Severn Trent Water is a UK water company that services over 4 million customers. To improve performance, they organized workshops with staff to identify gaps in reporting and define new performance metrics. They realized they needed to include more leading indicators to proactively drive performance, rather than just lagging indicators that measure past performance. New metrics were targeted to specific teams so they could focus on areas they could directly influence. Performance metrics and how different teams contribute were visually represented to improve relationships between teams and give a clear line of sight of how performance can be impacted.
Power Co-Op Improves Work Management Planning and Scheduling (DRAFT)Wally Wilson
The Need: The power cooperative's machine downtime was increasing and production decreasing, requiring a review of reactive maintenance processes.
The Solution: An assessment identified issues, and Life Cycle Engineering implemented standard work processes, priority matrix, and scheduling software to change to preventative maintenance.
The Benefit: Reactive work requests dropped 22% in 90 days, increasing craft utilization and scheduled jobs. Standardized processes supported cultural change for continuous improvement.
The document is a quality metrics handbook that provides guidance on implementing quality metrics. It discusses how quality affects the entire organization and increasing visibility of quality metrics builds credibility. The handbook recommends starting quality metrics in manufacturing and linking them upstream to other departments to improve collaboration and focus improvement activities. Key questions addressed include which metrics to use, how to communicate results to management, and what other departments need from quality.
The document summarizes a 2010 Environmental Performance Summit held from June 28-30 in Arlington, VA. The summit featured workshops on developing quality performance measures and performance-based budgeting for environmental programs. It also included keynote addresses on implementing Executive Order 13514 and best strategies for using performance measures in environmental programs. Participants could earn up to 18 CPE credits.
The document outlines a roadmap for defining project metrics and measures to track project success. It discusses establishing governance and scope, identifying key metrics, collecting baseline data, setting benchmarks and targets, reporting processes, implementation, and review. Metrics should be clearly defined, agreed upon, and tied to business goals to provide a common understanding of project status and performance.
The document discusses developing meaningful metrics and provides an overview of key considerations for measurement including definitions, reasons for measuring, barriers, pitfalls to avoid, characteristics of good measures, and examples. It addresses how to determine what to measure, where to measure, and how to develop measures that are actionable and drive improvement. The presentation provides guidance on establishing an effective integrated system of metrics across all levels of an organization.
ISO 50001 Energy Management, SEP Executive Briefing - UL DQS Inc.DQS Inc.
This document provides information on energy management and the adoption of ISO 50001. It discusses the benefits of ISO 50001 certification such as expected ROI ranges of 6.5-17% within 1-2 years. Over 4000 organizations have adopted ISO 50001 globally including many large multinational companies. Case studies show energy cost savings and implementation costs with ROIs typically under 2 years. Feedback from certified facilities indicates that energy management is incorporated into regular business operations through a cross-functional team approach and mindset shifts. Overall the document promotes ISO 50001 and energy management system best practices.
This document discusses innovation and change management. It notes that innovation is the creation of new ideas or rearranging old ideas. It identifies challenges to innovation such as unwillingness to expose failed ideas, bureaucracy, lack of vision/strategy, and risk aversion. Success factors for facilitating change include cultures that support change, willingness to listen to new ideas, communication, and involvement of those affected. The document outlines elements of the PDCA cycle for incremental change and lists elements needed for managing change such as leadership support, communication, training, and measurement of results. It stresses the importance of customer focus in any change and avoiding changes that negatively impact operations or quality.
The document discusses various types of organizational control systems including feedforward, concurrent, and feedback control. It describes how these different control systems can be used to anticipate problems, monitor ongoing processes, and evaluate outputs. Specific examples are given of how different organizations implement various control strategies like budgeting, quality management programs, and financial reporting.
Power Co-Op Improves Work Management Planning and Scheduling (DRAFT)Wally Wilson
The Need: The power cooperative's machine downtime was increasing and production decreasing, requiring a review of reactive maintenance processes.
The Solution: An assessment identified issues, and Life Cycle Engineering implemented standard work processes, priority matrix, and scheduling software to change to preventative maintenance.
The Benefit: Reactive work requests dropped 22% in 90 days, increasing craft utilization and scheduled jobs. Standardized processes supported cultural change for continuous improvement.
The document is a quality metrics handbook that provides guidance on implementing quality metrics. It discusses how quality affects the entire organization and increasing visibility of quality metrics builds credibility. The handbook recommends starting quality metrics in manufacturing and linking them upstream to other departments to improve collaboration and focus improvement activities. Key questions addressed include which metrics to use, how to communicate results to management, and what other departments need from quality.
The document summarizes a 2010 Environmental Performance Summit held from June 28-30 in Arlington, VA. The summit featured workshops on developing quality performance measures and performance-based budgeting for environmental programs. It also included keynote addresses on implementing Executive Order 13514 and best strategies for using performance measures in environmental programs. Participants could earn up to 18 CPE credits.
The document outlines a roadmap for defining project metrics and measures to track project success. It discusses establishing governance and scope, identifying key metrics, collecting baseline data, setting benchmarks and targets, reporting processes, implementation, and review. Metrics should be clearly defined, agreed upon, and tied to business goals to provide a common understanding of project status and performance.
