Achieving strategy success through aligning business frameworks

Business frameworks determine the

rationale of how an organisation produces

value. So why do we need so many, and

why do so many overlap and compete?

Achieving

Strategy

Success Through Aligning Business

Frameworks

DAVID HILCHER

Achieving Strategy Success through Aligning Business Frameworks

Introduction Note: This article is written firmly in the voice of achieving value through understanding industry

and business attractiveness. It is therefore consistent for a market-focused organisation but not a sales-focused

organisation chasing market share.

There will soon be available a full set of business processes for a generic organisation. These detail how to

develop and implement strategy.

The largest roadblocks and the simplest methods to developing and implementing strategy already

exists in many medium to large organisations: the current business frameworks.

Business frameworks determine the rationale of how an organisation produces value. So why do we

need so many, and why do so many overlap and compete? The simple answer is many were created

to fill a need for a particular discipline. At implementation, they infer that alignment is required, but

in many instances there are substantial gaps in capabilities in other frameworks, and the scope of

each progressively creeps. Siloed frameworks are fat and unreliable. Aligned frameworks are lean,

mean and informative providing competitive advantage to the firm through which it can influence an

industry’s structure.

The alignment and integration of business frameworks is a necessary step in establishing the correct

organisational behaviours required to cope with the demands of the market, and exploit

opportunities.

Business frameworks contain the techniques and methods with which to achieve success, but the

political reality of achieving success is that until there is alignment and integration of these

frameworks, success is a fairy tale. Instead of delivering what they set out to achieve, they become

an obstacle to successful delivery.

This article will discuss the techniques available to an organisation to achieve alignment and

integration; however it does not provide an organisation with the political will and tools to

implement the most necessary piece, the organisational change management (OCM) of the

framework owners and stakeholders. Without the willingness of the executive to confront this OCM

issue, the advice given here is unusable.

From reading this document, you should have the foundation knowledge for the creation of a

transformation roadmap for alignment and integration of all your business frameworks. It is unlikely

that the alignment and integration is a single transition.

To begin this transformation, an organisation needs to embed some key business principles

including:

In instances where frameworks overlap, the organisation shall choose which process is

embedded on the basis of enterprise benefit

During the transition period of alignment, stakeholders key performance indicators will be

heavily weighted toward their ability to integrate

All frameworks are owned by the enterprise and there are no silos. 6 Sigma, Enterprise

Architecture, Business Planning, Marketing, ITIL, etc. are business unit, branch, and

executive agnostic. All associates of the business are stakeholders in all frameworks

The alignment and integration of business frameworks offers substantial financial benefits to

the organisation through the elimination of duplication and the expedited manner in which

strategy is developed and implemented

The personalities holding the stewardship of business frameworks tend to be difficult. With the

benefits and risk involved, the work should be commenced six months prior to end of year reporting,

and the deadline for completion must be end of year reporting. Tie substantial portions of

stakeholders at risk income to the successful completion of the implementation roadmap because:

The benefits to the organisation are substantial

There is risk to the business operating in an environment of disconnected frameworks

Substantial culture change benefits received through stakeholder collaboration and

compromise are created by the process

Step 1 – Current State Analysis

The current state needs is analysed and documented. An important point here is that this must be a

warts and all analysis of the ‘as-is’ and not the ‘should-be’. It is normal when a baseline is being

documented that a subject matter expert will be wanting to only suggest they do work the way it is

supposed to be done, what is required is to document activities the way they are actually done. To

successfully achieve the documentation of the baseline, the following are suggested:

Use only experienced business analysts who have the skills in challenging stakeholders and

can quickly spot stakeholders who are wanting to document the ‘should-be’

If in the current state, there is no value chain, do not create one. This step can be distracting

and it is too easy for stakeholders to claim they are providing a service they really do not. Do

not allow stakeholders to see an end-to-end view when documenting the current state.

Leave that to the business analyst to determine where the gaps appear, and to come back to

the subject matter experts to determine if there is are missing processes

The outputs to this step should be:

A full set of business processes for each framework

A full set of inputs and outputs used in process

Business requirements for the frameworks

Dependencies for the processes

Assumptions for the processes

Logical data mapping

Step 2 - Current State Matrices and Mapping

Now that you have a full set of processes, the analyst will create a large matrix. Essentially this is a

spreadsheet in which all the processes are in rows, with the same processes spread across columns.

