Phase 1: Current State Analysis

 
 

Timeline: 1 year

Intake

We engaged with 62 SMEs over 14 sessions to create our guiding document: the process landscape. From a business process analysis standpoint, a process landscape is very similar to a user story map, with a roughly chronological backbone that drills down into discrete level 2 and level 3 processes. 

The Levels 1 and 2 Process Landscape with technical systems catalogued under each L2 box.

The Levels 1 and 2 Process Landscape with technical systems catalogued under each L2 box.

Drill down into Level 3 of the Process Landscape.

Drill down into Level 3 of the Process Landscape.

 

Research

Prioritization Matrix for determining relative priority of the 67 selected processes.

Prioritization Matrix for determining relative priority of the 67 selected processes.

We identified 124 processes, which were then scoped and prioritized into a select 67 that would get “the full treatment”, resulting in detailed current state maps, broken down by population target (undergrad, grad, etc), with up to 8 variations.  We spent a little over a year and hundreds of hours on current state mapping. 

Methods

A large part of this work was conducted in lengthy user sessions with whiteboard, sticky notes, voting dots, which transitioned into the remote version with heavy use of Lucidchart, shared Google docs/sheets, Lucidspark, and a process mapping tool called Promapp. We recorded every session so that we could refer back to them later if needed, and documented each process extensively using a Confluence wiki. 

Early in-person session with subject matter experts all gathered in a conference room.

Early in-person session with subject matter experts all gathered in a conference room.

In those early sessions, we developed the Process Landscape with whiteboard notes and roundtable discussions.

In those early sessions, we developed the Process Landscape with whiteboard notes and roundtable discussions.

Map view of an L3 process in Promapp.

Map view of an L3 process in Promapp.

Procedure view of the same L3 process in Promapp.

Procedure view of the same L3 process in Promapp.

 

Challenges

Obviously the Covid-19 pandemic had a huge effect over the course of the project, transitioning a massive project into a fully remote environment while our SMEs were also having to transition all of their business operations and teaching.

Solution

We pivoted to full zoom sessions and put a lot of care into comprehensively onboarding new SMEs. We recorded and saved each zoom session and catalogued it in our wiki so that we could refer back to prior conversations instead of asking for more SME time. We also proactively asked each SME group for their time constraints and any “blackout periods” so that we could work around their availability during very heavy workload times for student support or other critical business functions.

Using Zoom as our primary meeting tool during process mapping sessions, which Promapp and Lucidchart on the shared screens.

Using Zoom as our primary meeting tool during process mapping sessions, which Promapp and Lucidchart on the shared screens.

Challenge

We had a significant amount of change in team members either coming aboard or rotating off over the course of the project.

Solution

I created a “meta-map” of my team’s process and deliverables so that we had a gold standard with which to train new hires and a checklist which continuing team members could use to make sure they were meeting all requirements over the large volume of tasks. 

Overview of the “meta-map” detailing team deliverables and process sequence.

Overview of the “meta-map” detailing team deliverables and process sequence.

Outcome

The starting 67 maps branched into over 170 maps, taking all variations into account. We engaged 233 SMEs and comprehensively documented all of the business processes related to the Student Information System for the first time in the university’s history! All of this was the foundation upon which the Ideal State and Future State activities would hinge.