The document discusses developing meaningful metrics and provides an overview of key considerations for measurement including definitions, reasons for measuring, barriers, pitfalls to avoid, characteristics of good measures, and examples. It addresses how to determine what to measure, where to measure, and how to develop measures that are actionable and drive improvement. The presentation provides guidance on establishing an effective integrated system of metrics across all levels of an organization.
ISO 50001 Energy Management, SEP Executive Briefing - UL DQS Inc.DQS Inc.
This document provides information on energy management and the adoption of ISO 50001. It discusses the benefits of ISO 50001 certification such as expected ROI ranges of 6.5-17% within 1-2 years. Over 4000 organizations have adopted ISO 50001 globally including many large multinational companies. Case studies show energy cost savings and implementation costs with ROIs typically under 2 years. Feedback from certified facilities indicates that energy management is incorporated into regular business operations through a cross-functional team approach and mindset shifts. Overall the document promotes ISO 50001 and energy management system best practices.
This document discusses innovation and change management. It notes that innovation is the creation of new ideas or rearranging old ideas. It identifies challenges to innovation such as unwillingness to expose failed ideas, bureaucracy, lack of vision/strategy, and risk aversion. Success factors for facilitating change include cultures that support change, willingness to listen to new ideas, communication, and involvement of those affected. The document outlines elements of the PDCA cycle for incremental change and lists elements needed for managing change such as leadership support, communication, training, and measurement of results. It stresses the importance of customer focus in any change and avoiding changes that negatively impact operations or quality.
The document discusses various types of organizational control systems including feedforward, concurrent, and feedback control. It describes how these different control systems can be used to anticipate problems, monitor ongoing processes, and evaluate outputs. Specific examples are given of how different organizations implement various control strategies like budgeting, quality management programs, and financial reporting.
Plains Consulting LLC Intro and Capabilities R3jim heptinstall
Plains Consulting LLC provides operational and manufacturing excellence consulting services to help clients continuously improve processes and eliminate waste. They use proven tools and methods like Lean, Total Productive Maintenance, 5S, SMED, and TPM to facilitate sustainable changes through team-based workshops and coaching. With over 25 years of experience in continuous improvement, Plains Consulting can help clients implement operational excellence practices to improve productivity, quality, costs and safety.
The document discusses key factors for sustained success in quality and operational excellence transformations based on lessons from industry leaders. It identifies 7 "laws of physics" that reliable transformations follow: 1) Be clear on the goals and objectives of the transformation; 2) Design and implement transformations holistically, addressing technical, management and organizational components; 3) Approach transformations systematically by accounting for interdependencies across processes and systems; 4) Focus change efforts directly on operational work; 5) Employ adult learning principles in training; 6) Design transformations programmatically with attention to enablers and success factors; 7) Ensure leaders actively support and role model the transformation. Successful transformations require a holistic and systematic approach across the full organization.
Lean Service in the Public sector: a methodology to cut waste and to maximize...Francesco Santoro
Lean services methodology aims to reduce waste and maximize public services while lowering costs. It focuses on eliminating non-value added activities to reduce process lead times. A case study applying lean six sigma to Italy's public procurement process reduced the tender time by 30-35% from 19 to 16 months. For lean services to succeed in public sectors, it must address risk of prioritizing rule compliance over results, performance measurement rejection, and resistance to innovation. With high-level sponsorship and employee commitment, lean can achieve lasting efficiency and quality gains.
Improving IT application services with six sigmastuimrozsm
This document discusses how Six Sigma process and IT Service Management (ITSM) can be combined to improve IT application services. It outlines the Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control (DMAIC) process of Six Sigma and how each phase was applied in a case study at GE. The case study showed combining Six Sigma and ITIL reduced costs, enhanced decision making, and improved IT service levels through operational efficiencies and a linked service management process.
This document summarizes the challenges organizations face in implementing process improvement programs. It presents a causal loop diagram that shows how:
1) Efforts to improve process capability (working smarter) are undermined as organizations rely on increasing worker effort (working harder) to close performance gaps.
2) Increasing pressure to meet performance targets leads workers to spend less time on improvement activities and more time on direct work.
3) This sets up a reinforcing feedback loop where working harder becomes the norm rather than an occasional response, preventing organizations from fully benefiting from process improvement efforts.
Benchmarking is defined as systematically measuring one's performance against recognized leaders to determine best practices that can lead to superior performance. Project benchmarking compares projects to best-in-class examples to identify innovative practices. When done correctly, benchmarking can help project managers and organizations achieve breakthrough performance by thinking outside their current approaches. The benchmarking process involves determining critical success factors, defining metrics, collecting data, identifying performance gaps, and integrating best practices into processes for continuous improvement.
The document provides an overview of cause and effect analysis and how it can be used to push teams beyond surface-level symptoms to uncover potential root causes of problems. It defines causes and effects and outlines tools like the 5 whys technique and fishbone diagrams that can help identify specific root causes. The document also provides examples of questions to consider for different potential sources of variation like materials, machines, manpower, methods, and measurements. It describes using a cause and effect matrix to relate process steps to inputs and outputs in order to determine where to focus improvement efforts.
