Some of our Clients
Synoptic 3-Process Model
Our unique framework for understanding business processes.
Synoptic 9-Way Crystal Ball
Our unique approach to leveraging business knowledge.
How we can assist with Operational Management Effectiveness
We can help achieve a 10% to 40% reduction in direct costs by training, working with and mentoring your supervisors in Short Interval Control techniques and assisting in implementing operational change.
Operational Management EffectivenessIt is impossible to accurately estimate the value of the effort an organisation invests in strategic marketing. Gross margin is the primary driver for recovering this investment. Our experience is that the first and second line Supervisors who directly influence the cost of production (and hence gross margin) are seldom given adequate tools and techniques to ensure that they will be effective and successful in their role.
Our ApproachWe focus on the role of the supervisor and understanding the role and the unique dynamics involved and balance this with the needs of the management process and introduce measures that allow for Short Interval Control techniques to optimise operational effectiveness.Role of the SupervisorNo matter how good the business strategy, or how well communicated it is, the ‘rubber hits the road’ at the Transactional Process level. The role of the Supervisor is to ensure that the correct mix of process inputs is used and that the output meets a predefined specification of cost, quality and service.The Problem: Supervisors Don’t SuperviseHere’s a common block to realising benefits; Those who have the most influence over a process, often lack management skills and access to formal process controls. Let us expand on this; Senior Management, who have the best access to formal control tools and techniques (such as forecasts, plans, balanced scorecards and dashboards, detailed reports etc), have the least influence over the Transactional Process. The Management ProcessManagement schools teach their students many things, but one thing they do not seem to teach is what is required to manage a process, or in other words, what is the ‘process of management’? The ‘management of process’ = ‘process of management’
While a Transactional Process will differ by company and department, the Management Process remains the same for all companies, all processes, and the Supervisor is an instrumental part of the management team. The process of management has 7 steps as shown below;  The 7 essential elements of the Management Process and its relationship with the Transactional Process ‘Scheduling’ links the Business & the Management processes together Scheduling is the formal trigger for the Transactional Process and is therefore the trigger that will cause costs to be incurred and revenue to be generated. Scheduling will happen anyway, whether it is formalised or not, but when it is ‘informal’ there is no guarantee that the process will achieve any of its intended SLAs, KPIs, goals or objectives. Our experience is that Balanced Scorecard-type projects focus on Forecasting, Measuring and Reporting and skip Scheduling, therefore breaking the link between the Transactional Process and the ‘Management Process’. The only difference between Managers and Supervisors is the time horizon they are managing. For Supervisors the horizon is normally 1 day or less. Managing such a short period of time requires adherence to the principle of ‘Short Interval Control’. ‘Short Interval Control’ is measuring the process at a suitable time interval that allows the Supervisor to take action on any operational variance before the variance causes customer promises to be broken and/or increased operational costs, as shown in the line graph below;
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