Case study Tesco – Business transformation programme

Value realised

Having a well-structured business transformation programme, with the projects organised to give rise to the necessary business changes, and led to the earlier release of benefits and a quicker embedding of operational improvements. The structuring dealt directly with the problems that the four-quadrant management style, which while so effective in optimising the operational capability of the organisation, had stalled progress in delivering change.

Engagement focus

Six months into the business transformation programme progress was stalled and dissent among stakeholders was growing. Projects were competing rather than collaborating in bringing about the necessary changes, with sponsors focusing narrowly on achieving their project’s purpose.

CITI analysed the business transformation programme interdependencies that existed within the programme and was able to demonstrate that the approach to sourcing and funding, which ultimately derived from the four-quadrant model used by Tesco was artificially creating interdependencies and it was these that were causing the programme to stall.

By taking a pan-quadrant approach we reduced the number of interdependencies from 54 to 11, and introduced two types of business transformation programme interface management meeting (PIMM No.1 and PIMM No.2) to address these irreducible eleven.

Approach to solution

With the focus now exclusively on the delivery of business change and the benefits they would bring about – progress was rapid. Using a number of CITI consultancy tools, we shaped and restructured the projects and what they produced into tranches so that the organisation could step from one transition state to another. One of the tools that starts ‘with the end in mind’, called BIP (benefits – impacts – projects) was used to create a clear route map – showing what was necessary to achieve the changes required – and in what order.

This led to significant modifications to the resourcing, the sequencing and the governance of the projects – and all were seen as positive gains by the Board as the momentum of the programme, measured in terms of delivered value was visibly increased. By taking this approach, we reduced the interdependencies between projects, realigned business sponsorship to focus on organisational gains rather than functional ‘wins’ – a problematical approach when large-scale cross-functional change is the outcome sought.

Lessons learned

Programmes are sets of projects that are interlinked and therefore have interdependencies. However, good design finds ways of reducing the number of interdependencies to an irreducible minimum and that is one of the keys to releasing the extraordinary power of business transformation programmes to bring about complex organisational transformations.

Models / tools used

Business transformation programme management evaluations
Business transformation programme consultancy
Benefit – impact – product modelling
Tranche construction
Programme management toolkit
RACI

Value proposition

You can read more about the strategies used during this engagement here:

Further reading

We also discuss business transformation programmes here:
http://www.citi.co.uk/orange-merger-programme-delivery/

Your thoughts?

What are your thoughts – do you agree with our approach, or do the symptoms sound like the ones you are experiencing in your organisation? We would love to hear from you either by adding a comment at the bottom of the page or by emailing one of our consultants at consultants@citi.co.uk – or call +44(0)1908 283610

The post Business transformation programme – Case study Tesco appeared first on CITI consultancy solutions.

Value realised

Tesco operating model was transformed without disrupting the flow of goods to and off the shelves. The modelling carried out identified potential shortfalls and pitfalls that were addressed before implementation, reducing cost, reputational damage and senior management time.

Engagement focus

Tesco decided to move from opening 16 hours 6 days a week to 24/7. One of the fundamental changes to their operating model was that they now had to continuously replenish their shelves while open to the public.

Without the opportunity to close during the transition 16/6 to 24/7 the suite of changes had to be accomplished with as little disruption to customers as possible.
CITI, working with Tesco’s senior management teams, designed the target operating model (TOM) – or blueprint – of the new way of working and ‘proved’ that it could sustain the customer value proposition and business value proposition (benefits) for the vision of a 24/7 operation with its associated continuous replenishment demand.

Six months into the programme there was little discernible progress and growing dissent amongst stakeholders. Projects were competing rather than collaborating, change initiatives were being undermined by conflicting objectives between projects, with the performance impact on stores often negative. It was widely regarded by the different stakeholder groups that the project activity was failing to deliver business benefit.

Senior management were becoming frustrated by rising costs, delays and the lack of investment payback.

Approach to solution

Working initially with the various governance groups, CITI translated the stated strategy and vision of the overall programme into “as Is” and “to be” statements which in turn were mapped into the expected benefits, the explicit and implicit changes in processes, people and performance that were to give rise to the benefits, and the outputs that the projects were to deliver to give rise or to support the changes.

Through facilitating workshops and using desk-based analyses we developed and validated among all stakeholders a coherent strategic vision and initiatives for the overall transformational change initiative.

We used our proprietary BIP mapping (benefits > impacts > products) toolkit to develop the value model which directly links the benefits to the changes that are to be introduced in the organisation – and proving that these are able to give rise to those benefits and to what extent. The developed value model included specific metrics and KPIs for the changes that were to be introduced in Tesco.
CITI through the use of proprietary methodologies and toolkit provided evidence (visual and numerical) about the consequences of restructuring the projects, the relative effectiveness of different sequencing of many of the change initiatives, and the impact on benefits by de-scoping and re-scoping work streams.

It also became possible for Tesco to set up and manage the transformational change into a set of three ‘tranches’ – each with its own set of outcomes, and each taking the organisation to a new, stable state on its journey to the Board’s vision of the future state.
As a result of the success of CITI’s methodology and practice Tesco’s appetite for change increased, and before the first programme was concluded it had been overtaken by another major transformation programme which, from the start, used CITI’s methodology and toolkit.

Lessons learned

Together with the associated skills transfer from CITI to the client, they are able to successfully embark on other change initiatives with confidence. The importance of establishing clear ‘line of sight’ between the change vision, the work that needs to be undertaken and the benefits to be realised is clearly understood.

Models / tools used

SIPP Methodology
Benefit – impact – product modelling
Programme management toolkit
RACI

The post Case study Tesco proven TOM appeared first on CITI consultancy solutions.

Value realised

The approach and criteria provided to Diageo to establish which processes to roll out as ‘global’, which to set up as ‘common’, and which to be ‘local’ enabled the senior management team to allocate funds and responsibilities, which in their estimation saved them several hundreds of millions of pounds over three year.

Engagement focus

As part of its strategic review – including setting up a shared service centre in Europe – Diageo acknowledged the need to overhaul, reorganise and standardise its processes. It was recognised that a key element was to differentiate between global processes (identical across all Diageo’s markets), common processes (the ‘same’ across Diageo’s markets), and local processes (focused on specific markets).

A global process meant that it would be done in the same way, using the one system, with the one process and management team, and therefore in one location. In that way it would be executed in an identical way across all markets. It was also recognised that this would be an expensive process, particularly with regard to the change management aspects.

A common process on the other hand would be set up by different teams, under different managers, on similar systems in different locations. It was seen as likely that within a short time there would be small variations between implementations and this was accepted as inevitable.

Finally, local processes were under the direct governance of the local management team and were expected to be different as they were to reflect local circumstances.

Despite the practical and action-orientated culture of the organisation, the debate as to where the boundaries lay between ‘global’, common’ and ‘local’ was fast becoming esoteric. Senior management, frustrated by the circular nature of the debate, decided the discussion either ceased or was brought to a satisfactory conclusion.

Their preference was for the latter as it was accepted as potentially there were significant cost savings to be made by differentiating between them appropriately.

Approach to solution

CITI started by clarifying the Diageo change vision and strategy, and confirmed with the senior management the current organisational state (the ‘As Is’) and the desired future state (the ‘To Be’). We further assessed the change programme using our evaluation methods and it soon became apparent that a number of projects did not have a robust business case and were not being driven by their value to Diageo.

We developed a value model which directly linked the benefits to the changes that are to be introduced in the organisation – and proving that these are able to give rise to those benefits and to what extent. The developed value model included specific metrics and KPIs for the changes that were to be introduced in Diageo.

This identified which projects (and hence which processes) were not aligned to the business benefits and also the ones that the claimed benefits did not have any means by which they could be achieved. This led to the closing of those projects with no clear benefits case and to aligning others into a more coherent programme of change.

The Diageo board has since demanded that the CITI approach is adopted across their business units and for all its corporate projects.

Lessons learned

The importance of establishing a clear ‘line of sight’ between the change vision, the work that needs to be undertaken, and the benefits to be realised is ruthlessly pursued. In the end the final decision as to what type of process is what is determined by the level of contribution the decision made makes to the benefits and the vision. It is not a technical discussion.

Models / tools used

SIP Methodology
Benefit – impact – product modelling
Programme management toolkit
RACI

Value proposition

You can read more about the strategies used during this engagement here:

The post Case study Diageo appeared first on CITI consultancy solutions.

Value realised

The John Lewis Partnership is a highly successful and respected high street retailer. In an environment of increasing innovation and development new channels to market, John Lewis has become increasingly interested in effective and assured project delivery.

Delivery from projects is more predictable, lessons learned once are used to avoid repetitive errors, and project performance and governance are an important aspect considered when implementing strategy.

Engagement focus

The John Lewis Partnership Services project management office (PMO) accepted the challenge to improve project outcomes by giving expert guidance on projects, and overseeing the development of the project management and sponsor communities.

CITI was invited to provide the expertise in support of the PMO’s re-skilling, offering advice, guidance and research findings (benchmarks) on project manager development, briefings for sponsors, guidelines on health clinics and effective ways of working within the project environment found in the company.

Approach to solution

CITI first became involved when asked to conduct a review of a critical project. It was evident that the principle concern was the governance and the sponsor was committed to creating the necessary supportive environment for what was ultimately a very successful project.

The depth and breadth of the expertise shown in that engagement by CITI, and with a growing and complex portfolio of projects, senior management invited CITI to work with the newly-formed centralised project office to get control over the projects. CITI used well-tested tools to first gain credibility for the PMO by providing evidence about the status of the individual projects, and then demonstrating that by providing consultancy-type support to the project managers, the PMO could pro-actively improve the performance of the portfolio.

Lessons learned

Faced with increasingly complex change portfolios, administratively-focused PMOs provide little benefit to their organisation – and become an expensive overhead. On the other hand, precisely focused guidance, monitoring status and offering access to the organisations learning from its past experience from a PMO is an effective, and often untapped, source of process and performance improvement for the project community.

Models / tools used

CITI introduced a new operating model for the project office:

• Roles and responsibilities
• Terms of engagement with project managers and sponsors
• Effective project assurance tools and approaches

Subsequently CITI helped the project office create development programmes for the community of project managers, sponsors and business analysts to promote consistent good practice more widely.

The post Case study John Lewis appeared first on CITI consultancy solutions.