This document discusses an enhancement to the S-MAC protocol called Enhanced S-MAC. S-MAC is a MAC protocol for wireless sensor networks that aims to improve power efficiency. Enhanced S-MAC further improves power efficiency by allowing nodes to adaptively turn their receivers on and off based on traffic load. It also addresses issues with clock synchronization and overhearing in the original S-MAC protocol. The document outlines related work on MAC protocols, problems encountered with implementing S-MAC, and how Enhanced S-MAC addresses these issues through adaptive listening modes and an improved synchronization protocol. It proposes to simulate Enhanced S-MAC to demonstrate improved power efficiency over standard S-MAC.
Adm ascúa - morgenstern - bulloni trabajo blog y educacion.pptxCeleste Ascua
Web 2.0 facilita el compartir información y la colaboración entre usuarios activos a través de sitios como blogs y redes sociales. Los wikis permiten que los usuarios creen, editen y eliminen contenido de manera colaborativa, manteniendo un historial de cambios. Flick es un sitio para almacenar, organizar, buscar, vender y compartir fotografías y videos en línea de manera comunitaria. La Internet conecta medios de todo el mundo y ha evolucionado desde 1960, siendo la Web 2.0 una herramienta pedag
El documento habla sobre la sociedad del conocimiento y los nuevos desafíos que plantea la era de la información. Con las tecnologías de la información y la comunicación (TIC), especialmente Internet, ahora vivimos en una sociedad donde la información circula de forma masiva, simultánea y multidireccional, lo que requiere que tanto los docentes como los planes de estudio se actualicen e incorporen habilidades digitales.
This document describes a virtual reality museum created to explore consumer technologies of the past several decades and prompt memories in visitors. A prototype was built using the Janus VR browser and included 3D models and descriptions of phones, computers, and office equipment. It was evaluated by 7 users who toured it on a 2D display. The museum successfully prompted memories in all users of past technologies. Users rated their experience as neutral or better and enjoyed being able to view objects from the past. Future work will involve expanding the museum and better utilizing VR capabilities.
Este documento discute la importancia de la gestión del talento humano y la motivación de los empleados para el éxito de una empresa. Explica que el talento humano es fundamental para alcanzar los objetivos de la organización, pero que los empleados deben estar comprometidos y motivados. Señala que muchas empresas cometen el error de no prestar atención a la motivación de sus trabajadores, lo que lleva a que estos se sientan desmotivados y sin compromiso. Resalta la necesidad de implementar técnicas de motivación que h
Hari Krishna N.S. is seeking an entry level position as a teacher where he can use his teaching skills. He has two years of experience as an Associate Professor teaching subjects like EDC, Electrical Technology, and Digital Electronics. He has an M.Tech in Power Electronics and Drives from VIT University and a B.Tech in EIE from Rajeev Gandhi College of Engineering and Technology. His technical skills include C, MATLAB, Simulink, OrCAD, Keil, and C Studio PSIM. He has participated in workshops and conferences and published a journal article. Some of his projects involve designing a high boost DC-DC converter, a single phase neutral point diode clamped rectifier,
The document discusses blind source separation techniques including Independent Component Analysis (ICA) and Signal Fraction Analysis (SFA). ICA separates mixed signals using the assumptions that the source signals are non-Gaussian and independent. SFA separates signals and noise by maximizing the signal-to-noise ratio. Both techniques are evaluated using metrics like normalized mean square error and correlation to assess performance.
Anche nell'ambito delle Ferramenta e del comparto DIY specializzato , il visual merchandising può dare valore aggiunto allo spazio STORE ed alla shopping experience.
Durante il convegno annuale Bricoday & Hardware Forum 2015 a Milano, abbiamo presentato questo breve seminario con riflessioni e case history.
The document defines and provides examples of several literary devices: similes which use like or as to draw comparisons; metaphors which make implicit comparisons; personification which gives human attributes to non-human things; alliteration which uses repeating consonant sounds; and apostrophe which addresses absent or non-human things as if present. Each term is repeated three times for emphasis and examples are provided to illustrate each device.
Plains Consulting LLC Intro and Capabilities R3jim heptinstall
Plains Consulting LLC provides operational and manufacturing excellence consulting services to help clients continuously improve processes and eliminate waste. They use proven tools and methods like Lean, Total Productive Maintenance, 5S, SMED, and TPM to facilitate sustainable changes through team-based workshops and coaching. With over 25 years of experience in continuous improvement, Plains Consulting can help clients implement operational excellence practices to improve productivity, quality, costs and safety.
The document discusses key factors for sustained success in quality and operational excellence transformations based on lessons from industry leaders. It identifies 7 "laws of physics" that reliable transformations follow: 1) Be clear on the goals and objectives of the transformation; 2) Design and implement transformations holistically, addressing technical, management and organizational components; 3) Approach transformations systematically by accounting for interdependencies across processes and systems; 4) Focus change efforts directly on operational work; 5) Employ adult learning principles in training; 6) Design transformations programmatically with attention to enablers and success factors; 7) Ensure leaders actively support and role model the transformation. Successful transformations require a holistic and systematic approach across the full organization.
Lean Service in the Public sector: a methodology to cut waste and to maximize...Francesco Santoro
Lean services methodology aims to reduce waste and maximize public services while lowering costs. It focuses on eliminating non-value added activities to reduce process lead times. A case study applying lean six sigma to Italy's public procurement process reduced the tender time by 30-35% from 19 to 16 months. For lean services to succeed in public sectors, it must address risk of prioritizing rule compliance over results, performance measurement rejection, and resistance to innovation. With high-level sponsorship and employee commitment, lean can achieve lasting efficiency and quality gains.
