Case Study – Fixing a transformation project

The problem

The company had already undertaken a transformation project which involved the following elements:

·       The closure of 50 regional locations across the UK who were responsible for allocating and invoicing the work of approximately 250 employees working as mobile technicians.

·       The associated administration staff (Approximately 80) based in those locations were made redundant.

·       The launch of a new system to allocate work to the 250 technicians was launched.

·       The system was believed to automate many of the administrative tasks and therefore 3 people were recruited in a head office location.

The company very quickly realised there was a problem as backlogs appeared in invoicing, customers were not receiving the services they had booked, and gaps were appearing in the stock. The company initially reacted by recruiting an additional temporary workforce of 38 people to clear the administration. However, after approximately 5 months the administrative backlogs were continuing to grow.

Findings

We were initially engaged with the remit of clearing the backlog of invoices so the temporary workforce could be reduced.

Over the first 2 weeks we reviewed the functionality of the new system, analysed the workflow data, setup categorisations for all the backlogs and ensured individual targets were put into place.

It very quickly became apparent that this was not just a backlog volume issue but a fully broken process from order entry through to invoicing.

As a result, we identified the following significant problems:

·       System capabilities were not being fully utilised, and configuration was detrimental to the order entry and work allocation process.

·       As a result, data entry workarounds were preventing correct invoicing.

·       Work was being completed by technicians without entry into the system and therefore with no official record.

·       The mobile workforce were amending work they had been allocated with no way of amending the system to reflect the change.

·       There were approximately 500 people days of backlogs to clear across customer authorisation, invoicing, queries, and complaints.

·       Authorisation not being correctly obtained by customers had placed hundreds of thousands of pounds of work at risk of never being invoiced.

·       Local, non-formal agreements had been made between the regional offices and customers. No record of these arrangements existed following the departure of the administrative employees from the regional offices.

The Solution

The solution for these problems was tackled in 2 ways:

1.     Reduce the current backlog

The team structure was temporarily changed to break the process down into small manageable parts. This allowed groups of the team to concentrate on one task and therefore clear volumes at a faster pace. Targets were specific and easily measurable daily allowing issues to be identified almost immediately.

2.     Fix the root cause of the problem

Multiple cross functional project groups were formed to include all stakeholders in the process both in the UK and France. Initial plans were then created with each team to fully identify and fix the root cause of each issue.

Each group were given specific areas to work through and were brought together in cross project group meetings.

From this, project plans were developed to give timelines and technical dependencies. Agreement was gained from European IT teams for delivery of system enhancements.

Process standardisation was created and signed off internally. Customer visits and communications were agreed to align standard processes with customer expectations and remove the local non contractual agreements which had been made.

The reasons for workarounds were established and understood. As a result, internal training and communication was used to remove the use of workarounds and the systems developed to aid compliance.

The outcome

The first 2 months

·       All backlogs had been tackled and a list of work which could not be invoiced was identified.

·       The sales and commercial teams were tasked with speaking to customers to try and find solutions to invoice problematic jobs.

·       Approximately a third of the temporary staff were able to be released by the business.

·       A fully agreed plan was in place for delivery of the improvements and a roadmap to implement standard practices across the full order to invoice process.

Within 4 months

·       New standardised working practices were being rolled out to customers.

·       Enhancements to the system had been documented, proposed, and partly implemented which removed many of the workarounds.

·       Plans were created to reduce the remaining temporary workforce through further process and system improvements.

Within 6 months

·       All system enhancements had been delivered except for one complex IT change which would need a further 3-6 months of development.

·       A committed timeframe for the IT deliverable was agreed.

·       Staff levels were reduced to expected and agreed levels.

·       Correct first time invoicing increased from 50% to 90%.

·       The client agreed a plan to increase this to 95%.

·       All work was being invoiced.

·       No backlogs existed.

·       Complaints and queries for invoiced work had reduced from 150 per month to 15 per month.

·       The system had been enhanced to include a customer portal for an improved user experience.