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While Six Sigma was originally developed as a quality control methodology used to improve processes in manufacturing, it can be applied to any process in any industry. Six Sigma can help organizations improve efficiency, reduce costs, and increase customer satisfaction by identifying and eliminating defects in their processes. Some specific ways that Six Sigma can be used outside of manufacturing include: Healthcare. Six Sigma can be used to improve patient safety and reduce medical errors by identifying and addressing the root causes of problems in procedures or patient care. Finance. Six Sigma can be used to improve the accuracy and efficiency of financial reporting, reduce errors in accounting and financial transactions, and improve compliance with regulations. Customer service. Six Sigma can be used to improve the customer experience by identifying and addressing common sources of customer dissatisfaction, such as long wait times or unhelpful service. In fact, a more detailed look at what Six Sigma does reveals that its activities aren’t manufacturing-specific at all. DMAIC is the acronym that serves as the backbone for any Six Sigma project; it stands for Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control. Each of the improvements listed above will be accomplished through the following actions: Define the problem and the goals of the improvement project. This includes identifying the process that needs to be improved, the customer requirements and expectations, and the specific problem or defect that needs to be addressed. Measure the current performance of the process. This includes collecting data on the process and using statistical tools to analyze it to understand the current state of the process. Analyze the data to identify the root causes of the problem or defect. This includes using data analysis techniques, such as cause-and-effect diagrams and hypothesis testing, to identify the underlying causes of the problem. Improve the process by implementing solutions to address the root causes identified in the analysis phase. This may involve making changes to the process, training employees, or implementing new technologies or tools. Control the process to ensure that the improvements are sustained over time. This includes implementing controls, such as process monitoring and regular audits, to ensure that the process remains stable and continues to meet customer requirements. DMAIC can be applied to any industry or process. Though the exact steps and tools used in the DMAIC process may vary depending on the specific problem that is being addressed, the overall approach is the same. This approach makes Six Sigma an extremely effective and valuable methodology with versatility to improve processes and eliminate defects for companies in any industry.

The Client The Arizona State Board for Charter Schools (ASBCS) is a charter authorizer responsible for overseeing public charter schools that operate in Arizona. Overseeing more than 500 charter schools, the agency is the largest charter school authorizer in the state and is the second largest authorizer in the nation. The agency’s stated mission is “To improve public education in Arizona by sponsoring charter schools that provide quality educational choices”. Their Challenge ASBCS was finding it increasingly difficult to scale and deliver services effectively, due to an antiquated technology platform that performed poorly and lacked much-needed functionality. Additionally, the Arizona legislature regularly released mandates requiring the agency to implement changes, which the platform was unable to accommodate. The agency staff had developed a significant number of time and resource intensive workarounds to deal with the system’s shortcomings. Over time, this led to poor customer satisfaction and raised questions about the agency’s transparency and competence in delivering on its mandate. Agency leadership, including Mary Ellen Lee (President of the Board) and Ashley Berg (Executive Director), knew they needed to replace or overhaul the system but were unsure on how to articulate their needs and secure the needed investment in a difficult funding environment. Additionally, they had limited insight into what options might be available and what it would cost to replace or overhaul the system Our Solution This project is the second phase of the Online Platform Modernization journey at ASBCS. MSS Business Transformation Advisory (MSSBTA) was initially engaged for a 6-week effort (Phase 1) to conduct an objective evaluation of the current platform, perform a comprehensive needs assessment, and develop a roadmap for the rest of the modernization journey. The deliverables from Phase 1 served as foundational documents for this engagement. The focus of Phase 2 was to gather and finalize the information needed to draft the Business Case, also known as the Project Investment Justification (PIJ), and a Decision Package to be delivered to the Governor’s Office of Strategic Planning and Budgeting (OSPB). MSSBTA first reached out to charter authorizers across the nation to identify the solutions they were using and to assess how well the solutions were meeting their needs. Through this outreach and additional market research, a list of potential vendors was developed. MSSBTA then invited vendors to self-evaluate against the documented requirements and to provide non-binding 5-year total cost of ownership (TCO) pricing. MSSBTA also facilitated online demos and provided an objective third-party perspective of each vendor’s capability to deliver against the agency’s needs. Based on this analysis, MSSBTA collaborated with agency staff, Arizona Strategic Enterprise Technology (ASET) Office at the Arizona Department of Administration (ADOA), and the Governor's Office of Strategic Planning and Budgeting (OSPB) to build the required elements of the Project Investment Justification (PIJ) and the Decision Package for the Governor’s Office. In addition to the core activities above, MSSBTA provided appropriate and timely status communications to the agency leadership team and ensured that risks and issues were addressed. Their Results On a tight timeline, MSSBTA delivered a comprehensive Decision Package to the Governor’s Office on behalf of ASBCS. This package documented the assessment of the existing platform against the agency’s requirements, a gap assessment, impact analysis, and a proposed modernization roadmap. The Decision Package also included the market research utilized to define the potential solutions, a 5-year Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) estimate, the Business Case to transition to a new platform, and an objective analysis and review on software vendor capabilities and “fit”. Deliverables Market/Industry Research Vendor Assessments TCO Estimates Project Investment Justification and Decision Package

The Client The Arizona Commerce Authority (ACA) is a public-private partnership whose primary objective is advancing and diversifying the state’s economy. The ACA serves as Arizona’s leading economic development organization, leading and coordinating economic development and marketing efforts throughout the state. The ACA is overseen by a board composed of the Arizona Governor and statewide leaders in business, academia and workforce. The ACA also houses the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO), which coordinates Arizona’s workforce planning with economic development, supports the state workforce board (Workforce Arizona Council), and provides economic, demographic, regulatory, and tax research and analysis. The Challenge In March 2021, the National Governors Association (NGA) awarded a grant to the Arizona Commerce Authority to develop and scale innovations that increase employment and deliver stronger workforce outcomes in Arizona. ACA sought to achieve this by advancing technology currently in use and expanding access to workforce services provided through their one-stop delivery network called ARIZONA@WORK. The delivery network was supported by a patchwork of technologies that were performing poorly and lacked much-needed integration and functionality. ACA leadership knew they needed a robust new platform, but were unsure how to articulate their needs, identify potential options, and assess implementation costs. MSS Business Transformation Advisory (MSSBTA) was contracted for a three-month effort to engage with the ACA, the AZ Department of Economic Security (DES), and 12 local workforce development areas to gather and compile technology system requirements. These requirements will be used to inform the development of a Unified Service Delivery Platform. The effort was sponsored and led by Kolu Wilson (Workforce Administrator, AZ Office of Economic Opportunity). Our Solution MSSBTA interviewed over 100 stakeholders across five state agencies and 12 local workforce areas, including leaders, case managers, administrators, educators, job seekers, employers, and One-Stop operators. Utilizing surveys, interviews, and group sessions, MSSBTA captured pain points with the current solution and documented requirements for a potential replacement. MSSBTA was able to ensure adequate participation and buy-in due to its objective third-party perspective. MSSBTA also documented the core operational processes, which the workforce areas found extremely helpful because the processes had never been documented. MSSBTA also engaged with other high-performing state boards to understand best practices and recommend them to the ACA. To gather high level cost estimates, we conducted a market scan for vendors who could potentially fulfil the documented requirements and solicited price information from them. MSSBTA compiled and delivered the final recommendations on use of technology for effective service delivery, along with stakeholder requirements and high-level cost estimates, to leaders at ACA and DES. These recommendations will be used to inform and guide a significant portion of the DES modernization project. MSSBTA also presented to the Workforce Council Measuring Effectiveness team, which helped secure additional support for the replacement solution. In addition to the core activities above, MSSBTA provided appropriate and timely status communications to the leadership team and ensured that risks and issues were addressed. Their Results On an aggressive timeline, MSSBTA delivered a complete inventory of the IT systems supporting the public workforce programs, end-to-end maps of the core operational processes, a gap analysis of the current technology platform, potential replacement options with cost estimates, and a list of best practices in coordinate workforce service delivery. ACA leaders presented the results of the engagement at the NGA Fall Symposium in Phoenix (September 2021) and the feedback was overwhelmingly positive. “We hosted the NGA in Phoenix this week. Our colleagues at the NGA raved about our work products from the WIN Grant. Thanks again for ALL your hard work, collaboration and coordination...you knocked it out of the park!” – Vice President, Workforce Strategy Deliverables Inventory and evaluation of IT Systems that support workforce programs Current state process flows Stakeholder requirements for a fully integrated state-wide system High level-cost estimates for potential replacement solutions Recommendations on use of technology to enhance coordinated service delivery

