IT Process improvement

Challenge As member of the IT Department in a small manufacturing company I am supporting  all  the  other  departments  with  IT tools  (software)  to  create efficiency in every process. The main IT tool we use for running processes is the  ERP  (Enterprise  Resource  Planning).  The  biggest  challenge  is  to understand  the  internal  customers’  requirements.  In  some  cases  these requirements are communicated in a very detailed way. In other cases the internal customers have the feeling a process need to be improved but the idea behind needs to be further developed. The focus of this work is on those situations  where  the  internal  customers  expect  to  have  an  interactive consultancy on developing new ideas and IT tools for process improvements.

Selection To support our customers in the process improvement we mainly use two tools: Mind Map and Learning Launch. The reason for using Mind Maps is to be aligned with out internal customers on the process that they own and to make them to think deeply on what they expect as an improvement of the process.

The second tool we use is the Learning Launch because after an idea is developed, it is easy to run a simple model rather than develop the final solution which potentially could be expensive and missing important features not considered initially.

Application We start by mapping the current situation (what is), using a Mind Map. The Mind Map is created together with the internal customer in order to have a real time feedback. The review is done by the customer peers for having different point of views. This step enhance the already good Mind Map created previously.

Once it is more clear to our internal customers what they want and we have developed  together  ideas  for  potential  solutions,  we  start  with  the  first Learning Launch. It is possible to create the first model within the ERP system if the effort is acceptable or “out of the system” (for example using a spreadsheet to simulate the desired result within the ERP).

Insight

It is incredible to see the power of the Mind Map tool. Creating a Mind Map, the internal customer is not only sharing their ideas with the IT department but it seems new ideas are flowing together during the design of the map. After the first Learning Launch, when the result is tested and accepted by the commissioner, we integrate the solution in the ERP or if it is already there we focus on further Learning Launches which are related to new improvements, correction or new requirements, not initially considered. Usually what is not considered initially is related to the user interface which is necessary to be improved to give a better user experience and high efficiency to the new process.

Approach

Usually it is necessary at least a couple of Learning Launches before to get closer to a good and acceptable solution. Once we have collected enough feedback from the Learning Launches, we are ready to release the final version of the software. Most of the thing included in the very last version were not even considered at the beginning because many ideas were collected during the Learning Launches phases.

