Process Design
Once you have analysed your processes and decided on the scope of the changes you want to make it is time to design your future process or the 'To be' state. All of the methods we have outlined are simply analytical tools. They can highlight issues with your current processes but only you can work out how to resolve them. This is a great opportunity and even if you shy away from business re-engineering you should think of process design as 'engineering'. Most of the processes in our institutions have evolved in a fairly ad hoc way over time; this is the chance to think them through end-to-end from a business perspective. The gaps between your current process and the vision of where you want to be can provide the roadmap to a revised process.
You should also take the time to look for examples of best practice in other organisations. Successful systems implementations tend to be those that have thought about their processes rather than simply automating existing functions. Tait says 'By definition, a best practice is a superior method or an innovative process that contributes to improved performance. The test of a best practice is not whether it is the ultimate example; rather, the test is whether it works in the situation. We also like to call best practices 'credible alternatives' because a best practice at one college or university might not be a solution for another institution.' [Tait F. 1999. Enterprise Process Engineering: A Template Tailored for Higher Education. Cause/Effect Vol 22 no.1.]
Northumbria University undertook a major review of its processes relating to student administration in advance of a system implementation project. The review team came up with a number of recommendations that are presented in a report entitled 'Ways of Working Smarter not Harder: A fresh look at best practice, good practice and administrative workflows.' An Executive Summary of the report is available.
At this stage you are thinking about 'What would we like to do?' but also about 'What is it feasible to do?' The information and data section highlights some of the constraints that may be imposed by your data. Similarly if you are designing a process in tandem with a system implementation you need to be fully aware of the capabilities and limitations of the new system. There are notable examples of instances where institutions with ambitious change plans have wasted many months in 'Blue-Sky Thinking' about new processes only to find that the system they purchased would not support many of the things they wanted to do. Matching your requirements to software capabilities is something that needs to occur throughout the System Selection phase.
New technology can however offer considerable opportunities to change the way you do business. In particular web portals, VLEs, self-service functionality and automated workflows are features that can facilitate a radical rethink of how we deliver services to clients. System implementation is too major and costly a task to undertake simply in order to automate some aspects of existing processes. A case study of how Hertfordshire University implemented student self-service enrolment looks at some of these issues.
Process design is really the reverse of the work you have done in identifying dysfunction and process anti-patterns. Now you are trying to engineer a new process that doesn't exhibit these traits. The same tools that you used for analysis can be employed to map out the future process models and check for issues. The Northumbria Health management case study is a good example of the benefits of viewing the same process in a different way and redesigning it with a different emphasis.
Going back to the composition of the project team: the right mix of people will help encourage the sort of creativity needed in a project. As a project manager it is worth trying out some lateral thinking exercises and brainstorming as two techniques for encouraging creative thinking when you meet problems and there are no obvious solutions.