The Client The Arizona State Board for Charter Schools (ASBCS) is a charter authorizer responsible for overseeing public charter schools that operate in Arizona. Overseeing more than 500 charter schools, the agency is the largest charter school authorizer in the state and is the second largest authorizer in the nation. The agency’s stated mission is “To improve public education in Arizona by sponsoring charter schools that provide quality educational choices”. Their Challenge ASBCS was finding it increasingly difficult to scale and deliver services effectively, due to an antiquated technology platform that performed poorly and lacked much-needed functionality. Additionally, the Arizona legislature regularly released mandates requiring the agency to implement changes, which the platform was unable to accommodate. The agency staff had developed a significant number of time and resource intensive workarounds to deal with the system’s shortcomings. Over time, this led to poor customer satisfaction and raised questions about the agency’s transparency and competence in delivering on its mandate. Agency leadership, including Mary Ellen Lee (President of the Board) and Ashley Berg (Executive Director), knew they needed to replace or overhaul the system but were unsure on how to articulate their needs and secure the needed investment in a difficult funding environment. Additionally, they had limited insight into what options might be available and what it would cost to replace or overhaul the system. Our Solution This project is the third phase of the Online Platform Modernization journey at ASBCS. Prior to this, MSS Business Transformation Advisory (MSSBTA) conducted an evaluation of the current platform, performed a comprehensive needs assessment, created a business case with preliminary vendor estimates, and developed a Decision Package to be delivered to the Governor’s Office of Strategic Planning and Budgeting (OSPB). Almost a year after the decision package was delivered, ASBCS received budget approval from the Governor’s Office and the Arizona Legislature to move ahead with implementing a replacement solution. The focus of this current effort (Phase 3) was to develop a Request for Proposal (RFP) for the replacement solution, solicit bids, review vendor proposals, assist in scoring the bids, help with contract negotiations, and provide support in selecting the vendor and awarding the contract. Working closely with ASBCS and the State Procurement Office (SPO), MSSBTA created the vendor selection criteria and weightings, identified members of the proposal evaluation team, finalized the decision process to be used, developed the RFP, and invited vendors to respond to the RFP. Once vendor proposals were received, MSSBTA facilitated conversations with the evaluation team members, provided guidance on matters related to technology and transformation, scheduled vendor demos, and captured scoring/evaluation decisions in the vendor scorecard. MSSBTA also conducted market research to substantiate vendor claims and helped in checking vendor references. Once the evaluation team narrowed the list of vendors to four finalists, MSSBTA scheduled 1:1 negotiations to discuss pricing and fine-tune the approach based on a deeper dive into the requirements, assumptions and risks/issues identified by each vendor. The SPO team invited the finalists to the Best and Final Offer (BAFO) round. Based on the updated approach and pricing from the BAFO bids, MSSBTA helped the evaluation team finalize scoring and select a vendor. MSSBTA provided input into the final negotiations on milestones, payment schedules, etc. with the selected vendor, and supported the agency in awarding the contract. In addition to the core activities above, MSSBTA provided timely status communications to the agency leadership team and ensured that risks and issues were addressed. Their Results “MSSBTA has been great to work with. They provide us the knowledge that our agency lacks in order for our project to be successful now and in the future” – Ashley Berg, Executive Director and Sponsor With MSSBTA’s support, ASBCS was able to select the best proposal and awarded the contract. The implementation is currently underway. During this project, MSSBTA diligently followed applicable procurement statutes, regulations, the Arizona Procurement Code, and other standard procedures, to ensure transparency and avoid litigation post-award. The evaluation process and scoring criteria employed were very successful in ensuring the evaluation team was able to conduct their analysis efficiently and accurately. With their deep expertise and previous experience, MSSBTA consultants were able to help the agency quickly eliminate proposals that had little chance of success or were priced unreasonably. MSSBTA was also able to negotiate significantly better terms and prices. Deliverables Vendor Selection Scorecard and Decision Process Request for Proposal (RFP) Vendor Bids Analysis and Comparative Scorecard Contract amendments for selected vendor

The Client The client is a US-based international non-profit organization. Their Challenge The client wanted to launch an international Accelerator program to support sustainable medical clinics for low-income areas. The engagement included the application toolkit to support the back-office business functions (Sales, Marketing, Technology, Customer Service, et al) and business coaching. They faced challenges in staffing, organizational change management, pricing policies, and how to scale. Training was crucial as was 1:1 Advisory/Coaching by a seasoned executive. Recognizing the scale of the opportunity at hand, the client engaged MSS Business Transformation Advisory (MSSBTA) to evaluate the goals, created a program, and implemented the necessary structure to ensure project success. Our Solution MSSBTA assigned a seasoned prior C-suite executive as an advisory consultant to lead the