Business and Systems Process Analysis

Business Case:

A large Consumer Packaged Goods manufacturer commenced simultaneous changes to several enterprise wide systems to support a strategic enterprise initiative.  During the first phase of the project, weaknesses in project planning and communications led to poor requirements gathering and continuous scope changes.  These weaknesses created project delays, frustration and unforeseen costs. CapTech’s process engineering experts were asked to map the business processes and supporting system environment, focusing on interfaces between the ERP and Legacy systems. 

Solution: 

CapTech utilized innovative Process Engineering Methodologies to analyze the current landscape of business processes included in the initiative.  Process interactions between departments were then identified through a series of business focused group interviews.  These interviews included subject matter experts from Manufacturing, Supply Chain, Sales, Order to Cash, and Finance.  The IT systems that supported these processes were identified and displayed with system and application tags in the business process models.  Next, detailed interface maps were built through review of existing system documentation and follow-up interviews with technical experts.  These maps described data flow and interactions as well as noted timing and data physical locations.  CapTech identified key areas for integration and areas for process improvement by holding review sessions with business owners and IT stakeholders.  The business and system process maps were then integrated by overlaying the technical and business process models.  Finally, CapTech released process models to business and system process owners in support of mobilization for the next phase of development.

Tools: 
  • Visio Process Modeling
  • Custom Interview Templates (Word)
  • Analysis, Inventories, Statistics, Logs (Excel)
  • Schedule, Status, & Tracking (Project & Excel)
Results: 

CapTech requirements gathering approach was ~20% more efficient and produced significant reductions in scope, particularly during subsequent phases. Our process analysis resulted in an enterprise wide vision for the new initiative by depicting the business process landscape and supporting systems. 

Process improvement opportunities were identified for longer term implementation.  The following short term benefits were realized:

  • Better requirements gathering sessions because of the ability to level-set team members on the current state
  • Improved understanding of system and process interdependencies
  • Improved visibility where upstream or downstream impact analyses should be performed
  • Assigned ownership of potential integration points (reducing risks)