Using the knowledge acquired from documenting the processes, mark each duplicated process in

another framework. (i.e.) gather requirements, create a project charter. Because the analyst has

collected all the inputs and outputs, it is now easier to determine if there are synergies between the

inputs and outputs, for instance, a document called a ‘project charter’ in one framework, might

contain identical information to a document called a ‘statement of work’.

Process Names

X

X

Figure: Process Alignment Matrix

Next create a database to determine the fit/gap for all the inputs and outputs used in each of the

frameworks. Some of these data objects will forms, screens, reports, and documents. The mapping is

cross-functional across all frameworks. An example of the output of this activity should be similar to

below:

6 Sigma PMO Architecture

Project Charter Project Charter Request for Architecture

number <id> project <name> identifier <id>

title <name> number<id> title <name>

scope <description> scope <description> scope <description>

objectives <description> objectives <description> benefit <description>

cost <value> cost <value> problem <description>

time <value> time <value> requirements <description

time <value>

Figure: Fit/Gap of Data Objects

Step 3 – Current State Business Model Canvas & Business Scenarios

A business model canvas (BMC) takes one to two hours to derive. It is possibly the most powerful

technique used in deriving business requirements, but it is rare this piece of work is undertaken. For

the purpose of achieving this outcome is critical.

The BMC is tested against business scenarios. Some elements of what is required to create a

business scenario were documented during the business process activity. The purpose here is to

check the business processes and BMC are actually capable of delivering their objectives.

The following information is taken from The Open Group Architecture Framework (TOGAF) and

suggests a business scenario should be thus:

Indicate which processes are similar

A business scenario describes:

A business process, application, or set of applications that can be enabled by the architecture The business and technology environment The people and computing components (called "actors") who execute the scenario The desired outcome of proper execution

A good business scenario is representative of a significant business need or problem, and enables vendors to understand the value to the customer organization of a developed solution.

A good business scenario is also "SMART":

Specific, by defining what needs to be done in the business Measurable, through clear metrics for success Actionable, by:

o Clearly segmenting the problem o Providing the basis for determining elements and plans for the solution

Realistic, in that the problem can be solved within the bounds of physical reality, time, and cost constraints

Time-bound, in that there is a clear statement of when the solution opportunity expire

The Overall Process

Creating a business scenario involves the following, as illustrated in Creating a Business Scenario :

1. Identifying, documenting, and ranking the problem driving the scenario 2. Identifying the business and technical environment of the scenario and documenting it in

scenario models 3. Identifying and documenting desired objectives (the results of handling the problems

successfully); get "SMART" 4. Identifying the human actors (participants) and their place in the business model 5. Identifying computer actors (computing elements) and their place in the technology model 6. Identifying and documenting roles, responsibilities, and measures of success per actor;

documenting the required scripts per actor, and the results of handling the situation 7. Checking for "fitness-for-purpose" and refining only if necessary

As stated previously, the purpose is to check the validity of the documented business processes and

business model canvas. The outcome of this step should be:

Verified and validated business processes

A completed business model canvas

Fit/Gap analysis of the processes and data

Duplication report across the frameworks processes and data

Important: The step is not for a business unit manager to expeditiously fill the gaps.

(Source: The Open Group Architecture Framework)

http://pubs.opengroup.org/architecture/togaf8-doc/arch/chap34.html#tagfcjh_63

Step 4 - Enterprise Segmentation

Each business enterprise is a body of elements of the organisation at different levels. These

elements are often described as strategic, operational, tactical or perhaps enterprise, segment and

capability. For the purposes of this document, the following will be used:

Strategic: Elements that relate to the overall direction of the organisation. For instance,

determining the business mission and determining market goals.

Tactical: Elements that are required to implement the activities required to achieve the

direction. For instance developing and implementing business capability, monitoring and

controlling business unit performance, interventions and performance lever activities.