effort and provide leadership, governance, and accountability. Plans for managing project tasks, communications and organizational change were quickly built. The advisory consultant assumed responsibility for the management of the effort, including management of the clinics charged with accelerator compliance. Tasks critical for success were planned and executed. They included: Complete documentation of business requirements Internal and external team accountability for work tasks, reporting status, naming risks, and communicating issues requiring resolution Risks and incomplete data and process identification and work with the client and clinics to complete those items Creation of a toolkit schedule to allow business, staffing, and process changes as soon as they were ready Client expectations were managed through regular formal and informal communications. The MSSBTA advisory method supplied leadership, governance, and accountability throughout the project to hold the clinics and clients accountable for their assigned tasks. Their Results The client was incredibly pleased with MSSBTA during the project and continues to engage MSSBTA to assume an ongoing support role. They recognized their own resource limitations and inexperience in managing innovation, process optimization, change management, technology, and internal resources effectively. They appreciated the guidance and advocacy MSSBTA provided during all phases of the project. Deliverables Project Work Plan Risks and Issues Log Decision Log Weekly Status updates Project completion to agreed plan Organizational Readiness - Adoption & Deployment Business and Executive Advisory Training plan

Every company is in a constant balancing act between its high-level ambitions and specific day-to-day work. The one time that leadership really gets to put pen to paper on what exactly the high-level and specifics are and how the two should support each other is when constructing the company’s Strategic Plan. There are many different models that can be used for Strategic Planning, but the one we’ll look at is the Cascade Model. (Strategic Planning Models: The 5 Best Strategy Models (cascade.app)) Cascade is a company that offers software built around their model that helps you build, track, and execute your Strategic Plan. Even if your plan is not executed on a scale large enough to warrant committing to the implementation of a new system, I’ve found the Cascade Model itself to be an extremely valuable tool to structure any Strategic Plan. It clearly delineates how a company’s highest level of ambition works its way down to the specific actions carried out during the life of a Strategic Plan. This level of transparency helps build a common understanding between all levels of an organization leading to a more successful Strategic Plan. The model works by having the organization: define its Vision, identify values that support that Vision, choose focus areas that align with the organization’s values, create objectives that will strengthen those focus areas, commit to relevant KPIs (Key Performance Indicators), and list actions and projects that will help accomplish each objective. Here are some main points about each step: Define a Vision Statement that describes the desired state of your business within the next five to10 years. It should be short, ambitious, and focus more on an idyllic version of your company and less on how to get there. Identify three to five Values that describe how you want your organization to function as it achieves its Vision. Leave out the fluff and write values that the people of your organization can lean on and be guided by. Safety, passion, and creativity are some good examples. Choose three to six Focus Areas that build the foundation of your strategy. These should be a maximum of six words each, be specific enough that you can be sure activities support their associated focus area, not contain ambiguous buzz words like “maximize,” and not contain any metrics (we’ll get to that level of detail later). Some examples are “Top Place to Work,” “Aggressive Marketing,” and “Exponential Growth.” Create three to six Objectives for each Focus Area. These are specific goals with a completion date. Cascade recommends a formula of Action/Detail/Deadline, for example, to become/a more popular brand among teens/by December 1st, 2023. You can also think about these as SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-Bound) goals. Commit to tracking one or two KPIs for each objective that will let you know how close you are to achieving your desired outcome. These should define success and failure and contain Action/Detail/Value/Unit/Deadline. For example, Increase/monthly website traffic from teens/by 10,000/page visits/ by December 1st, 2023. List Actions and Projects that your organization will carry out to accomplish the objectives of its new Strategic Plan. This is the tangible work your people will do throughout the life of the plan. The structure of Projects may vary as they depend on the project management methods of an organization, but generally, your projects should include tasks, milestones, durations, responsibilities, risks, and dependencies. This is an example of an excellent model for Strategic Planning, and if you’d like to learn more about the Cascade Model or their products, you can visit their website at Strategic Planning Models: The 5 Best Strategy Models (cascade.app). Overall, regardless of the model you use or the size of your organization, the best place to start when constructing your Strategic Plan is at the top. If you have a clear and transparent vision, you can carry that down through every level of your plan to arrive at a set of actions that give your organization a strong and precise direction for the next step in its evolution.

