BOLDFlash – Internal Business Process Artifacts

BOLDFlash – Internal Business Process Artifacts
After several months on the job, Roger Cahill called a meeting with all department
heads and stated:
Having had the chance to observe operations now for several months, it is
obvious to me that we do not have sound business processes in place in a great
many areas. We are creating problems for ourselves that are impacting product
quality, delivery timeliness, efficiency, costs, and, my greatest concern, customer
satisfaction.
Competition within our marketplace is heating up, and we need to quickly get on
top of our processes to regain the confidence of our customers and make
BOLDFlash their first choice when purchasing.
Cahill then presented examples of the internal business processes in use at
BOLDFlash. To highlight the broad nature of the problem throughout the Mobile
Division, he presented troublesome process examples from every department. (A
subset of the examples follows.)
To reinforce the importance of establishing solid business processes, Cahill closed by
saying:
Within the next 45 days, we will focus on establishing clear, efficient, defined
business processes and gain agreement on these processes among all
departments. This is now your top priority.
As you read the following process-related memos, consider how other department
heads and their staff members might interpret the processes being introduced or
revised and what their reaction might be. Also consider whether the communications
are clear, unambiguous, and workable. Are there gaps or assumptions? Are there any
common themes among the memos?
Memo #1 – Revised R&D Product Release Process
Memo #2 – Product delivery commitment process
Memo #3 – Product enhancements
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From: Karl Melzer – Director, Product Development
To: All department heads
Subject: Revised R&D product release process
R&D is making changes to the product release process so that we can reduce the time we’re spending
on putting this together.
The new manufacturing package will no longer include special notes, because we already send these to
Kevin’s admin assistant. We’re also dropping the product documentation because that’s sitting on a
server so already out there.
The manufacturing package will now be made available 5 business days prior to production start. I know
this puts a squeeze on Mfg., but we always need more time to work on it.
Finally, I’m directing my staff to no longer respond to questions coming on from Tech Support prior to
actual product release date. We are continually crunched for time and need to move on to the next
product release as quickly as possible.
Karl
BOLDFlash Corporation
18 Commerce Boulevard
Manchester, New Hampshire
For Internal Use Only
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From: Chip Bryant – Director, Sales
To: All department heads
Subject: Product delivery commitment process
We have been running into problems with customer orders where requested delivery dates are not
being met—a very hot topic at a recent Sales staff meeting. So to eliminate the problem going forward,
we are implementing the following process beginning immediately.
Sales reps will check in with Manufacturing on product availability against our requested ship date. If we
don’t hear anything back within 2 business days, we will assume that the order can be filled and shipped
per our requested date, and we’ll confirm back to the customer.
Chip
BOLDFlash Corporation
18 Commerce Boulevard
Manchester, New Hampshire
For Internal Use Only
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From: Kavita Patel – Director, Marketing
To: All department heads
Subject: Product enhancements
Representatives from Marketing have been attending a number of industry trade shows this season. We
are receiving a lot of feedback that customers are looking for more enhancements to existing products.
We are also seeing our competitors paying more attention to enhancements.
I have directed my staff to focus on identifying enhancements that we can make, particularly to our new
flash drive line. We’re going to look at enhancements that can generate some “flash” in the marketplace
for our product!
Time is of the essence with these new enhancements. We are confident we can keep these changes
simple and not rock the boat too much. So that we can speed this along, the team will feed those
requirements directly to Manufacturing.
This new approach will give us a great story for our upcoming trade show in Las Vegas, so I know
everyone will be behind us in this!
Kavita
BOLDFlash Corporation
18 Commerce Boulevard
Manchester, New Hampshire
For Internal Use Only