Maqsood Ali/Chief: Central Procurement Unit, BMS, Teetly

Am choosing the mind mapping to share the design thinking and innovations I have done with my team  in our unit which provides procurement services to the Extreme Commerce  (Teetly) at HQ serving 1000 clients with only 8 team members.

Challenge: As I have explained earlier, our unit, Central Procurement Unit or  known as CPU, have been  aligned as a result of reform/structural change exercise to provide huge procurement services to HQ  units supporting nearly 1000 clients and estimated $80 million/annually of procurement services with  only 8 team members. This is a challenge for two main reasons: 1. The existing culture and procedures  of the organization in providing procurement services and accountability which all rest with the  Procurement team and not jointly mapped and managed; 2. The high expected demands and  procurement volume, large client based which is not exponentially linked with the number of CPU team  to carry out those services to the expectations and without risking the organization’s rules, visibility, and  best interest.

Selection: with the two challenges above and due to the time pressure, the team and I decided to step  out of office and have a mini-retreat (half day) to dive deeper into the design thinking process, looking  at how we can use it to generate better ideas and thus select what can we adjust in our approach and  reposition CPU to immediately respond to the organization and Clients expectations and as such we  have decided that we will work on the following areas that will have a direct impact on our capacity, two  way communications with clients, compliance, and delivery. Those areas were directly linked with the  two challenges highlighted above and we all agreed that addressing those require us to involve the  clients as well and for that we have identified a number of active/proactive clients to help us which we  have invited with us to the mini-retreat to jointly share our approach, listened to their existing problems  and challenges and what is it that they need to solve and deliver, we then used them as our sounding  board and to pitch our ideas, proposals and solutions and finally to pilot and test the later solutions  proposed before the final launch.

Application: after intensive brain storming and assessing "what is? The team and testing client that  we invited, we came up with a number of new initiatives and modifications to our business model  that covers the majority of the challenges and can be implemented soon and tested to allow us to  show immediate solutions and we all agreed that those will help us cover 80% of the issues and we  all agreed that it is almost impossible to achieve 100% coverage and do everything is such a short  period, that is why we have agreed that we can always correct, adjust, and amend the 20% along  the way and as we go. This was very inspiring to the team and testing clients as it allowed them to see  their own contributions to the overall picture and helped motivate them to work with me to introduce  the interventions.

Insight: The team and I have then designed and implemented a number of internal systems, agreed on  internal cultures and client-oriented approach and productivity enhancement areas and needed new

products and started working on translating those into visible actions, processes, conducted trainings,  and regular communications and norms that we started implementing over the next 6 weeks. I must say  that involving the whole team and some from the client side allowed me to fully engage the majority of  the team as it helped them to learn new approaches into managing large and complex challenge into  smaller actions while working hand in hand to design and implement those actions and stay motivated  while working extra to keep work going while implementing those new agreed initiatives and testing  them on the selected clients during the pilot phase and adjusting and practicing the listening mode with  clients to better modify and adjust the systems, forms, procedures we have been working on.

Approach: The collaborative and engaging approach I have used with my team and clients directly  supported the design thinking and allowed us to generate innovative and out of the box ideas as we  have consistently answered the "what is?" and "what if?" questions and adjusted our approach to  better fit, this was very much complemented by the testing clients who were onboard with us as they  made us look at the approach from completely different angle and saved so much time, resources  and efforts that the typical approach where we only look at the approach from one angle (the service  provider angle). Long story short, and few months later, we have used the mind mapping tool and to  create a business unit (CPU) that is client and business oriented which the Client survey feedback  captured Clients saying “CPU is a client-business oriented unit unlike any other Operation units we have  seen and we feel so comfortable working with the team, learn from them and work collaboratively  together to get better results”. Many modifications were made based on the ongoing/constant feedback  we receive, mistakes we made, audit and oversight comments and recommendations we were receiving   which allowed us to work and adjust the 20% areas that were not covered in original approach and all  those helped us as a team working closely and jointly with the client to go above and beyond our  original design while making us resilient to address challenges as they come.