For any organization using Scrum, an accurate, well-groomed product backlog is the foundation for a successful project. To properly maintain the product backlog, the product owner and the development team should regularly review and update the list of items, which involves adding new items, updating the descriptions and estimates for existing items, and re-prioritizing items based on the team's current priorities. The goal of grooming the product backlog is to ensure that it is always up-to-date and provides the developers with enough information about the project's remaining work for the team to accomplish its goals efficiently. Here are five specific steps for maintaining a product backlog in Scrum: Set aside dedicated time for grooming the product backlog. This could be a regular meeting scheduled at the same time each sprint or an informal ongoing process that happens whenever there are updates to the backlog. Regardless of how you structure this time, having the entire team aware that time will be committed to product backlog grooming prevents the task from becoming a chore in the back of the product owner's mind. Review and update the items in the product backlog, which involves adding new items, updating the descriptions and estimates for existing items, and removing items that are no longer relevant. The development team should provide input on the estimates for each item, as they will ultimately decide how many things move into the sprint backlog at the beginning of each new sprint. Re-prioritize the items in the product backlog. The product owner should consider the team's capacity and the project's current goals when deciding on the priority of each item in the backlog. The essential items should be at the top of the list, pushing lower-priority things further down the backlog. This is also where the product owner should double-check for dependencies. Prioritize items higher than their dependents to avoid creating technical debt once a sprint has begun. Learn from completed product backlog items. The product backlog is not only a roadmap of your future work but also a record of the work you have completed. If an item takes your team longer than anticipated because of a specific task, use that knowledge to adjust estimates of future items that also include that task. Accurate estimates lead to efficient sprints. Make sure the product backlog is transparent and accessible. The product backlog should be visible to the entire team, so everyone knows what work needs to be done and the current priorities. You can do this by one by using a physical whiteboard or a digital tool that is shared with the team. To summarize, maintaining a proper product backlog is essential to a successful project. Maintenance can be manageable if you set aside dedicated time for product backlog grooming. During this grooming session, take the following four steps: Review and update product backlog items Accurately prioritize product backlog items Learn from completed product backlog items Maintain transparency and accessibility Executing the list above will put your product backlog in good shape and your Scrum team on its way to a successful project.

RPA. Three letters that we hear over and over. When you ask about RPA, the experts tell you it is Robotic Process Automation. It is software using automation technology to perform repetitive tasks that office workers do daily, such as filling in forms, extracting data, moving files, etc. RPA technology is becoming the next big thing, and everybody wants to use it. Yet, two-thirds of implementations fail. RPA is a significant investment; you need to see a return on investment (ROI). What are we trying to achieve when we are interested in RPA? This should be your first question. RPA can perform a high volume of rule-based processes in less time than any employee. Great, but what does it mean for my company? It means you can free up your employees for more complex tasks or time-constraint projects. Plus, the human error factor is minimized, fewer data entry employees are needed, and let’s not forget the compliance side, which seems to be a win—win situation. Why so much failure in RPA implementation? It looks good on paper, but before implementing any RPA you need to know your processes. Do not try to change a frequently changing process, select the one with a low business impact—a process that is too complex and not cost-effective, where better custom solutions exist. Every business relies on processes to function properly. When these processes are working efficiently, it saves you time and money. However, not all processes are good candidates for RPA. Your business may be stuck because you don’t know where to start using the RPA efficiently in the proper process. Working with an implementation partner, like MSS Business Transformation Advisory (MSSBTA), is the best option. But, before we talk about RPA we need to know precisely which process you want to automate. There is pre-work to do - much like buying a vacuum cleaner. When you shop for a vacuum cleaner you buy based on specific criteria you want in a vacuum cleaner. RPA is much the same. Having criteria is great, but you must know how your processes work first. An implementation partner like MSSBTA will help with that by understanding what you are looking for, the goal, the return, the timeline, and the evolution. We recently had a client who bought an RPA package and contacted us to help them map their processes. This company had several filling forms and wanted to automate them but bought the RPA package without knowing which process they would automate. There were questions that had to be answered before we could start working with them. • How many bots are needed? • Which process is the most time-consuming? • Which has the most data entry? • Which form is the most common? When a company purchases new automatization and tries to implement it without understanding how it impacts all the processes it touches it creates problems. As a trusted implementation partner, MSSBTA asks questions and finds the answers by investigating, analyzing the data, and brainstorming the processes. When implemented thoughtfully and with planning, RPA can save you time and money, reduce errors, and keep you compliant. Not every process is a candidate for automating - maybe a few tweaks and some process improvements. The ultimate goal, however, is to automate the right processes that will realize the biggest ROI. MSSBTA is here to help you from beginning to end until you reach your goals.

