Business Management System
Xchanging’s Comprehensive Process Repository Package – Helping your Business to work Smarter
Xchanging recognized in 2005 that its business growth required a dedicated, centralized repository of process documentation. Since 1999 the organisation had branched into many different industries and across a multitude of business processes. The journey of discovery led us to become experts in business process management, document management and asset control on many different levels of the company. Now we offer our internally gained expertise to our valued customers.
Companies grow organically or through acquisition
There is hardly a modern organisation that has not at some point in their development identified a need to draw a line in the sand and reflect on how the critical value chain of revenue generating processes needs to be standardised. Too many different ways have likely been developed or allowed to co-exist within operations or supporting functions.
HR, Finance, IT and Service are just as much impacted as production when it comes to efficiency problems due to undocumented or non-standardised processes.
The paradigm change in thinking about process documentation is the realization that each of the work-streams requires a dedicated owner.
The owner carries responsibility to maintain the process, the measurement of process performance, the identification of opportunities for process improvement and align it to current company policies, laws and other requirements.
Lack of standardised process documentation often means that training is ad-hoc and only as good as the trainer’s capabilities and knowledge of the process. In order to ensure a consistent level of knowledge and capability across an enterprise, it is imperative that the work-flow taught is consistent and current and easily accessible for reference inside and outside of training environments.
Staff Need Instructions
Initiative leads in some cases to pockets within the business in which processes are documented and maintained. Those document repositories need to be centralized, standardized and accessible for all employees; fragmentation will only lead to confusion due to unclear, non-standardized and non-centralized process documentation.
Ownership has to be managed centrally in order to empower line leaders to assume accountability for processes and work-streams.
Knowledge sharing is an important factor for any organisation that aspires to grow and develop subject matter experts and engaged employees.
Information needs to be easy to acquire and freely shared in order to encourage an approach to pro-active working and self-initiative.
Why is a Process Documentation System important?
Planning to get the job done right first time
Rolling-out a comprehensive, standardized and practical methodology to capture processes, work-flows and any other asset for a complete collection of process artefacts within a repository ensures that only one “language” exists, so that interpretation and comprehension of documents is efficient and clear.
This gives process owners convenient ways to ensure that procedures follow good practice. Training, quality assurance and audit requirements are easily satisfied and actual document or process reviews require only minimal time once the format or “language” is trained and understood by auditors and reviewers.
A clear and easy, common “language” provides users all across the organisation with incentive and opportunity to follow standard procedures and not to create ad-hoc processes due to unavailable or unclear documentation.
Learning the Lessons
A standardized approach to documenting process makes it easy to maintain the artefacts on the process repository – every process owner can learn and understand quickly the procedures of document maintenance, process change and on-going version control. Stakeholders only need to maintain a single system and can share knowledge and ensure capability within and across departmental boundaries
What is the Product Offering?
Module 1
Xchanging Process Experts compile a complete list of your business critical processes, business support processes and administrative processes as well as all used assets, standard (or best) practices and other artefacts used regularly. This provides the baseline for a Process Document Repository.
Module 2
The processes are mapped on an integrated, online database into Xchanging's own process flow language and all relevant artefacts linked to the appropriate process steps. Process Descriptions and Policies are developed or improved and standardised if already available.
Module 3
A customised Business Management System is developed and integrated into existing organisational quality systems, which contains a clear policy and practical instructions for the maintenance and control of the collected assets.
Module 4
The finished Process Document Repository is launched and all employees trained on the use of the system, process and policy owners are trained on the maintenance of their artefacts and document design is either handed over to designated users or maintained within Xchanging as an outsourced service.
Case Studies
Insurance Industry Leader, Sydney, Australia
In July 2010, Xchanging’s Process Excellence Team was engaged by a major insurance broker to help create a shared service centre in Parramatta, New South Wales. We developed, designed and implemented complete, interactive process document repository for standardisation, ease of training, reference, audit, continuous improvement and change control.
Global Defence Supplier, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
In March 2011 the team commenced work on the “HR Catalogue” for the UK’s biggest defence contractor. Xchanging’s team rolled-out a standardised, integrated and user-friendly system from conception to implementation. The newly developed product allows easy and efficient management of all process and work-flow documentation assets.
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