Design Thinking

Challenge:

I work as a system analyst in Supply Chain Management organization. My team is responsible for  maintaining and enhancing systems/applications used by the organizations. Any changes to the  system must be completed after alignment between stakeholders which include business owner,  procedure unit, and Technical Team. The team was in charge of enhancing the bidding process to  find a solution that offers electronic submission from potential vendors, while safely maintain their  confidential information. The selection from the company was to utilize an existing procurement  network, SAP Ariba. The challenge for the team was to ensure the system can be utilized and  design a process that follows the company’s internal procedure and guideline.

Selection:

Conducting an in-depth research to available system/application to do the e-bidding process was

not enough, what is more important is how can it be used to make sure the current procurement  processes are reflected without sacrificing information security and compliance with internal  procedure. The first thing the team used is a visualization tool that was developed to show the  process flow diagram in collaboration with stakeholders. The diagram helped in identifying the key  tasks in the current process. Also, the diagram was used to design the system tasks and used as  a reference to ensure compliance with internal policies and procedures as it is with no changes.

Application:

During the implementation stage of the designed tasks, we faced some issues where the system  process and capabilities was unable to satisfy specific procedures. Therefore, we had to modify

procedure or business process to fit with system capabilities. To ensure the system tasks were  designed to fit procedure, few procurements were selected to be a pilot for the system (Learning  Launch). During the learning launch, we found out that some of the processes were not included  in the process flow diagram. That required adjustment and correction of the design. Testing with  pilots gave us more insights on how to improve the system and modify it. When the system was  deployed, the issues raised by users had guided us to refine the process and streamline it more

and more.

Insight & Approach:

The use of the visualization through process flow diagram was very useful to explain the business  process to technical team and break-down the process further for specific tasks to be developed  in the system. However, a cross-functional group was required to ensure that all process were  implemented. Nonetheless, we only worked with business owner and technical team, and neither  were actually responsible for the implementation of the procurement process. We missed two key  stakeholders: the end user represented as contract advisor/contract administrator, and policy and  procedure team responsible to update the system.

The use of pilot (learning launch) was essential to find the flaws in the system. Whenever we had  an issue with the process, we would conduct a meeting to come up with possible work around and  plan to resolve the issue. I believe even though that we had a successful launch of the system, we

Design Thinking

would have made it more effective if we had the chance to train the team involved in designing the  system in the capabilities of the SAP Ariba network. Also, I think we had a lot of changes after  realizing that the exact process cannot be translated as is to the system without enhancement.  Our focus was to keep the procedures as is, and it should be improving the current process by  doing a secondary research on the best business practices and interviews with the companies

using the same procurement system.


Design Thinking Challenge : I work as a system analyst in Supply Chain Management organization . My team is responsible for maintaining and enhancing systems / applications used by the organizations . Any changes to the system must be completed after alignment between stakeholders which include business owner , procedure unit , and Technical Team . The team was in charge of enhancing the bidding process to find a solution that offers electronic submission from potential vendors , while safely maintain their confidential information . The selection from the company was to utilize an existing procurement network , SAP Ariba . The challenge for the team was to ensure the system can be utilized and design a process that follows the company ’s internal procedure and guideline . Selection : Conducting an in - depth research to available system / application to do the e - bidding process was not enough , what is more important is how can it be used to make sure the current procurement processes are reflected without sacrificing information security and compliance with internal procedure . The first thing the team used is a visualization tool that was developed to show the process flow diagram in collaboration with stakeholders . The diagram helped in identifying the key tasks in the current process . Also , the diagram was used to design the system tasks and used as a reference to ensure compliance with internal policies and procedures as it is with no changes . Application : During the implementation stage of the designed tasks , we faced some issues where the system process and capabilities was unable to satisfy specific procedures . Therefore , we had to modify procedure or business process to fit with system capabilities . To ensure the system tasks were designed to fit procedure , few procurements were selected to be a pilot for the system ( Learning Launch ) . During the learning launch , we found out that some of the processes were not included in the process flow diagram . That required adjustment and correction of the design . Testing with pilots gave us more insights on how to improve the system and modify it . When the system was deployed , the issues raised by users had guided us to refine the process and streamline it more and more . Insight & Approach : The use of the visualization through process flow diagram was very useful to explain the business process to technical team and break - down the process further for specific tasks to be developed in the system . However , a cross - functional group was required to ensure that all process were implemented . Nonetheless , we only worked with business owner and technical team , and neither were actually responsible for the implementation of the procurement process . We missed two key stakeholders : the end user represented as contract advisor / contract administrator , and policy and procedure team responsible to update the system . The use of pilot ( learning launch ) was essential to find the flaws in the system . Whenever we had an issue with the process , we would conduct a meeting to come up with possible work around and plan to resolve the issue . I believe even though that we had a successful launch of the system , we Design Thinking would have made it more effective if we had the chance to train the team involved in designing the system in the capabilities of the SAP Ariba network . Also , I think we had a lot of changes after realizing that the exact process can not be translated as is to the system without enhancement . Our focus was to keep the procedures as is , and it should be improving the current process by doing a secondary research on the best business practices and interviews with the companies using the same procurement system .