How We Serve You : White Papers
Implementing a Business Operating System:
A Systems Approach for Achieving Bottom-Line Results
Deployment of BOS at All Levels
Many companies often make the mistake of trying to measure too many things and at the wrong levels of the company. To avoid this, a structured method must be used to deploy the measures throughout the company. This involves conducting one-day workshops in major areas of the facility exposing participants to the Business Operating System.
The managers, who were introduced to the process, are encouraged to attend to demonstrate support. During the workshop, participants are presented with an outline of the measures that were developed by the senior managers. Each area is then required to identify their contribution to the performance measures selected by upper management.
For example, if the senior mangers identified accident rate as a performance measure, then the next level may track number of accidents and the shop floor may choose to monitor the number of unsafe acts. In this case, there is a strong vertical alignment of what is monitored and responded to at each level.
The Business Operating System follows the same path as the upper level: Data Collection Methods, Review Sessions, and the use of Problem Solving techniques. In some business processes, managers may find it difficult to identify relevant measures. The primary consideration is that measures need to reflect the needs of the internal customers.
For example in the area of Information Systems, internal customers may expect fast response time and few problems with the information system. Then data should be collected from the help desk, not to necessarily minimize the number of calls initially, but to identify the types of calls received and the internal systems that need to be modified to effectively serve the customer.
