Case study 8 - Process improvement including underpinning technology tools

The client: the finance function of a UK quoted hotel company.

Background: the company had operated two brands of wholly-owned hotels in the UK for a number of years. Neither finance nor technology was seen as providing corporate advantage. Both areas had suffered as a consequence from under-investment. Management and staff were developed from within allowing little or no injection of fresh thinking to the finance organisation, finance processes and the technologies supporting finance. The business decided to enter the hotel management business and, as a result, owners and other third parties started to challenge the cost and efficiency of internal processes.

Consultant/s: Ian Graham and Mike Wrigley

Project date: Quarters 2 and 3, 2005

Project objective: to work with and mentor the client's finance professionals through an evaluation of current processes and technologies all in the context of best practice examples from elsewhere; the development of a vision for the future of finance for the client; developing a roadmap to evolve from the status quo to the vision in a logical value adding manner.

Project scope

All processes involving finance - Order to Cash; Purchase to Pay; Capital Expenditure; Hire to Retire and Reporting - as performed at the hotels and / or at corporate office.

Methodology

The client identified a working party led by a senior manager. Ian worked with the team and the manager. Initially, he facilitated the Kick-Off Meeting during which the core finance processes were described. Ian summarised the output from the workshop sessions covering each of the above processes. He designed and documented the new proposed major and secondary processes. Ian and Mike met with the leader of IT for the business to identify existing or projected technology solutions to meet the re-defined process requirements. They documented the technology proposals. Ian worked on the organizational implications and a high-level estimate of the future cost of finance.

At this stage, a 'blueprint' for the majority of finance's future operational processes, technologies and people was available. The team leader and Ian spent time with the project team to share the proposals with them and reflect against their inputs. Finally, Ian spent time scoping out the implementation implications. The output from all the above was then discussed with a steering committee composed of executive board members and agreed next steps commenced.

Results

The Board obtained a realistic view of the current state of health of its finance processes and underpinning technologies, as well as a worked-through plan to dramatically move the company forward. This was done in a manner that ensured the full engagement of the current finance team, yet ensured best practice from the hotel and other industries was introduced. The role that technology played in constraining current processes, and the role technology could play in liberating these constraints, was fully understood.

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