In Practice Trends

Process Awareness
5 essentia l tips

FOR A SUCCESSFUL IMPLEMENTATION

On a daily basis, the TOPdesk consultants encounter organizations that have trouble successfully implementing their processes seamlessly. It is up to the consultant to get this right for the client. TOPdesk has built up years of experience dealing with this. This article provides practical tips to help you ensure that your implementation process flows effortlessly.

TEXT: JORDI RECASENS

It is common knowledge in the service management world that the quality of providing a service is restricted by three essential items: Tool, Process and People. From various problematic process implementations, we have been able to infer that there is not enough knowledge of these to avoid the typical pitfalls. At the start of each project, people are generally very enthusiastic about getting all the processes streamlined and setting up the application and, practically speaking, this process usually goes well. The challenge is dealing with the last factor: people. How do we ensure that everyone will work according to procedures as well as utilize the tool properly?

In other words, how do we successfully implement the process seamlessly? Based on our experience, we will provide you with a few simple and practical tips to avoid the five most common pitfalls, which we will introduce using practical examples.

An unclear role division leads to either incorrect delegation of tasks or uncompleted tasks. Usually, this is a result of not checking common assumptions, such as in the aforementioned example. Everyone assumes that everyone knows what his or her role is and what he or she has to do.

Create clear roles

During planning meetings for a process implementation within a facilities department, the question of who organizes events such as farewell parties and celebrations within the company is raised. Right away, we see that a number of different people, each with their own roles, think that they are the person responsible, and this creates a lot of double work.

The tip:

ASK AROUND!

Discuss either formally or informally what each individual thinks his or her role is, and the roles of his or her colleagues. You will immediately see that not everyone has the same idea about role division, which is often the source of potential misunderstandings. Do not think

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that a role only consists of tasks. Check where the responsibility lies and whether each individual is capable of carrying out his or her assigned tasks. Do not ask a help desk coordinator to solve an incident manager issue if he or she does not have the authority to manage employees from other departments.

Working procedures
During the intake discussion for a new project, it is often clear that the procedures need to be revised and documented again. When asked whether procedures have already been formulated, the answer is Well yes, but they are so complicated and lengthy that no one understands them. Now we see that everyone has his or her own way of working, which is not good for quality or providing good service. One common pitfall is beginning with a detailed list of the departments every step at the onset of a new project. This results in a wordy binder of documentation containing far too many unnecessary details. Not having an overview creates a situation in which many end up deciding for themselves how they will carry out the work, leading to inconsistent procedures at the clients disadvantage.

example of this is a document containing clear instructions and screenshots, which explain how to log incidents in the system. These procedures do not have to cover all possible situations at the organization. A combination of simple agreements explaining the reasoning behind the aim of the process provides the employees with a picture of the whole, resulting in quality work. Giving responsibility and freedom to employees creates more involvement, which then allows employees to provide amenable customer service as opposed to relying on working with complex procedures.

well as double administration.

The tip:

SET UP THE APPLICATION SIMPLY AND USE EVERY AVAILABLE TOOL

Just as the last tip showed, you want to make the application as easy as possible for employees to work with. Think carefully about what information is vital and ensure that the employees understand this. This is essential when dealing with management reports. When such reports demand certain information that is not necessary at the operational level, the user needs to understand why he or she has to register the data and how to deliver it. Consider logging the time you have spent handling an incident. Many users are rather suspicious of this procedure, as they do not understand the underlying reasons for doing it. Moreover, effective aids like Standard Solutions, automatic emails and the Knowledge Base are more often than not set up improperly. Such aids make working with the application much more user-friendly and are essential to any successful implementation.

Usable tooling
During the first meeting, we often ask what the reasons are for the implementation. A service desk coordinator once responded, When we log calls in our current tool, and are later unable to find them, we are then powerless to help our clients. Because of the amount of bespoke work, it is impossible for us as well as our suppliers to find out why these reports disappear. We come across this type of situation quite often: there is an existing application, but it is poorly set up. This is often because people want the tool to encompass all possible procedures. The application users then often have to perform tasks that they do not fully understand or they are unaware of their underlying reasons. In the end, the application is either misused or not used at all, creating a lack of overview, unregistered incidents, incorrect prioritizing and poor communication with the client, as

The tip:

Ignorance and lack of understanding

During an interview with the project leader, it becomes clear that cooperation between the Facilities and IT departments is ineffective. Facilities employees do not understand how setting up a computer can take so much time, while the IT employees are inflexible during moves.

START WITH SIMPLE PROCEDURES!

When implementing a new process, it is very important that those involved keep it as simple as possible. Avoid huge binders of documentation, and focus on creating simple procedures. A good

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We encounter situations like these again and again. Departments or sometimes even individuals end up working against each other, often without even realizing it. Reasons for this include a lack of communication and too little cooperation. In most cases this does not happen willingly but as a result of ignorance and incomprehension for each others working procedures. The IT employees need to understand that moving and re-installing equipment takes time, while the facilities employees need to realize that installing and setting up hardware is not as straightforward as it seems.

the previous implementation of a service management application failed. At that time, they had decided to implement all the processes at once, and to begin using them simultaneously. During the implementation, the instructions had changed to such an extent that the project experienced huge delays. A so-called Big bang, delivering everything in one go, is in most cases not a good idea. This is not only attributed to implementing too many processes, but often that these need to be very precisely implemented just as tips 2 and 3 cite. In the first place, it is not realistic to want to change everything at once changing procedures and habits is timeconsuming. In the second place, the projects turnaround time becomes unnecessarily long, which prevents you from being able to respond flexibly to the changes. This next tip may ring true too.

ensure long turnaround times. During this phase, many factors can change, such as client needs, company policy, the economic situation and regulations. As a result, the project plan and business case need to be adjusted, causing heavy delays. By readjusting the project goals and thinking in small steps, the project is inherently more flexible, giving employees more time to become accustomed to the changes. As a result, the chance of success is greater.

Get to it!
We have been applying these five tips successfully to our implementations for years now. Instead of complicated theories or models, we work with tangible ideas that enable you to begin working as soon as possible. So, get to it! And get on your way to seamless procedures! Jordi Recasens is a team leader within TOPdesks Consultancy department and has years of experience implementing seamless procedures at a variety of organizations.

The tip:

A MORNING PRAYER

It is very effective when employees spend time with colleagues from other department to experience their daily tasks. In this way, they acquire insight into other departments working methods and gain a better understanding of why certain processes are they way they are. This increases mutual understanding, enhancing cooperation and good communication. Furthermore, it is wise to start the day with a brief meeting, during which everyone discusses what he or she is going to do that day. Employees are then made aware of what others are working on and what is expected of each other, which prevents frustration. Both these concepts have been implemented at TOPdesk, with great success.

The tip:

CHANGE STEP BY STEP

It takes time to carry out changes, and individuals must get used to the idea. The greater the step you take, the smaller the chance of success. Indeed, big steps also

Process awareness training

TOPdesk offers Process awareness training, during which the participants experience the strength of process awareness. Participants are given the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the advantages of seamless working processes, and how to best apply these at work. During the training, assignments and exercises are alternated with theoretical instructions. The training is ideal for teambuilding activities or as a kickoff for a widespread process implementation of TOPdesk. Process-awareness training is a step towards a successful TOPdesk implementation within the organization.

Realistic planning
During a meeting with the department head, it comes up that

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