As Is - To Be: The Essential Business Model for Software Upgrade Process
Last updated: January 03, 2023 Read in fullscreen view
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As-Is and To-Be Processes: The Basics
The as-is state of a process is the “now” state. It’s how the process operates before you make any changes or improvements. The to-be process, on the other hand, is the future state.
To actually make your process improvement initiative work, you need to document and map both states. The “as-is” allows you to get an accurate view of how the process works. Unless you’re someone personally responsible for working with that specific process, this part is essential for understanding how to make any sort of improvements.
Once you already know how the process is, you can analyze it and propose certain improvements. At that point, you need to document the to-be state. Having a map of the new process makes it easier to implement for several reasons…
Step #1: Documenting the As-Is Process
Before you can actually document the as-is process state, you need to have a very clear understanding of it.
Unless you’ve worked the process yourself enough times, you’ll have to do some research.
There are several ways to gain an understanding of the process…
- Observation – The most straightforward approach. Simply observe the process as it’s going on.
- Interviews – Personal interviews with employees working on the process.
- Questionnaires – Surveys on the process in question. More efficient than holding interviews, but generally less informative.
- Project Teams – A special team composed of individuals who are either employees working on the process itself, or process improvement experts.
Step #2: Analysing the As-Is Process and Finding Improvements
Before you can start with the to-be process documentation, you need to figure out what it looks like.You need to analyze the as-is process and find any inefficiencies and flaws, some of which can be a bit hard to spot. Since every business has completely different processes, there’s no one sure-fire way to do this.
Step #3: Documenting and Implementing the To-Be Process
Once you’re done with the analysis, you should have several different ideas on how to improve the process.
At that point, you can start creating the to-be process map. This works just about the same way as mapping the as-is process: you create a flowchart that’s just about the same as the as-is process, with any adjustments you made present.
With the to-be process, the implementation is the harder part. Sometimes, your improvements might turn out to be not as effective as you’d thought. Others, your employees will take a while to get used to the new process.
There are several best practices we recommend to help make the implementation easier…
- Start Small – While your new process might seem to be a great idea at a glance, it might turn out to be a disaster. To account for this, start the process on a small scale. Once you’re certain that the new process is empirically better, you can scale it up & apply it company-wide.
- Enforce the Process – You can’t just go up to your employees out of nowhere and say, “we’ll be doing things completely differently from now on.” They need to be made aware of why you’re making changes to the process and how it’s going to affect their work. Then, you need to make sure that they stick to the new process. There are 2 ways to do this: frequently check on their work, or use workflow management software to enforce the new process.
- Benchmark the Metrics – You have to be 100% certain that the new process is better than the old; otherwise, you’re only going to end up wasting time. Pick the right metrics to benchmark post-implementation. This way, you can be sure that the changes you make are definitely positive.
How to Implement an As Is - To Be Process Cycle - Essential for Effective Continuous Improvement
Implementing an As Is - To Be model and then continuously making improvements does take time and resources, there is no getting away from that. However in terms of an implementation plan, there are in fact just 10 steps:
- Define your business objectives
- Involve all stakeholders so that you can...
- Capture your As Is processes ACCURATELY!!! (an inaccurate process will make business improvement extremely difficult)
- Analyse gaps and deficits in your As Is processes - where are time, money or materials wasted?
- Create a To Be process model, using (a copy of) your As Is process maps as the start point
- Compare your As Is and To Be process maps
- Determine what need be changed in order to get to your To Be
- Estimate and thoroughly analyse the business risks of making these changes
- Implement your To Be process so that it now becomes your new As Is process
- Analyse the effectiveness of your new As Is process (start from the beginning) and create another To Be map from the new process data.
Post-Implementation Review
Implementing the to-be process state isn’t exactly the end of your work.
You need to make sure that the changes you’ve made are actually beneficial for the company. To do this, you need to make sure that the new metrics from post-implementation hold up to the old.
A Post Implementation Review (PIR) is designed to evaluate whether project implementation objectives were met, determine how effectively this was achieved, learn lessons for the future, and ensure that the organisation gets the most benefit from the implementation of projects like business continuity planning.
The simplest way to do this is by employing workflow management software. The software keeps track of your process output, letting you know whether the improvements you made are beneficial.
Via: tallyfy, triaster
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