Case Studies
Business Process Audit (BPA)
The purpose of a Business Process Audit (BPA) is to identify the level of utilization based on the client’s current business processes. The years since implementation took place have in most cases brought significant change to the client organization and its business processes.
Simultaneously, ShipNet has delivered its upgrades to improve functionality and work flow. The level of underutilization is identified in the gap between yesterday’s business process and today’s demands in a global market place. A BPA project secures return of the investment already made in software solutions:
In sum, there are opportunities for increased efficiency and improved user friendliness, also bearing in mind staff changes that have taken place since the time of implementation. New people represent new opportunities for the client organization. Optimized usage of available software solutions create basis for an even more creative and innovative team.
ShipNet sent a request to a fairly large ship owner/operator, offering to perform a BPA. The company operates around 100 vessels and has been using ShipNet for more than 10 years. Each vessel has an average voyage length of about one week, resulting in many calculations, voyage orders, port calls, and freight invoices i.e. heavy workload for the users. The main focus for this company has been efficient workflow. Although the company has been kept updated with all new functions and changes in ShipNet programs, very few of these features have been implemented throughout the years.
Mapping Process findings
Immediate observations from the ShipNet consulting team:
The ShipNet users strive to keep data entry on a minimum, in order to keep the work process flowing. They have created sub-systems around ShipNet, which allows easy-to-use reporting tools. The reason for this could be heavy workload on the individual user, or limited corporate focus on maintaining a uniform way of working the system. There could also be a combination of the two.
Whatsoever, the principal of minimum input is probably not the way to create an efficient, safe, flexible and cost-effective service for your customers? Incomplete or missing data input limit your business analysis options.
Another observation was that different users worked the system very differently, some constantly updating information when received/available while others updating at the time they had to due to the over-all process flow. Not having a uniform way of working will create problems when staff are on vacation, travelling or sick, as others have to back them up without knowing the data-entry status of the voyages.
Conclusions & Recommendations
- Schedule a work flow optimization project to identify more in detail current utilization of the various applications and functions
- Mapping and alignment of procedures between departments
- The various users to agree on what need to be registered and ‘when’ to-do
- Identify business critical reports and statistics
- Creating an over-all more efficient workflow
- End-user training, as many of them have not been trained by ShipNet before
Summary : Step two of the BPA is scheduled, where ShipNet consultants are brought in to actively assist the company in performing the suggested actions. This process normally takes between two and three months to perform from beginning to end for a company this size, starting with mapping and alignment of the improved business processes. The change process is primarily driven by the client organization itself, ShipNet consultants coaching and eventually providing end-user training and Go-Live support.
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