Improving IT application services with six sigmastuimrozsm
This document discusses how Six Sigma process and IT Service Management (ITSM) can be combined to improve IT application services. It outlines the Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control (DMAIC) process of Six Sigma and how each phase was applied in a case study at GE. The case study showed combining Six Sigma and ITIL reduced costs, enhanced decision making, and improved IT service levels through operational efficiencies and a linked service management process.
This document summarizes the challenges organizations face in implementing process improvement programs. It presents a causal loop diagram that shows how:
1) Efforts to improve process capability (working smarter) are undermined as organizations rely on increasing worker effort (working harder) to close performance gaps.
2) Increasing pressure to meet performance targets leads workers to spend less time on improvement activities and more time on direct work.
3) This sets up a reinforcing feedback loop where working harder becomes the norm rather than an occasional response, preventing organizations from fully benefiting from process improvement efforts.
Benchmarking is defined as systematically measuring one's performance against recognized leaders to determine best practices that can lead to superior performance. Project benchmarking compares projects to best-in-class examples to identify innovative practices. When done correctly, benchmarking can help project managers and organizations achieve breakthrough performance by thinking outside their current approaches. The benchmarking process involves determining critical success factors, defining metrics, collecting data, identifying performance gaps, and integrating best practices into processes for continuous improvement.
The document provides an overview of cause and effect analysis and how it can be used to push teams beyond surface-level symptoms to uncover potential root causes of problems. It defines causes and effects and outlines tools like the 5 whys technique and fishbone diagrams that can help identify specific root causes. The document also provides examples of questions to consider for different potential sources of variation like materials, machines, manpower, methods, and measurements. It describes using a cause and effect matrix to relate process steps to inputs and outputs in order to determine where to focus improvement efforts.
This document discusses an enhancement to the S-MAC protocol called Enhanced S-MAC. S-MAC is a MAC protocol for wireless sensor networks that aims to improve power efficiency. Enhanced S-MAC further improves power efficiency by allowing nodes to adaptively turn their receivers on and off based on traffic load. It also addresses issues with clock synchronization and overhearing in the original S-MAC protocol. The document outlines related work on MAC protocols, problems encountered with implementing S-MAC, and how Enhanced S-MAC addresses these issues through adaptive listening modes and an improved synchronization protocol. It proposes to simulate Enhanced S-MAC to demonstrate improved power efficiency over standard S-MAC.
Adm ascúa - morgenstern - bulloni trabajo blog y educacion.pptxCeleste Ascua
Web 2.0 facilita el compartir información y la colaboración entre usuarios activos a través de sitios como blogs y redes sociales. Los wikis permiten que los usuarios creen, editen y eliminen contenido de manera colaborativa, manteniendo un historial de cambios. Flick es un sitio para almacenar, organizar, buscar, vender y compartir fotografías y videos en línea de manera comunitaria. La Internet conecta medios de todo el mundo y ha evolucionado desde 1960, siendo la Web 2.0 una herramienta pedag
El documento habla sobre la sociedad del conocimiento y los nuevos desafíos que plantea la era de la información. Con las tecnologías de la información y la comunicación (TIC), especialmente Internet, ahora vivimos en una sociedad donde la información circula de forma masiva, simultánea y multidireccional, lo que requiere que tanto los docentes como los planes de estudio se actualicen e incorporen habilidades digitales.
This document describes a virtual reality museum created to explore consumer technologies of the past several decades and prompt memories in visitors. A prototype was built using the Janus VR browser and included 3D models and descriptions of phones, computers, and office equipment. It was evaluated by 7 users who toured it on a 2D display. The museum successfully prompted memories in all users of past technologies. Users rated their experience as neutral or better and enjoyed being able to view objects from the past. Future work will involve expanding the museum and better utilizing VR capabilities.
Este documento discute la importancia de la gestión del talento humano y la motivación de los empleados para el éxito de una empresa. Explica que el talento humano es fundamental para alcanzar los objetivos de la organización, pero que los empleados deben estar comprometidos y motivados. Señala que muchas empresas cometen el error de no prestar atención a la motivación de sus trabajadores, lo que lleva a que estos se sientan desmotivados y sin compromiso. Resalta la necesidad de implementar técnicas de motivación que h
Hari Krishna N.S. is seeking an entry level position as a teacher where he can use his teaching skills. He has two years of experience as an Associate Professor teaching subjects like EDC, Electrical Technology, and Digital Electronics. He has an M.Tech in Power Electronics and Drives from VIT University and a B.Tech in EIE from Rajeev Gandhi College of Engineering and Technology. His technical skills include C, MATLAB, Simulink, OrCAD, Keil, and C Studio PSIM. He has participated in workshops and conferences and published a journal article. Some of his projects involve designing a high boost DC-DC converter, a single phase neutral point diode clamped rectifier,
The document discusses blind source separation techniques including Independent Component Analysis (ICA) and Signal Fraction Analysis (SFA). ICA separates mixed signals using the assumptions that the source signals are non-Gaussian and independent. SFA separates signals and noise by maximizing the signal-to-noise ratio. Both techniques are evaluated using metrics like normalized mean square error and correlation to assess performance.