One area of business where Organizational Change Management (OCM) can be particularly helpful is supplier onboarding. Supplier onboarding is the process of integrating new suppliers into an organization's existing business processes. It can be difficult to get cooperation from suppliers during this process, as they may be resistant to change or unfamiliar with the organization's procedures. However, successful supplier onboarding is essential for ensuring that new suppliers can provide the products and services that the organization needs in a timely and efficient manner. Factors that contribute to successful supplier onboarding: Defining the objectives and expectations of the supplier onboarding process upfront is crucial for setting everyone involved up for success. Creating a smooth and efficient process for exchanging information between the organization and supplier. Training employees on the new procedures associated with supplier onboarding and ensuring they understand the importance of following the process correctly. Keeping communication channels open between all parties involved in the supplier onboarding process to resolve any issues quickly. Flexible and willing to adjust the supplier onboarding process as needed based on feedback from suppliers and employees. 5 tips for a successful supplier onboarding process Tip #1 – Define objectives and expectations Organizations must take the time to define the objectives and expectations of the supplier onboarding process upfront. Ensuring that everyone involved knows what is expected of them can help set everyone up for success. Without this crucial step, it can be difficult to get cooperation from suppliers or ensure that employees follow new procedures correctly. Tip #2 – Create an efficient process Creating a smooth and efficient process for exchanging information between the organization and supplier is essential. This will help ensure that the supplier onboarding process runs smoothly and that potential issues are quickly resolved. By keeping communication channels open and having a transparent process for exchanging information, organizations can make the supplier onboarding process much more efficient. Tip #3 – Train employees One of the most critical aspects of successful supplier onboarding is training employees on its new procedures. Employees need to understand the importance of following the process correctly to avoid disruptions to business operations. By taking the time to train employees on the new procedures, organizations can help ensure that supplier onboarding is a success. Tip #4 – Keep communication channels open Maintaining communication channels between all parties involved in the supplier onboarding process is essential. This will allow any potential issues to be quickly resolved. By having open communication, organizations can ensure a successful supplier onboarding. Tip #5 – Be willing to adjust Organizations must be flexible and willing to adjust the supplier onboarding process as needed. This is based on feedback from suppliers and employees. By being ready to make changes, organizations can help ensure that supplier onboarding is a success. Organizations can increase the chances of successful supplier onboarding by following these tips. Taking the time to define the objectives and expectations upfront, creating a smooth process for exchanging information, and training employees on the new procedures, organizations can set themselves up for success. Additionally, by keeping communication channels open and being willing to adjust as needed, organizations can help ensure that the supplier onboarding process is a success.

