetary consequences of the means employed in the business model. A company’s DOC.
  • Revenue Streams: The way a company makes money through a variety of revenue flows. A company’s income.

(Source: wiki)

The management team will allocate personnel designated to be responsible for specific parts of the process in both records kept and audits required for group analysis.

Process Control is not a new concept, it is the bringing together of procedures that should already be occurring within a business that is functioning to standards laid out in the printing process. With the advent of new presses and the pressure to improve margins, there are false expectations when it comes to taking responsibility for both consistency and quality. It is always someone else’s problems when something goes wrong.

Process Control brings together a personal discipline for both individuals and management teams to consider, and whilst it is always stated that there is never any time to undertake a process such as this, there is always time when presses breakdown or spoilage occurs.

Process Control will not eradicate spoilage or machine breakdowns, but it will reduce these occurrences through the measured plan that will be put in place giving more confidence to both pre press and printers like in the performance of their duties.

The benefits of a managed Colour Management is:

• Reduced downtime of capital equipment.
• Reduced maintenance costs
• Improvement in quality of end product.
• Improvement in machine utilisation.
• Greater awareness of the printing process for both existing and new minders.
• Greater potential for increased sales by demonstration of that consistency to customers.
• Standardised production and prepress

Iso certification (like ISO 12647-2) can be the hook to start the initiative.

Some aspects that will be touched are: Certification of files, correct colour gamuth in source and production files, right version control, standardized canvas offset in file sets. Re-use long tail in the same way as the head production. Connect the Premedia Management Executive Systems to Management Information Systems and Shop Floor Data control Systems.  Science driven in stat of craft-ship driven. And……make the production process less complex.

Optimizing current operations & Continuous Process Improvement are under the wing of Business Process Management. If costs should be reduced to a minimum and Service Level Agreements with customers should  preferably be  maximized to manage customer satisfaction. Simulation software will help you with Business Process Management to take the correct operational decisions and many if-then scenario’s can be showed based on reduced complexity.

Simulation can address four type of questions like Capacity Management, Risk management & Process Improvements and Investments

* Capacity Management:

Simulation can help you get a better idea of the cost effects in utilization of a department or organization when resources are added or distracted. Think also of the effects of a flexible workforce and the most simple one: “How can I utilize resources as good as possible”.

* Risk Management:

Service Level Agreements should be reached each time. If resources will not be available at the right time penalties can be invoked by contract. With Simulation driven from BPM you can see the effect if staff is moved around and mitigation risks plan can be established.

* Process Improvement:

Continuos Process Improvement will secure annual savings. Many if then scenario’s can be played with when simulation is used by operational managers. BPM systems will pin down the processes and exposes a baseline.

* Justify Investments:

Investments in staff & Equipment can be justified if operational figures can be processed and Key Process Indicators can be changed. We are able to help you with with sophisticated simulation services.