Delivery method
The engagement establishes the current operating economics, tests a different process and introduces it into use. It begins with a first phase and extends across the operation as results justify. Technical capability is reassessed during delivery rather than fixed at the initial specification.
The first phase
The decision to continue rests on measured results.
The first phase measures how the operation performs today, sets out the operating model for the area in scope and puts the first redesigned services into live use. Those services establish the shared foundation that later services reuse.
It ends with measured results against the baseline: completion, accuracy, intervention, review effort and running cost. Where the case supports continuing, the result sets out the next phase, its scope and its cost. Where it does not, the result says so.
The stages
Five stages for every service
Each service moves through them in turn, in the first phase and in every phase that follows.
- 1
Baseline
Follow representative work from receipt to completion with the people who perform and manage it. Establish volumes, case mix, service requirements, preparation and review effort, exceptions, delays and coordination across systems. Agree the required standard and the measures that will determine whether the new process is economically useful.
- 2
Design
Define the outcome, authoritative records, available tools, permitted actions and acceptance criteria. Identify the parts that need fixed rules and the parts that require interpretation or investigation. The system needs enough context and operating history to continue the work without an employee having to reconstruct it at each step.
- 3
Pilot
Test complete work against the existing process, using representative cases and deliberately difficult conditions. Include the effort of verification and correction. The pilot should establish the operating and economic case for the next stage, rather than merely demonstrate that a model can perform one task.
- 4
Implementation and rollout
Introduce the tested process into live operations with the necessary access, monitoring, recovery arrangements and staff preparation. Extend its scope where the results support it. Keep a record of the assumptions that depend on current model capability so they can be reassessed as the implementation develops.
Handover and development
The operating team receives the code, configuration, tests and procedures, and demonstrates that it can run the process and handle relevant failures. Support and further development are agreed for the engagement.
A model change should prompt a practical evaluation: can the system now investigate more difficult cases, perform a longer sequence of work or require less intervention? Adoption depends on the result. The surrounding architecture should make that evaluation possible without rebuilding the business system.
Scope and terms
Agreed before the work starts
We agree the business area, participants, records, access, outputs, timing and a fixed fee before starting. The work and its results belong to the firm whether or not the programme continues.
The scope also names the business owner, process specialists, system access and acceptance authority required from your firm, and quantifies their expected contribution. Internal participation is part of the implementation cost, not an unpriced assumption behind the external fee.