Look at us! We are being bold and brave. We are turning on the video option on our conference calls and are finally trusting that mobile banking app to deposit checks! As we continue to adapt to a virtual world, it is essential to be persistent in creating meaningful interactions with our newly remote customers and teams and to continue the business of conducting business. It is equally essential to continue pre-pandemic requirements gathering efforts and ask; “How has living in a virtual world impacted my current business needs?” Download Virtual Requirements Gathering PDF In the article, Business Requirements Gathering and How to Get it Right, we walked through the Requirements Gathering Framework and stressed the importance of having a comprehensive requirement gathering and governance process. We learned: requirements live on beyond analysis and throughout the project life cycle. they require oversight to be managed and maintained. they represent your top business needs and core values and must now include the impacts of living in a virtual world. Support Virtual Requirements Gathering The process of gathering requirements itself does not change, but the procedures used are significantly impacted due to the current virtual nature of organizations. Virtual collaboration will be critical to successfully completing your requirements gathering process. Understanding and leveraging the features, and functions in your organization’s collaboration tool set is essential to enable this virtual collaboration. Leaders that learn how to make space for teams and individuals to contribute and interact in new ways can support more deliberate and meaningful interactions, regardless of our ‘virtual’ reality. Embrace Virtual Collaboration Tools Learning to adapt to new tools can be a second priority when old habits and tools can get us there eventually. Here is where leadership with clear vision and oversight can dial-up remote collaboration and maintain an effective Requirements Gathering Process. It is important to be intentional about your use of virtual collaboration tools, so the team becomes more comfortable with this method of sharing ideas. Just as you should not rely on a single elicitation technique, you should not limit yourself to one collaboration tool. Rather, a combination of techniques and tools allows your virtual team to show up and engage in a variety of ways. Collaborate Boldly Planned elicitation meetings online can bring the team together to brainstorm ideas at the same time in the same document doing what is called co-authoring or real-time collaboration. After brainstorming, review all ideas using the Keep, Kill or Combine process to narrow down a large list. Use this to determine which requirements are keepers, who can be let go and which are redundant and therefore need to be combined. Use chat channels to discuss a specific topic and share it with your team for informal communication that can provide quick responses and help replicate the ‘hallway meetings’. Video conference calls is a favorite go-to for both group calls and 1:1 discussion. They are ideal for meetings with senior management for unstructured interviews where open-ended questions prompt broad scope discussions. It is also very helpful to record these calls for future reference. Focus groups or workshops are still core to elicitation for teams to bounce ideas and fact check each other. With a seasoned facilitator, you can incorporate sharing your screen to review and model requirements using common collaboration tool features like white boarding, surveys, or instant polls. There are hundreds of collaboration tools out there and more coming into the market every day. Face-to-face communication is still ideal, but in this virtual world, where the stakes are high, we must innovate! As we are in a virtual world, be bold and brave in exploring and executing requirements gathering activities with all the available collaboration tools so you can successfully achieve your goals. Coordinate with Team Members In the Analyze phase, your diagrams, and models from the Elicit phase are now deconstructed into lists of specific, more granular requirements. You do not have to wait for the email hand-off of a document. Take advantage of cloud file sharing by saving your documents where your team can collaboratively develop the document simultaneously. Insert comments and use chat conversations that live with the shared document so everyone can work collaboratively without collisions. Yes, it takes a bit of a personal leap to engage and invite others to jointly develop your masterpiece before it is complete, but true collaboration can help organize, prioritize, and verify requirements quickly. Share with Stakeholders The Validate phase pulls all your work into a formal Business Requirements Document for sign-off and commences the translation into systems requirements, when preparing to implement the chosen solution. If you are following the Requirement Gathering Framework, it will be the third time stakeholders are asked to review the requirements and the only time asking for a sign-off. Record your sessions to help capture complex technical details to review for reference later. The challenge is ensuring senior leadership reads and understands the requirements. Ultimately, this document is not for Business Analysts, it is for stakeholders. InfoTech Research Group suggests considering creating multiple versions of the requirements package, where length and level of technical details is tailored to the audience. Consider creating a PowerPoint presentation for screen sharing with senior management for obtaining final sign-off. Lean on Requirements Governance Validation is your final opportunity to ensure you understand the impact of the current virtual world on your business requirements, and this impact is captured in your requirements. Put the organization behind the requirement gathering process. Lean on established requirements governance during this time. This structure is critical to ensure your business analysts have support in their new remote environment. More than ever, requirements management should not be done in isolation. Have your collection methods changed? Are your organizational key metrics still applicable? Are those requirement changes being linked back to the business with proper change control? An established governance can help educate and communicate to the organization about any policy changes. And it provides the quality checks to ensure all on-deck and in-flight projects are performing the necessary requirement re-assessments to support a newly virtual task force. Be Bold It is a known statistic that 70% of projects fail due to poor requirements. Requirement gathering is complex and ever evolving. According to Info-Tech Research Group, “It can be difficult to create an accurate picture of what your business wants and needs from its IT projects.” Do not get stuck in the past. As we are in a virtual world, be bold and brave in exploring and executing this activity with all the available collaboration tools so you can successfully achieve your goals. Share This Article:

