The Situation

The bank had a silo-based operational model which impeded process efficiency, transparency and compliance. The COO was keen to explore and then implement tools which would enhance the end to end management of key operational processes, enhancing teamwork and collaboration and reducing cost and risk.

Once the assignment got underway, many of the CXO team saw the opportunity to use elements of the solution to enhance performance in their own areas of responsibility. The Head of Risk wanted to capitalise on the project by aligning it with enhancements he was making to Operational Risk Management. The CEO then saw the opportunity to create a procedure whereby all processes in the bank had accountable owners who would be responsible for ensuring that processes were compliant and documentation was up to date.

The Task

I sold and delivered a proof of concept assignment to implement modern process management workflow software (ProcessMaker) across one of the bank’s key end-to-end processes. After the successful delivery of the POC I was retained to design and implement new processes, utilising the workflow software, across multiple key processes in the bank over a 15 month period. Full engagement with operational users was a pre-requisite so as to get their buy-in, as the processes under review were absolutely critical to the day to day delivery of service to customers. The scope of the project then extended to cover the requirements of the CEO and the Head of Risk.

The Action / Approach

On behalf of the COO I promoted the benefits of improved processes and the workflow tool across multiple stakeholders in the bank, then captured existing processes, identified improvements through process redesign, and then configured the tool to run each of the new processes. I produced user manuals and operational support processes.

I then identified ways in which the new tool could align with the emerging needs of the Head of Risk , building in features which would enhance Operational Risk Management in the bank.

The third area of work involved me assessing the status of 400 of the bank’s processes and procedures. Were they up to date, and did the documentation match the reality of what was happening on the ground? Who actually was taking ownership responsibility for each process, both from a compliance perspective and also in terms of identifying and advocating future process improvements? This involved creating a taxonomy to align individual processes into twelve major process areas, which made process management much easier for the CXO team to get their arms around. I then designed and implemented a process, using the workflow tool, whereby process owners would be automatically called on to update and attest the documentation that related to the processes and procedures for which they were responsible.

The Result

The bank has been able to make a major step change in the way it delivers its services, with better collaboration across departments, improved process efficiency, reduced errors, greater transparency of workloads, and enhanced compliance and workflow audit trails.

The work has underpinned a much stronger culture of process ownership, which gives assurance to CXOs, Board members, Auditors and Regulators that approved processes and policies are being followed correctly by staff across all parts of the bank.

The bank’s IT team has been trained up in the workflow tool so that they can continue to deploy it across additional areas of the bank in the future.

Relevant Business Perspectives

Practice