Operational: The organisational behaviours that result from the implementation of strategy.

For instance, the day to day operations of the business.

Figure: Initial Enterprise Segmentation

The next activity is to place all the business framework domains in rows of the Segmentation block.

At this stage there are no assumptions about where each domain fits. It is quite normal at this stage

to discover more frameworks. It is up to your project sponsor to determine if they want to bring the

remaining frameworks into scope. Analysis is required to determine the cost/benefit of bringing the

extra work in, and the outstanding risk associated with leaving them out of scope.

Figure: Enterprise Framework Segmentation with Domains

Each of the above framework domains contains a series of sub domains. For instance your enterprise

architecture framework may contain:

Business architecture

Data architecture

Applications architecture

Technology architecture

Your PMO may contain:

Project management

Organisational change management

Communications management

It will be necessary to document these and prepare a similar view to the one above. There will be

change to these domains where some capabilities, and / or functions, shift from one framework to

another. An example of this is: business architecture and change management successfully

implemented in some mature organisations as a human resource capability.

Below is the final output as it will appear after a few more activities. It is provided here to provide

clarity with where the activity is heading. The final part of the segmentation is to add dimension in

the form of time.

Figure: Enterprise Framework Segmentation with Business Framework Domains and Timeline

Step 5 – Enterprise Framework Capability

The objective of this step is to document the ability of the domains to continue to provide value. The

importance of this step is to ensure you are documenting the current state, and not taking into

account the vision of an individual business unit manager. The information is critical to analyse the

current organisational maturity existing in the capabilities, and to determine the areas the

organisation will likely accept and consume change.

Within each of the Enterprise Framework Domains are sub-sets as stated in the previous step

information. We will call the sub-sets ‘capabilities’. A capability is three elements: people, process

and tools.

The capabilities are decomposed to business process level. An example output:

Process Domain Sub-domain Roles Tools Incumbent Architecture

Business Architecture

3.5.6 Document Organisation Charts

Business Architect

Visio Sparx Word Excel

Contractor

6.9.2 Generate Business Scenarios

Business Analyst SQL Writer Visio Sparx Word Excel

Contractor x 2 Perm x 1 Temp x 3

Figure: Domain Capability Updated with Process Ratings

Using the information that gathered during Step 3, allocate a rating to the process. For instance, if

the process proved to be adequate to deliver the value required, it would be green, if there were

issues it is amber, and if it is insufficient, it is red.

Next allocate a rating to the role capability. To determine the rating apply the following logic:

1. Contractors or temporary employees occupying the roles ‘own’ the capability. They are

temporary resources and are a red flag

2. Permanent employees in the position for close to or more than two years are an amber flag.

If there is no career plan for these people they will either leave or become unproductive.

3. A role cannot be flagged green unless there is a permanent workforce, and a structured

method in which adequately experienced and trained people are transitioned into the role.

Process Domain Sub-domain Roles Tools Incumbent Architecture


3.5.6 Document Organisation Charts

Business Architect Visio Sparx Word Excel

Contractor

6.9.2 Generate Business Scenarios

Business Analyst Visio Sparx Word Excel

Contractor x 2 Perm x 1 Temp x 3

Figure: Domain Capability Updated with Role Ratings

The final activity is to allocate a rating to the tools.

NOTE: Step 3 collected business requirements noting the gaps.

Repeat this activity for each capability in each domain. Red, Amber, or Green status is assigned a

value for decision support when the current state is analysed by executives.

Assuming Red = 0, Amber = 5, and Green = 10 the result for the above totals 35:

Domain Sub-domain Architecture


Figure: Final sub-domain ratings

The activity is continued and rolled up to domain levels. Ratings at domain level are determined by

each domain’s ability to service its clients. Example:

0 to 40% Red

40 to 80% Amber

80 to 100% Green

Domain Sub-domain Architecture


Data Architecture

Application Architecture

Technical Architecture

PMO

Project Management

Organisational Change Management

Schedule Management

Quality Management

Business Planning

Business Analysis

Strategy Development

6 Sigma

Analysis

Planning

Implementation

Step 6 – Workshop the Business

This step tests the mettle of the stakeholders. It requires facilitation by a strong personality

interested in the best outcomes for the enterprise. An external consultant best handles that role

because the outcome will ruffle a few feathers, and the facilitation role is a poison chalice for

anyone with career ambitions in the enterprise.