Whether you are a startup or a private/public company needing innovation from within, growth often is hampered by needing to hire the right people, teach existing and new processes, and supporting with the right technology. But without the right people, operational procedures and technology, scaling up can create big problems. By bringing on a seasoned C-Suite consultant with a deep team, network, and processes in their toolkit, CEOs, and founders can have both efficiency and rapid growth. Six Projects to Hire For: Facilitating Current and Future State Meetings and Building a Toolkit Scaling companies' key stakeholders (investors, C-Suite, Board) may struggle with communicating the evolving goals over a 6-month, 1-year, 2-year and 3-year period. This can be best delivered in either shorter meetings over a longer period of time or an intense Workshop over a few days. Clarifying Metrics and Business Transparency with Dashboards Using best practices to define desired and industry metrics across the organization to drive collaboration and business transparency through automated dashboards. Building a Business Plan for Future State The right Consultant with deep experience can help develop a business plan that will allow companies to crush their goals and scale in a healthy way. Automating Tasks Integrate software like Zapier, Paragon, etc., to automate workflows, eliminate manual tasks (wherever possible), and save time and money. Hiring Teams Incorporate culture metrics and deep experience to engage marketing, sales, finance, customer success, account management, and more. Budgeting Build/manage/coach Finance and each department team to ensure the best use of funds. Download: 6 Projects a C-Suite Consultant Can Do to Drive Value PDF Bringing on a C-Suite consultant can be a valuable investment for companies looking to drive value and achieve growth. By facilitating current and future state meetings, clarifying metrics and business transparency, developing a solid business plan, automating tasks, hiring teams, and managing budgeting, a C-Suite consultant can provide the necessary expertise and support to drive success. Don't let your company struggle with scaling up - consider partnering with a C-Suite consultant today.

Provide your IT team with data they can work with using diagnostics. Diagnostics are a quick, easy, and cost-effective way to collect data that turns into practical insights. Survey questions ask business and technology stakeholders the right questions, so you always have input necessary for building an effective strategy. Turn simple answers into incredible details that can be used in making strategic decisions about where improvements could lie within your organization's processes. Here are the top 3 benefits of Diagnostics your IT team will love. 1. Diagnostics Help You Identify Areas of Improvement Diagnostics are designed to help organizations identify their strengths and weaknesses. They can also help you identify specific performance gaps and opportunities for improvement. This is especially important for IT teams, as they are often responsible for critical and sensitive systems. By using diagnostics, your team can pinpoint areas where they need to make improvements and act. 2. Diagnostics Can Be Used to Communicate with Stakeholders Diagnostics can be used to communicate with stakeholders about the state of your organization. This is important for two reasons. First, it allows you to keep stakeholders informed about your organization's progress. Second, it shows that you are committed to making improvements and ensuring the success of your IT team. Diagnostics can also be used to benchmark your team's performance against industry best practices. 3. Diagnostics Help You Develop Action Plans Develop action plans to improve your team's performance based on diagnostic findings. Diagnostic findings can also be used to track progress over time and benchmark your team against industry best practices. Developing an action plan is important because it gives you a roadmap to follow as you make improvements. It also allows you to track your progress and ensure that you are making the changes that are necessary to improve your team's performance. Action plans should be designed to address the specific areas of improvement identified by the diagnostic, and they should also be tailored to the needs of your team and organization. Diagnostics offer many benefits for IT teams because they are a quick, easy, and cost-effective way to collect data and turn it into practical insights. They help organizations identify areas of improvement and make necessary changes. They can be used to communicate with stakeholders, develop action plans, and track progress over time. By taking advantage of these benefits, your team can improve its performance and better serve its stakeholders. MSS Business Transformation Advisory (MSSBTA) offers several Business and IT Diagnostics that can help your business quickly and easily improve its performance. Each diagnostic includes a quantitative survey and a verbal presentation along with a written report of our findings. Most diagnostics can be completed in 2 to 4 weeks. Our services are tailored to the needs of your team and organization, and they are designed to help you achieve your desired outcomes. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help you transform your business.