Implementation of an operational management structure and efficiency improvement for client in the insurance industry.

1. Project Smart
Building operational efficiency
Introduction & Background
Policy Administration in the Lisbon European Shared
Service Centre (ESSC) is performed for 5 countries
with total staff of 28 team members and 109
processes across all teams. This requires an effective
management process to evaluate performance on a
day-to-day basis. This is the focus of project SMART.
In line with developing the capabilities defined in the
Matisse project, developing performance management
and introducing a lean culture.
Project SMART introduces an active Operational
Management System, which is an effective process of
forecasting, planning, assigning and evaluating
performance within the teams. This will ensure the
most effective use of people, time and other
resources, allow for improvement on the way of
working and highlight issues within the organization.
Ultimately an active management will improve quality
on the service to our customers, improve
productivity and performance, allow for the skills
development within the teams and improvement of
processes, while standardizing the way we work in
the Lisbon EESC.
Key Challenges
• Shift to active management on a day to day
basis
• Introducing workload management
• Developing the capacity allocation process
French team in action during their daily flash meeting
Key Gains
• Clear view on day to day team performance
• Efficiency improvement of 15%
• Efficient process of forecasting, planning,
assigning and evaluating performance within
the teams
“The new management structure will be very
beneficial to all the operating countries, our
clients, because we will be able to extract best
practices and implement these quickly which will
result in reduced operational cost.” – Nuno Pedro
– Director European Shared Service Centre
Figure 1: Operational management system basics

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What have we developed & introduced
The project has originated and been developed with
the Benelux team in 2014. After using this way of
working the feedback from the team was positive,
creating more visibility and insight in the workload of
the team and facilitating priority setting on a day-to-
day basis.
Figure 2: Daily and weekly review
There was a need to create a standardized way of
working in all policy administration teams. After
reviewing and fine tuning the system, ensuring that it
would work for all teams, the project had the kick off
in January and will run for 12 weeks after which there
will be a monthly review of progress and
development.
All teams have introduced a daily flash meeting where
they review the day of yesterday, capacity for today,
backlog and items out of SLA. While also reviewing
any issues that need to be resolved to achieve their
daily plan.
Next to a daily review there is a weekly review
where the productivity and quality of the week is
reviewed, the plan for next week is developed based
on the training and holiday plan. The detailed capacity
plan for each team assists in the planning process on a
day-to-day basis, forecasting expected volumes and
handling times for all the activities in the team.
During the meeting improvement ideas and initiatives
are discussed and actions are monitored. A skills
matrix has been developed to assist in identifying any
additional training need within the team.
Benefits for the Business
With this new way of working the teams have the
ability to identify issues & improvements on a daily
basis, which will allow us to improve customer
satisfaction and build a continuous improvement
culture.
The standardised way of working in all teams will
Improve operational quality and customer service
with a standardized quality process per team that
allows the review of the results and provide
information from which improvements can be
identified.
“The OMS has been very beneficial because we
have a structure with which we can effectively
solve issues, share best practices and we know if it
was a good or a bad day.” - ESSC Team Leader
France
Figure 3: Short interval control day-to-day basis
This standard way of working will also serve as a
model to roll out to other teams in the business.
With the introduction of the daily and weekly
performance reviews the teams will be able to
increase productivity and SLA performance.
Identifying issues and obstacles that keep them from
reaching their targets. Through the application of
standard measures across the operational area
effectiveness can be determined on a team and
individual basis.

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Additionally it provides the teams and management
with information on how to simplify processes within
the operating countries but also being able to apply
best practices to other countries. Providing us with
simpler and clearer processes to drive out operating
problems.
With the introduction of the skills matrix and the
training plan we will have a powerful tool to transfer
skills and to coach, train staff and increase flexibility
with the capacity pool of each team while sharing
best practices.
All in all the introduction will create a business that is
more effectively planned and managed providing an
excellent platform for business growth.
Figure 4: Visual management – every team has a
standarised area with their reports
Feedback from the teams
The new way of working has been developed
together with the teams that are using it on a daily
basis. Ensuring that specific needs are integrated in
the approach and any improvements are adopted and
shared with the other teams.
“The new way of working has been very
beneficial to our team because the backlog
became visible which has resulted in a significant
drop of these numbers and created more focus in
the team.” - ESSC Team Leader Spain
Authors:
Maria Costa - Policy Administration team leader &
senior service improvement analyst – Project lead
William van Meegdenburg – Project Manager
Hiscox