Operations Assessment is a process used in management, particularly in strategic management, in which organizations evaluate various aspects of their processes relative to best practice, usually within their own sector. These evaluations support development of plans on how to adopt each best practice, usually with the aim of increasing some aspect of performance. Operations Assessment may be a one-off event, but is often treated as a continuous process in which organizations continually seek to challenge their practices.
Procedure
No single Operations Assessment process has been universally adopted. The wide appeal and acceptance of Operations Assessment has led to various Operations Assessment methodologies emerging.
The following is an example of a typical methodology:
- Identify your problem areas - Because Operations Assessment can be applied to any business process or function, a range of research techniques may be required. They include: informal conversations with customers, employees, or suppliers; exploratory research techniques such as focus groups; or in-depth marketing research, quantitative research, surveys, questionnaires, reengineering analysis, process mapping, quality control variance reports, or financial ratio analysis. Before embarking on comparison with other organizations it essential that you know your own organization’s function process; baselining performance provides a point against which improvement effort can be measured.
- Identify other industries that have similar processes - Once the problem area is identified, the subsequent step is to identify other industries that have similar operations/processes. There may or may not be an exact match for similar industry and/or operations.
- Identify organizations that are leaders in these areas - Look for the very best in any industry and in any country. Consult customers, suppliers, financial analysts, trade associations, and magazines to determine which companies are worthy of study.
- Survey companies for measures and practices - Companies target specific business processes using detailed surveys of measures and practices used to identify business process alternatives and leading companies. Surveys are typically masked to protect confidential data by neutral associations and consultants.
- Visit the "best practice" companies to identify leading edge practices - Companies typically agree to mutually exchange information beneficial to all parties in a Operations Assessment group and share the results within the group.
- Implement new and improved business practices - Take the leading edge practices and develop implementation plans which include identification of specific opportunities, funding the project and selling the ideas to the organization for the purpose of gaining demonstrated value from the process.
PMC offers Operations Assessment in the following areas:
