Planning Procedures for Building Effective Management Systems
by Chris Anderson
Part One of Series:
Next Week: Development
Have you ever had the opportunity to watch the construction of a
large building? The daily progress from foundation to top floor
is truly amazing, and if you're like me, you wonder "how does it
all happen?" The answer: it takes a lot of planning.
The Planning Phase
A complex construction job clearly requires planning in
excruciating detail to orchestrate materials and manpower.
Inadequate planning can result in waste, delays and a shoddy
end-product.
Building an effective management system is equally dependent on
executing a strong planning phase. This article is the second of
five that describe how to build such a system in your
organization.
Writing Procedures
The planning stage is arguably the most important step in any
large-scale project. If you fail to plan properly, everything
else will likely follow this failure.
Just as a construction contractor wouldn't dare start ordering
materials or pounding nails without a plan, your firm must avoid
moving too quickly into the actual development phase of writing
procedures that are the basis of an effective management system.
Business Assessment
Using the construction analogy, the first step is typically a
survey of the parcel of land on which to construct your building.
You'll examine such conditions as utilities, roads, property
grade and soil. In a management system development project, we
call this step a GAP Analysis, because it articulates what the
"gap" between current reality in your organization and your
stated objectives. Recall that the objectives and measurable
effectiveness criteria were established in Phase I – Discovery.
The results of the Gap Analysis are used as inputs to produce a
project plan.
Planning the Project
The Project Plan details the materials and tools that will help
management control the project as well set budgets and schedules.
Most of us are familiar with the components necessary to manage
the conversion of a bare piece of land into the architect's
vision: drawings, bids, permits, contracts, work orders, and
inspections. But what is required to develop a management
system?
Your project planning phase includes producing these components
that will greatly ease the Development and Implementation Phases
(III and IV, respectively) and make for an overall solid
structure:
• Project roles and responsibilities
• Organization chart
• Activities, resources, dates
• Reviews structure
• Status reports
• Document control and format
• Process map
• Compliance requirements
• Training, implementation, testing and audit plans
Review the Process Map
Before concluding the Planning Phase, a review is conducted of each component with emphasis on the process map and effectiveness criteria to ensure alignment with identified organizational goals. This check will help eliminate project drift in the coming phases.
The Planning Phase takes from 2-4 weeks.
Chris Anderson is currently the managing director of Bizmanualz, Inc. and co-author of policies and procedures manuals, producing
the layout, process design and implementation to increase performance. To learn how to increase your business performance, visit:
http://www.bizmanualz.com/?src=ART43