Anche nell'ambito delle Ferramenta e del comparto DIY specializzato , il visual merchandising può dare valore aggiunto allo spazio STORE ed alla shopping experience.
Durante il convegno annuale Bricoday & Hardware Forum 2015 a Milano, abbiamo presentato questo breve seminario con riflessioni e case history.
The document defines and provides examples of several literary devices: similes which use like or as to draw comparisons; metaphors which make implicit comparisons; personification which gives human attributes to non-human things; alliteration which uses repeating consonant sounds; and apostrophe which addresses absent or non-human things as if present. Each term is repeated three times for emphasis and examples are provided to illustrate each device.
This document outlines an 8-step strategy for developing effective sustainability reporting. The steps include: creating a roadmap; identifying key players; developing accountability structures; leveraging technology; identifying quick ROI opportunities; communicating successes; continually assessing and refining the strategy; and creating a sustainable culture from the top down. The overall strategy is meant to help companies capture and report on sustainability goals in the face of challenges collecting and analyzing sustainability data from different business units.
This document summarizes the application of the Capability Maturity Model Integrated (CMMI) framework to continuous improvement projects outside of software development. It discusses how the CMMI concepts can be adapted to other industries and business areas, such as energy efficiency. The author applied a tailored CMMI approach to lead continuous improvement projects at Little Rock Air Force Base, developing metrics and reporting tools to track projects and measure outcomes. Key accomplishments included implementing $35 million in resource conservation projects with estimated savings of $50 million. The document provides examples of the metrics reports and planning approach used to successfully manage the continuous improvement initiative.
Who we are and what we can do for your company.
We believe that prosperity must include company and workers.
We face every challenge with the right thinking and tool: Lean Six Sigma, simulation, design of experiments, change management, training.
Controlling is one of the main functions of management aimed at determining if objectives were achieved. The controlling process consists of establishing objectives and standards, measuring actual performance, comparing actual performance to objectives, and taking necessary actions. There are different types of control including feedforward, concurrent, and feedback. Organizational control systems include strategic plans, budgets, policies and more. Means to identify control problems involve executive checks, internal audits, and symptom checklists.
This document discusses performance measurement in local governments. It explains that performance measurement can demonstrate accountability, improve resource allocation, and help achieve desired results. It outlines various performance measurement frameworks that can be used, including the balanced scorecard, logic models, benchmarks, and performance budgeting. It emphasizes the importance of linking performance measures to goals and using data to inform decision making and drive continuous improvement. Overall performance measurement is presented as a tool to enhance management and service delivery in local governments.
No organisation is the best at everything it does. And being second in most activities can add up to coming first overall. All managers recognise that it is up to them to improve continuously the operations that they are responsible for. But that aspiration is blunted because they don’t know how much better their performance could be.
Benchmarking is the structured comparison of an organisation’s products, services, processes or activities with those of an external organisation that is believed to have better performance. The goal is to pinpoint the factors that contribute to that superiority, and to adopt them.
Organisations usually compare themselves with the leaders in their own industrial sectors. But comparison can also be made with processes that, although in other sectors, have similar characteristics – such as shared service centres. An airline compared the processes in the ‘turnaround time’ for planes with those used in pit stops for racing cars. Benchmarking with non-competitors
can increase the quality and quantity of the information available.
This document discusses improving performance measurement in business planning. It recommends using a logic model approach to identify relevant performance measures covering inputs, outputs, and outcomes. This helps structure how a program or policy is intended to achieve its goals. Quality performance measures should address the needs of citizens and stakeholders. Measures need to be selected that are appropriate for both management and accountability purposes. Ensuring measures capture intended outcomes, in addition to outputs, can help focus efforts on achieving desired results.
1) Developing performance measures for business plans requires understanding the key issues through a "logic model" approach. This identifies inputs, outputs, and outcomes in a results chain from short to long-term.
2) Quality assurance of measures is important. Measures should meet the needs of managers, staff, and citizens. They require balancing financial and non-financial metrics.
3) Measures serve both management and accountability, but some outcomes are beyond staff control and should not be used for accountability alone. Reporting website performance is also important.
This document discusses improving performance measurement in business planning. It recommends using a logic model approach to identify relevant performance measures covering inputs, outputs, and outcomes. This helps structure how a program or policy is intended to achieve its goals. Quality performance measures are important for business plans and accountability. Measures should address what citizens and customers want measured. Time lags and attribution challenges must also be considered when developing outcome-oriented measures.
Klir: powerful regulatory compliance management for water utilitiesKlir
The Klir platform is a suite of cloud-based compliance software solutions that offer an easier and more effective way to manage regulatory compliance data so that water utilities can better quantify and mitigate true risks to the environment and human health. And ultimately make water safer, quicker.
Find out more about how can our platform can help your utility.
Why IT Service Managemement implementations sometimes fail in real lifeChristian F. Nissen
A best practice such as ITIL may be approached in various ways. The traditional approach is to plan, design and implement practices based on a notion that we can control reality. However, experience tells us that this approach often fails. Another more agile approach is to adopt and adapt ITIL through small incremental improvements based on the insights from among other Lean IT. A third approach is to let processes emerge in a setting that encourages the preferred behaviour and inhibits undesirable behaviour. We will gain insight into the three perspectives through examples and discuss the different approaches for successfully adopting and adapting ITIL in various settings.
