I secured my first contract with a UK based small-medium enterprise specialising in online Forex. The organisation was preparing to merge with a US-based Forex company and my client, the PMO Director, had recommended to her Sr Leadership team that it would be critical to understanding in detail processes sitting across the company before scaling up. The company had never undertaken such exercise in the past.

I was asked to manage the end to end as-is process mapping exercise across the company with a potential 3 months deadline which was later extended to 6 in total.

I defined the teams in scope by identifying all customer touchpoints with the client.

Identified how to position the reason for the project to Managers and their teams to gain their long term buy-in. I mentioned to the client that an as-is exercise naturally leads to some process improvements but due to the culture of the company, she advised it would panic the workforce and lead them to think potential redundancies were coming. I asked to review their long-term strategy and spotted their wish to develop Procedural Excellence so suggested this approach to the client.

I prepared a project brief with input from the client. She advised not to circulate the RAID log as part of the weekly status update, so we agreed to raise any issues and risks directly with her. I organised introductory meetings with 7 Managers to validate the draft plan with them, explained the process map prototype and secured resources.

I worked with Managers and users to list all processes sitting within each team and provide sign off confirming the scope of work to be undertaken.

I utilised different methods to capture all the ‘as-is’ business processes reflecting the customer journey such as Operational workshops/interviews, desk observation, call listening and review of current documentation. I coached my resources to articulate their processes and how this would translate on process maps as they had never undertaken such exercise before.

I managed weekly progress reports and schedules keeping stakeholders and senior management up to date.

I managed project resources and clarification of roles, responsibilities, requirements, and imposing deadlines.

With my client’s approval, I facilitated 2 customer/employee pain point workshops as employees were speaking of issues and wanted their voice heard. I prepared PowerPoint slides explaining process mapping benefits, what a pain point is and a list of questions to help them select 2 issues ahead of the meeting. The output of each workshop was a presentation of 70 issues and potential solutions which I analysed and categorised over 3 main themes for Management to address. I also secured Management buy-in to continue facilitating these workshops quarterly to drive employee engagement.

I created a prototype Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to demonstrate how a detailed procedure can reduce training time.

I completed a recommendation document to CEO for efficiency gains, customer journey enhancements and best practices on first call resolution, performance measurement & management, quality monitoring, training, forecasting and long-term strategy.

I proactively coached two members of staff to design swim-lane process maps to further their development and continue using the techniques to identify issues.

Additionally, I acted as the Business Analyst for the HiFX Customer Due Diligence (CDD) Refresh & UBO projects: Development of process maps capturing the ‘To Be’ process design for Customer Due Diligence, Enhanced Due Diligence and Ultimate Beneficiary Owner requirements; satisfying the Money Laundering Regulations 2007 and Joint Money Laundering Steering Group guidance.

Development of a central library of over 300 as-is swim-lane process maps and process definitions.