Change Blueprint

Change Framework & ToolkitsSupportive organisation and culture14. Target Operating Model

14. Target Operating Model

‌‌‌What is it?

This process develops the future state vision into an operating model which brings the new ways of working to life.  It ensure that new processes are understood and mapped and that new roles and capabilities can be developed to deliver the desired outcomes

Why do it?

Work through this process in order to:

  • Consider the processes & capabilities, customer journey, information needs and roles that are required to deliver the desired new ways of working
  • Create an operational view of the new ways of working
  • Facilitate the realisation of the Future State Definition

When to do it?

Design phase

Inputs

Future State Definition
Change Impact Assessment
Change Management Plan
Change Strategy

Outputs

Target Operating Model

How to do it?

14.1 Agree design principles

The  Future State Definition developed in the Diagnose phase gives a high level view of the new ways of working.  The  Target Operating Model focus on how the new function can best be organised to more efficiently and effectively deliver the vision of the future
 
The design principles for the Target Operating Model build on the vision ( 1.2 Agree change vision) and should provide a clear description of the ways in which the vision and desired outcomes will be achieved, for example:
  • Line of sight: all activities are aligned with and contribute to the University’s strategic objectives
  • Ease of use: business processes will be designed for efficiency and ease of use for customers
  • Agile: service delivery will be responsive to customer needs
The principles should be impartial, balanced, strategically aligned and focused on the desired outcomes
 
These design principles are important for assessing different options for the ways the new service or function should operate, for example, if increased capacity is a key principle then the process design work may need to stress scalability and growth; if efficiency is a key principle then the processes would need to be developed with reduced time cycles and human intervention in mind.

14.2 Document future state processes

Once you have agreed the design principles the next step is to  map the current and desired future state processes with a view to identifying the people and organisational impacts that need to be addressed.
 
Process mapping is an exercise to identify all the steps and decisions in a process in diagrammatic form, with a view to identify how to improve that process.
 
There may be a number of different ways to deliver the desired outcomes and you should use the design principles to evaluate these options to determine the best ‘fit’.
 
Defining the processes involved in the new function or ways of working will allow the development of new roles and then jobs and then structures as part of the Organisation Design process.
 
The focus should be on:
  • The business roles that will perform each task within the new design
  • The change in responsibilities of each business role
  • The change in knowledge and skill requirement for each business role
  • The change in systems and tools required to support each business role

14.3 LEAN principles

‌‌One way to think about process mapping is to use Lean principles.  Lean uses the SIPOC model to map processes:

Documenting the new processes is often supported by a Business Analyst to ensure consistency with University standards and completeness. 

Once the new process design is documented you can review the ‘as is’ with the ‘to be’ to determine the gap.  Consider the impact of the gap on different stakeholders and update the Change Impact Assessment with any new impacts and the Change Management Plan with any new interventions identified.  The gap analysis should also identify any capability gaps which will need to be addressed in the Knowledge & Skills Management process (link)

Tool: Refer to the ‘How to Process Map’ guide from the SDU for more information (link to document & example from student cases)

14.4 Develop target operating model

‌Pulling together the design principles and process mapping you can then finalise the Target Operating Model – which:

  • Is a blueprint for the future state that allows more detailed plans to be developed in order to achieve the desired outcomes of the change initiative
  • Describes the internal and external relationships and information flows. 
  • The Target Operating Model includes a description of:
    • The customer experience or customer journey through the service
    • The work to be done (processes and activities)
    • The information and systems required to support the work
    • The locations of the work
    • The skills and capabilities required to deliver the work
    • The organisation and governance of the work (not a structure chart)
    • Any links to external partners or suppliers supporting or fulfilling any aspect of the work
    • The performance metrics and service levels for the work

Template: Target Operating Model