The minimum mandatory participants are:

The decision makers of each framework discipline

The roles that understand the inputs and outputs of each process

Representatives from each area of the business empowered to make a decision

The business analysts who documented the processes and capabilities

Executive observers

The activities that are required in sequence are:

Create business scenarios to implement an actual initiative of recent strategy.

Create a value chain/s to reflect the implementation

Associate the business processes that reflect the value chain

Assign key performance indicators and performance levers for implementation success

Align the value chain and processes to reflect their position in the enterprise segmentation

Now reverse the scenario and undertake the same steps to develop strategy

Document the benefits, gaps, assumptions and dependencies

The following questions require answers:

Is there a sustainable analytical framework represented at each level of the enterprise

segmentation?

Is there a sustainable delivery framework represented at each level of the enterprise

segmentation?

From an end-to-end perspective, does the business model canvas for the framework

disciplines support analysis and delivery requirements?

While the development and delivery of strategy are critical, the frameworks will need to be

flexible enough to cater for business as usual activities.

The reality is there will be huge gaps and substantial overlap of resources. An outcome like that

expressed in the cube below is likely. What you are seeking to create is a roadmap for the future

supported by sustainable capabilities that offer a career progression for candidates from an

internship all the way through to their MBA. At particular points of the progression the portability of

the candidates can be reflected, (i.e.) at this point a candidate is suitable for use as a supervisor,

branch manager, General Manager etc...

Figure: Completed Enterprise Framework Segmentation

Based on the current business culture, and the realistic expectation of implementing change, the

workshop will produce a likely long term target state for the capabilities and frameworks. Do not

make this target state reflect best-practice; it must be the target state that reflects the most likely

path for success within the organisation. For instance, if in best-practice a particular role or

capability is best handled by a Six Sigma Black Belt, but the reality in your organisation is that the

people with that certification are part timers in that role. Then, they are really not Black Belts at all,

and the likelihood of making them full time and focused is probably a pipe dream.

Step 7 – Selling it to the Executive through Sustainability

Remember the scope of what you set out to do. If you intended to deal with the duplication and

eliminate it totally, or whether you intended to deal with the duplication where it affects the

development and implementation of strategy.

Some duplication is acceptable where you have overlaps in capability that exist at different levels of

the enterprise segmentation to cater for business as usual work.

Executives will look at your plan and ask the following questions:

1. How much is this going to cost?

2. How sustainable is this?

3. What is the benefit?

Questions 1 and 2 require addressing a similar way. The sustainability of enabling and embedding

the roadmap requires capability planning. That is you will need to identify the resources you intend

to transition through the career pathways, the manner in which you intend to up skill them, and the

regularity at which you intend to introduce fresh talent into the pool to broaden your industry

knowledge. The sustainability of a capability in these areas is likely to always need outside help from

either contractors or consultants. Factor this into the plan, not to show the gaps, but to improve its

reliability as many critical roles will need exposure to broader industry to ensure you are aware of

trends and knowledge. Your costed plan must show any planned and justified growth in the

capabilities.

The benefits are in many forms. While it always politically difficult to show mistakes from the past,

sometimes a few “if we had done this when …” helps to localise the theory behind the restructure

and apply a pragmatic reality to the means. Larger organisations will encounter financial benefits

from a reduction in overhead through alignment and integration. The stakeholders who are

responsible for harvesting benefits must sign them off. Without their support, they are simply

numbers on a page.

The final page of this document contains an example roadmap.

Support the roadmap with details for its implementation such as:

Year 1: Project managers from 6 Sigma will transition to the PMO. Benefits include elimination of

disparate project management software licences, and improved project management capability

from project managers with business improvement experience.

Year 2: Business architecture functions from business planning will transition to enterprise

architecture. This will provide 100% utilisation of the current skills and eliminate the need to employ

contractors to complete the workload.

Achieving strategy success through aligning business frameworks

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