This document provides an overview of strategies to increase organizational productivity through business process reengineering (BPR). It discusses how productivity is influenced by both internal and external factors. BPR aims to dramatically improve performance by redesigning processes from scratch rather than incrementally improving existing processes. This allows for the elimination of waste and non-value adding activities. The document outlines a seven-stage framework for conducting a BPR review including establishing baselines, segmenting customers, deconstructing existing processes, and defining and designing new processes. Implementing BPR requires considering customers, inputs/outputs, dependencies, and designing for the future to develop innovative processes that increase productivity.
Ensemble - Process, Strategy and Performance ManagementRefik Tuncer
The document discusses process, strategy, and performance management systems. It describes how Ensemble is a holistic process management system that provides benefits like standardizing work, increasing efficiency and quality, and facilitating performance measurement. It emphasizes defining and mapping processes, linking them to strategy and key performance indicators, and continuously improving processes to meet evolving customer needs and increase competitiveness. The document promotes taking a process-oriented approach to management and using Ensemble's tools to clarify responsibilities, analyze processes, ensure compliance, and monitor performance at different levels.
ROITT provides strategic logistics and technology solutions to help clients improve operations and reduce costs. It offers services such as project management, hardware/software procurement, training, and process reengineering. ROITT helps clients develop strategies to transition from their current to future state, with phased implementations of fleet management, mobile communications, and sustainability programs. It also establishes performance reporting and change management initiatives to increase visibility, productivity, and profitability.
Unit 4 logistics performance lscm (13 pages)Suzana Vaidya
This document discusses benchmarking logistics performance. It defines benchmarking as measuring performance against best practices to facilitate improvement. There are three types: internal benchmarking within a company; external benchmarking against other companies; and competitive benchmarking against industry peers. The document provides examples of logistics performance metrics that can be benchmarked, such as capacity, utilization, productivity, reliability, and costs. Benchmarking involves gathering performance assessments to develop improvement plans.
The document discusses enterprise performance management (EPM) and the results of surveys conducted with over 2,600 finance professionals. It finds that EPM processes like planning, budgeting, forecasting, performance reporting, and cost analysis are often disjointed and not well integrated. Additionally, ownership of these processes frequently remains with the finance function rather than the wider business. The document advocates integrating EPM processes, focusing on key value drivers, and addressing challenges like data quality and technology adoption to help organizations better manage performance.
1) The document discusses benchmarking as a process for measuring and comparing the performance of property portfolios over time to identify opportunities for improved efficiency and effectiveness.
2) It describes the Property Benchmarking Service, which collects standardized data from UK government departments to benchmark office buildings and identify areas for cost savings.
3) Benchmarking involves collecting key performance indicator data on efficiency, environmental sustainability, and effectiveness, validating the data, developing industry benchmarks, and assessing individual building performance against the benchmarks.
This document provides an overview of performance measurement and discusses key concepts. It covers:
- The purpose of performance measurement is to provide perspective on past, present, and future performance to facilitate improvement.
- Indicators should be developed based on goals and track critical success factors over time. Both lagging and leading indicators are needed.
- Indicators can characterize internal vs. external performance and process vs. outcome measures. A balanced set is ideal.
- Performance measurement maturity evolves from basic budget and cost tracking to continuous learning and improvement culture.
The document discusses best practices for assessing forecasting process performance. Traditionally, performance was assessed based on cost and accuracy, but a better approach integrates three dimensions: rolling forecasts that allow flexibility, consistency through bottom-up involvement of budget owners, and modeling focused on key drivers rather than excessive detail. Assessing the forecasting process helps organizations improve their capability to adapt to changing business conditions.
1. Number 3 2015www.iomnet.org.uk
V41
PLUS – IOM Annual Conference 2015 preview
Navigating the Future – see page 8
The Future of Manufacturing
A new era of opportunity for the UK – see page 19
1front_cover 4/9/15 16:18 Page 1
2. Proactively driving operational
performance through visual
management
Steven White FIOM
10
n an ever more competitive business landscape, businesses
are on the lookout for new ways to improve performance
or make efficiencies. This article looks at how Severn Trent
Water approached improving performance, looking at some
of the key considerations when developing metrics to track
and drive performance, targeted at different audiences
within the business.
‘If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it’1
Severn Trent Water is a water company operating in the UK
servicing 4.3 million homes and businesses across the Midlands
and mid-Wales, providing clean water and taking waste water
away. In the pursuit of improving levels of service, we set out to
understand how teams were driving and tracking their own
performance, sharing best practice through internally and
externally benchmarking drawing from management tools,
techniques and academia.
In 2008, an internal improvement team was set up to help
shape the culture of Severn Trent. Continuous improvement
from all staff was and still is actively encouraged and is supported
by tools and techniques to aid and embed improvements
for a lasting impact. The pace of change was driven through
empowering all employees, especially those in front-line
positions that are closest to customers and processes and in the
I
6proactivedrive 4/9/15 16:21 Page 1
3. One of the most striking observations made during the
workshops was that although we had a good
understanding of our processes, we focused on lagging
indicators at almost all of the levels within the business.
