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Identifying and Analyzing the Risks of Business Process Reengineering
ProjectsKristin M. Howlett
Director of Process ImprovementDeKalb County, Georgia
October 29, 2008
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Are you gambling with your project?
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Can you afford to roll the dice on risk?…
1. Identify Risk:
2. Assess Risk:
3. Mitigate Risk:
4. Monitor Risk:
Develop a formal Risk Management Plan:
Consider all vulnerabilities
Consider likelihoodof event happening
Manage and react frequently
Consider all actions that can minimize, impact or eliminate event
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Risk Identification
Categories of Risk for Projects: Technology Risk
• Hardware/Software Risk
People Risk• Resources• Time commitment for project• Change Management• Vendor Soft Skills• Training
Technology Risk People
Risk
Project Risk
Project Risk• Sponsorship• Scope• Cost Estimate and Budgeting• Project Management• Process Reengineering• Political Environment• Change Management
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Technology Risk
Hardware Risk• New purchase vs. existing hardware• Maintenance – costs for upgrades• Technology redundancy (across different systems), or
interoperability (interfaces between systems)
Software Risk• Custom solution vs. package solution• Interfaces• User-friendly technology• Enhancements to software• Software functionality• On-going support (when project is complete)
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People Risk
Resources• Subject Matter Experts• Technical resources• Contractors• End user management
Time Commitment for Project• Concurrent projects• Other work responsibilities
Change Management• Acceptance of new process from project team and the rest of the
organization• Plan in place and owners assigned
Training• Training on new procedures • On-going availability for new training (or retraining if needed)
Vendor Soft Skills
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Project Risk
Sponsorship Who is leading the project? How engaged is he or she?
Scope• Have clearly defined goals and objectives in advance• Avoid “scope creep”
Cost Estimate & Budgeting• Know budget limitations• Contingency Fund (add 25% to budget for unanticipated events)
Project Management Process Reengineering
Is it being performed? Who is responsible for it?
Political Environment Change Management
• Clearly defined process on how requirement changes will be implemented
• How will changes be institutionalized?
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Case Study: DeKalb County 311
DeKalb County is located in Metropolitan Atlanta Third most populated county in Georgia
• Population: 737,000• Over 100 languages spoken
DeKalb is home to… The state’s second largest airport (PDK) Center for Disease Control (CDC) GBI Headquarters, FBI and IRS Regional Headquarters 9 major medical facilities, including
Emory University Hospital and Atlanta VA Medical Center
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Case Study: DeKalb County 311
What is 311?An easy to remember three digit phone number to call when
contacting your local government for any “non-public safety emergency” matter.
Centralized, consolidated call center to relieve the non-emergency call burden from 911 and to provide excellence in customer service• “One-stop Shop” for customer service delivery
System-wide technology implementation that provided an opportunity for Dekalb to revisit the way the county does business • Streamlined business processes • Eliminated redundant activities• Improved customer-facing business practices• Increased revenue streams
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Case Study: DeKalb County 311(continued)
Some of the benefits of 311 include… Relieving front-end, customer service work load from individual
departments across the county, allowing individual departments to better focus on core business functions
Assessing county performance• Tracks the quantity and status of service requests to improve
accountability and service delivery• Classify and analyze service requests to locate problem areas
Improving service quality and quantity• Improves how county services are requested, scheduled, and performed
(standardization of practices)• Central point of intake and retention of customer information• Ability to handle many calls simultaneously with a “live” person• Ability to identify service needs in high call volume areas • Increases the efficiency of administrative activities by eliminating
tasks that add no value
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Case Study: DeKalb County 311
All departments are affected by 311 and will have some changes in their customer facing processes and practices
At the onset of the project, the scope was actually too limited – the project overlooked dependence on external departmental involvement • Call center implementation became process improvement project
Project Risk: Scope
Caller Dials 311 311 Call Center
Informational Call – handled by 311
Call CenterUp to 75% of
incoming calls are handled within 311
About 25% of calls are “customer-
specific” & handled by affected department
Service Request - Electronic Service Request is sent to
department
Telephone Transfer
Department completes service
request and updates CRM
Basic 311 Call Center Process Flow
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Managing Risk
There are 3 types of risk:
Controllable - Risk can be identified and a contingency plan to minimize or eliminate risk is established
• Plan for alternatives or options from most optimal to least optimal
Uncontrollable – Occurs when risk can be identified, but the specific event and/or the timeline for occurrence is unknown
• Plan for contingencies
Unknown – A risk that has not been identified and it occurs• Hiring freeze in DeKalb County that threatened 311 “Go Live” date• Acquiring the “311” number designation
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Assessing Risk
Determine risk probability that event will occur• Give a rating to the event: High, Medium, or Low risk
Risk and Description
Risk Impact
Risk Probability
Mitigation / Contingency Impact / Status
Hiring of Departmental Trainer
Low Low • Information Systems will conduct training classes
A week delay in hiring a trainer will cause a week delay in the Go Live, $15K/week
New Interface Needed for Hansen Department
High High • Engage vendor early
• Identify Architecture by Month 1 of the project
Interface availability will impact the SIT/ UAT; potentially the Go Live
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Mitigating Risk
Develop a Contingency Plan• Determine a back-up plan for an event happening• Determine who owns the event if it happens
Risk Avoidance: Can you prevent a risk from occurring?• Who will be responsible for preventing the risk from happening
and when will it be done?
Assess severity of impact• Whenever possible, relate risk impact in terms of money and
time: A 4 week delay in a hardware delivery date would cost $40K per week (or $160K for a month).
Budget for Impacts• Add 25% to your budget to fund mitigation and contingency
plans
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Monitoring Risk
Develop and implement a methodology to manage the risk process
Use software tools and risk mitigation techniques to manage risks
Develop a formal process for issues management
Reassess and add risk items throughout implementation
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Key Take-Aways
Risk cannot be avoided, so don’t take a chance!
Follow a Risk Management Plan:1. Identify risks early in project implementation2. Assess the potential impact to project
(preferably in dollars)3. Mitigate risk by developing a
contingency plan for each risk4. Monitor risk continuously
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Questions?
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