INTRODUCTION

You have the starting point defined the current processes. You also have where you eventually want to go the long-term processes. Now you must define a path for moving from one to the other. In developing the future transactions, you will be drawing on ideas of the employees, your industry data, and experience from using various software packages. In the end, you can change a process for the future and not the long-term by doing some combination of the following:

• Building, modifying, and buying software

• Implementing architecture and technology change on a limited scale

• Changing procedures and practices

• Modifying, creating, and eliminating policies

Now contrast this with Quick Wins. The scope of what is possible to change with Quick Wins must be limited to the following factors:

• Procedure and training material changes

• Minor policy changes

• Minor changes to the software

• Limited work on the architecture

There are some rules of thumb that we have followed in our improvement efforts. You should be able to implement Quick Wins in days or weeks. You should be able to implement the future process in months not years. Experience has shown that if it takes longer than six months or at the most one year to implement the future process, you are likely to fail. Here is why:

• The process may deteriorate or change over this time.

• The internal business climate may change.

• Management may redirect resources away from the improvement effort to other work.

• New versions of the systems and technology that you selected may appear, making...