Operations Management
www.iomnet.org.uk
Number 3
2015
perfect position to identify opportunities. However, we found a
trade-off had occurred. With teams developing metrics to drive
their own performance, metrics to monitor the full end-to-end
process performance had not been considered, which meant
that some key performance indicators (KPIs) were not being
reviewed. We realised we had a golden opportunity to learn
from teams that were driving performance and apply some
theoretical principles to help teams understand how they can
proactively influence performance, as well as ensure measures
are in place to review overall end-to-end performance.
We defined our goal statement, such that for each key
commitment we should:
Use proactive leading indicators, as well as lagging measures
Present this information to teams that can influence them
Provide a line of sight of how each team can influence
commitment performance
Define key commitments
Our starting point was to define our key commitments as a
business. These consisted of external commitments to
customers, such as ‘Responding to customer request within four
hours’, and to regulators, such as ‘How many times we leave
customers without a supply of water’. Internal commitments to
the board of directors or executive committee could include
commitments such as reducing operating costs or increasing
productivity by fixing more leaks each day, or commitments to
staff such as reducing the number of accidents at work.
The water industry in the UK is regulated and a business plan
is submitted to the regulator every five years. In the latest
regulatory period, 2015–20, water companies submit a
11
Severn Trent Water is a water company servicing
4.3 million homes and businesses across the Midlands
and mid-Wales
Workshops with staff
were organised to
identify any gaps in
reporting
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4. business plan where, working with regulators and customers,
SMART (specific, measureable, achievable, realistic and time
bound)2
commitments were identified, with targets being
agreed based on acceptability to the customer, historic
performance and planned interventions.
A prioritisation exercise was undertaken on these commitments
to understand where the business would gain the largest benefit
through focused effort. We considered the size of the gap
between projected performance vs desired performance, as
well as the resulting impact of poor performance, be that service
or customer failures, fines, reputational impact or licence
conditions.
Once a list of commitments had been finalised, a senior
management sponsor was agreed for each measure. The role
of the sponsor was multifaceted: to act as a champion of the
measure through supporting the activity; to help manage
resistance by removing blockers and bottlenecks in the process;
and, most important, to promote and communicate the
importance of the activity so teams and individuals would be
more willing to engage fully in the process, participate in
workshops and use the newly developed measures to drive
performance.
Use proactive leading indicators
We understood there may be gaps in reporting and brought
people together to share existing reporting outputs and
procedures formally and to share best practice. Working with
key stakeholders and subject matter experts from around the
business, workshops were organised to identify any gaps in
reporting and define new measures. Each of the new measures
was peer reviewed with the end-users, so their learning and
feedback could be included in the final build. Engaging with
teams at this early stage paved the way for an easier rollout
process, with teams primed to accept new measures.
One of the most striking observations made during the
workshops was that although we had a good understanding of
our processes, we focused on lagging indicators at almost all of
the levels within the business. Lagging indicators are defined as
an after-the-event measurement, such as counts of failure. This
could be the amount of energy we use, which can be calculated
once we have used the energy. To drive performance effectively,
we needed to include more leading indicators or proactive
measures. These fall under three main categories:
Behaviours: a cultural change to encourage the business to
do something differently – for example, turning off all
personal computers after use
Process – for example, installing software to put computers
into hibernation mode automatically when not in use
Asset upgrade – for example, replacing old energy-hungry
equipment with more energy-efficient models
Leading indicators act as an early warning system for the
business and will indicate potential future changes in
performance of the lagging indicators or commitments – for
example, if we have a target of reducing energy consumed in
the office by 10% but budgets have been frozen, which has
arrested the upgrade of energy efficient computing hardware
and lighting, which were seen as two of the biggest contributors
to performance, we can see this as a sign that we are unlikely to
achieve our target of 10% efficiency.
Presenting the right information to the right people
During these exploratory workshops, we found teams of the
same function but in different geographical location had been
measuring performance of the same commitment slightly
Proactively driving operational performance
through visual management
12
Continuous
improvement from all
staff is actively
encouraged throughout
Severn Trent Water
Example: how teams can proactively influence performance
of a commitment to reduce energy consumption by 10%
Figure 1
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5. differently. Reports had been created using data from different
sources, different reporting timescales even different filters on
the data including and excluding different criteria. Each report
then presented different outputs, which denied viewing
comparative performance and made the sharing lessons learned
or best practice more difficult. We resolved such issues by
aligning standards across areas to provide consistency in
reporting to enable areas to be compared. Development of
these reports were then produced by a central team, which
freed up resource in the departments.
To ensure we did not overwhelm teams by expecting them to
review too many KPIs, measures were targeted at specific teams
rather than a wider scale rollout. This meant that teams would
be able to focus on key metrics where they could directly
influence performance, rather than more generalised ‘for info’
measures not driving specific teams into action. Where teams
are relatively diverse, influencing a number of the key measures,
a Pareto prioritisation exercise3
was conducted to identify which
measures would have the greatest impact on performance in
the first instance.
Even though some of the lower priority measures may not be
used immediately, they were recorded for two reasons:
1. If we found performance dipping even though we were on
track with our lower level performance indicators, we may not
have prioritised correctly. By keeping this record of all measures,
they could be swapped so new measures could be brought in
to replace those that were found to have less of an impact on
performance than expected.
