Transformation Services
In addition to the services listed below, Hermetica has a number tools to support these. Please see the Tools section.
Portfolio, Programme and Project Management
Coming up with good ideas is relatively easy - especially given that the problem is always somewhere else!
The larger the organisation is, the more senior managers instigate "projects" to fulfill these ideas and the more you hear people lower down the organisation complaining about "initiative overload". Whilst of questionable origin a figure of 70% is often quoted as the failure rate for change projects. Certainly my own experience would support this figure (sadly). The 2008 IBM Making Change Work report talked about leadership, a systematic approach, dedicated resources and selecting the right investment - the topic of this approach.
Lean Value Stream Mapping and Change
True Value Stream Mapping is somewhat more thorough than the simple "brown paper" used to illustrate it. Based originally on Toyota's lean methods, the technique has evolved from being a manufacturing tool to one now widely applied to a multitude of service environments. Hermetica spent a couple of years applying these principles within a social care context across a number of councils in England and, without knowing it at the time, to a UK offshore industry sponsored project which identified £1bn of supply chain related opportunities. It is within the overall supply chain context, rather than the factory context, where Hermetica has experience.
Project Management Office (PMO)
Hermetica was formed after 5 years in management consultancy and a further 15 years in the oil & gas project sector where PMO activities were a routine part of daily life. In addition to the normal activities of cost, scope, activity, risk, schedule and resource management, experience extends to cover the management of life-cycle estimating and costing, value engineering and incentive based "gainshare" schemes involving multiple organisations. Hermetica is Prince2 qualified and has routinely applied PMO practices in both the private and public sectors.
Risk Management (Project and Supply Chain)
Project based risk (issue and opportunity) management is a standard part of a PMO function.
However,
Hermetica also has experience of looking at supply chain risk management from both a financial proactive perspective and an operational impact perspective (but not from a reactive financial perspective e.g. in the event of insolvency). In addition to looking at risk at a supplier level, Hermetica has factored in part level risk where the criticality of the part, its usage, lead times, etc are also factored into the analysis and solutions. Hermetica is also familiar with applying MonteCarlo simulation (e.g. using Oracle Crystall Ball) to analysis.
Change Related Facilitation and Training
Learing to facilitate is core training for anyone who has been through one of the larger consultancies. Change is a challenge for many people, especially within a project context where individuals are often pulled together to form a team. Hermetica believes firmly in accelerating such teams through the forming-storming-norming phases of a project via early social, as well as work based, interaction, combined with effective group facilitation. Hermetica also has extensive experience of delivering training to international teams and/or sector wide audiences, having trained engineers, purchasers, social care managers and others in supply chain, purchasing and IT based analytics.