Maqsood Ali / Chief : Central Procurement Unit , BMS , Teetly Am choosing the mind mapping to share the design thinking and innovations I have done with my team in our unit which provides procurement services to the Extreme Commerce ( Teetly ) at HQ serving 1000 clients with only 8 team members . Challenge : As I have explained earlier , our unit , Central Procurement Unit or known as CPU , have been aligned as a result of reform / structural change exercise to provide huge procurement services to HQ units supporting nearly 1000 clients and estimated $ 80 million / annually of procurement services with only 8 team members . This is a challenge for two main reasons : 1 . The existing culture and procedures of the organization in providing procurement services and accountability which all rest with the Procurement team and not jointly mapped and managed ; 2 . The high expected demands and procurement volume , large client based which is not exponentially linked with the number of CPU team to carry out those services to the expectations and without risking the organization ’s rules , visibility , and best interest . Selection : with the two challenges above and due to the time pressure , the team and I decided to step out of office and have a mini - retreat ( half day ) to dive deeper into the design thinking process , looking at how we can use it to generate better ideas and thus select what can we adjust in our approach and reposition CPU to immediately respond to the organization and Clients expectations and as such we have decided that we will work on the following areas that will have a direct impact on our capacity , two way communications with clients , compliance , and delivery . Those areas were directly linked with the two challenges highlighted above and we all agreed that addressing those require us to involve the clients as well and for that we have identified a number of active / proactive clients to help us which we have invited with us to the mini - retreat to jointly share our approach , listened to their existing problems and challenges and what is it that they need to solve and deliver , we then used them as our sounding board and to pitch our ideas , proposals and solutions and finally to pilot and test the later solutions proposed before the final launch . Application : after intensive brain storming and assessing " what is ? The team and testing client that we invited , we came up with a number of new initiatives and modifications to our business model that covers the majority of the challenges and can be implemented soon and tested to allow us to show immediate solutions and we all agreed that those will help us cover 80 % of the issues and we all agreed that it is almost impossible to achieve 100 % coverage and do everything is such a short period , that is why we have agreed that we can always correct , adjust , and amend the 20 % along the way and as we go . This was very inspiring to the team and testing clients as it allowed them to see their own contributions to the overall picture and helped motivate them to work with me to introduce the interventions . Insight : The team and I have then designed and implemented a number of internal systems , agreed on internal cultures and client - oriented approach and productivity enhancement areas and needed new products and started working on translating those into visible actions , processes , conducted trainings , and regular communications and norms that we started implementing over the next 6 weeks . I must say that involving the whole team and some from the client side allowed me to fully engage the majority of the team as it helped them to learn new approaches into managing large and complex challenge into smaller actions while working hand in hand to design and implement those actions and stay motivated while working extra to keep work going while implementing those new agreed initiatives and testing them on the selected clients during the pilot phase and adjusting and practicing the listening mode with clients to better modify and adjust the systems , forms , procedures we have been working on . Approach : The collaborative and engaging approach I have used with my team and clients directly supported the design thinking and allowed us to generate innovative and out of the box ideas as we have consistently answered the " what is ? " and " what if ? " questions and adjusted our approach to better fit , this was very much complemented by the testing clients who were onboard with us as they made us look at the approach from completely different angle and saved so much time , resources and efforts that the typical approach where we only look at the approach from one angle ( the service provider angle ) . Long story short , and few months later , we have used the mind mapping tool and to create a business unit ( CPU ) that is client and business oriented which the Client survey feedback captured Clients saying “ CPU is a client - business oriented unit unlike any other Operation units we have seen and we feel so comfortable working with the team , learn from them and work collaboratively together to get better results ” . Many modifications were made based on the ongoing / constant feedback we receive , mistakes we made , audit and oversight comments and recommendations we were receiving which allowed us to work and adjust the 20 % areas that were not covered in original approach and all those helped us as a team working closely and jointly with the client to go above and beyond our original design while making us resilient to address challenges as they come .