2. Looking holistically at driving performance across the suite of
previously identified commitments, if performance is sustained
at an acceptable level and change initiatives have been
embedded to sustain performance, these measures could be
retired. When performance is sustained longer term, review of
these measures could move towards a monthly or quarterly
check-in to ensure performance remains stable.
Providing a line of sight of how each team can
influence performance
As the suite of measures was developed at the workshops, this
was represented visually following principles of critical to quality
trees4
to make it clear how each team and each level of
management within the business can contribute to business
performance. We found this visual representation of key metrics
and the teams that are involved, brought previously disparate
teams closer together, creating better relationships through a
common cause and breaking down working silos as colleagues
started to see how each team influence overall performance of
the commitment.
Let us look at the monthly energy bill in an office – see Figure 1.
Our key commitment is to reduce energy consumption by 10%
by September 2016 following principles of SMART objectives.
The four levels of the pyramid represent the layers of
management in the business from the director level, who would
review the 10% reduction in energy consumption outlined in
orange, through the organisation to the team leaders on the
lower level of the pyramid highlighted in purple. It is important
to note that in most instances approximately 80% of the
business is either the team management level or their direct
reports, so metrics need to be targeted at these teams to
maximise impact.
Whilst developing measures, if we ask the question: ‘What can
we influence that will drive this performance?’, we will identify
themes of improvement. Within this example we have focused
on two key areas of energy consumption that the teams can
manipulate that analysis showed would have the highest impact:
Operations Management
www.iomnet.org.uk
Number 3
2015
13
To ensure teams are not overwhelmed by too many KPIs, measures were targeted at specific teams
6proactivedrive 4/9/15 16:21 Page 4
6. being energy used through key types of equipment and energy
consumed by lighting. These two measures will be monitored
by the senior management. In this example, it is important to
note these measures are targeted at those that can influence
them. The call centre managers are responsible for the
equipment they use, shown by the grey-shaded boxes, whereas
office lighting is controlled by the facilities management teams,
shown by blue-shaded boxes.
The second level of the organisational structure – middle
managers that report to senior management – would review
measures that influence the level above. In this example, call
centre middle management would have measures around
energy consumed by heating and a second measure viewing the
energy used by personal computing. The team managers in turn
would influence each of these, so there may be a target around
installing each site with thermostatic controls, which will
influence energy consumption though heating. Three key
measures to influence energy used through personal computers
would be:
Computers can be standby enabled through an update that
will put them into hibernation when not in use
The percentage of computers left on overnight can be
influenced by changing behaviours to ensure computers are
shut down when users leave the office
Understanding current assets and replacing them with more
energy-efficient models where available
Looking at the facilities management teams, the senior
management would have a measure looking at the overall
energy consumed by lighting, middle management would look
at lighting by floor and finally team managers may be targeted at
installing energy saving lightbulbs, which will all enable teams to
drive performance.
Lessons learnt
It has been an interesting journey and we have learnt many
lessons along the way:
1. The workforce had been equipped with the tools to improve
continuously and teams had embraced this. However, some
teams spent time sharing lessons learnt and best practice
primarily because of a lack of visibility of roles and responsibilities
of other teams. By getting a cross-section of key stakeholders
together at workshops, it helped facilitate better working
relationships between teams and sharing of lessons learnt. Gaps
in reporting were spotted and key performance metrics were
developed, with the added benefit of smoothing rollout of
metrics through providing the ability for those teams to shape
the metrics they would be using.
2. Proactive leading measures help to arrest slipping
performance before it becomes a problem.
3. When developing metrics to drive performance against
commitments, it is important to understand the capacity of
teams using them. Initially, too many metrics were proposed.
Some teams that influenced several key measures had around
40 measures, and it was not feasible to expect teams to review
and drive performance against each of them. This was
countered by developing targeted measures for teams to a
more manageable number of metrics and, as noted earlier,
swapping these with metrics to refocus teams once
performance stabilised.
4. Documenting measures and the proposed metrics that drive
performance helped cement cross-team cohesion, because
individuals have a line of sight to how their work impacts on
others’ teams and, ultimately, the commitment.
In summary, there will always be competing views on which
performance indicators are the most important. Agreeing KPIs
and getting buy-in from the business was crucial to success, as it
allowed the business to focus improvement activities in a
prioritised order. Getting key stakeholders together to discuss
how to best track performance around a prioritised measure,
sharing best practice, standardising measures and exploring
more of the proactive leading indicators got teams thinking
about how their day-to-day activities could contribute to higher
level business commitments, as well as providing a line of sight
of how each team can influence performance.
Performance needs to be measured before it can be improved.
At Severn Trent, we now have a framework in place to monitor
performance proactively against key commitments and are
much more nimble, enabling us to react quickly to changing
performance.
About the author
References
teven White FIOM is a Senior Business Analyst, Severn Trent. He has used his black belt in lean Six Sigma
to implement a system that proactively drives performance.
1. DRUCKER, P (1993), The Practice of Management (reissue), Harper Business
2. DORAN, G T (1981), ‘There’s a S.M.A.R.T. way to write management’s goals and objectives’, Management Review,
70, 35
3. GALLOWAY, L, ROWBOTHAM, F and AZHASHEMI, M (2000), Operations Management in Context,
Butterworth-Heinemann
4. ECKES, G (2003), Six Sigma for Everyone, John Wiley & Sons
S
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through visual management
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