|
The Problem
The
Project Authorization Request (PAR) Wizard is a workflow process
software application that was developed for a large global
financial institution to address a costly process workflow
issue. To gain project approval within the organization,
project owners must complete project request forms and circulate
for appropriate signatures. Which signatures are required
depends on predetermined funding threshold amounts, so a small
project that does not require a lot of funding might only
require signatures from one senior vice president and the
project management office, where a large project with high
funding requirements might require signatures from five or six
levels of management, right up to the CEO. The project request
form includes all necessary information surrounding the proposed
project so that signatories do not have to needlessly waste time
trying to find out details about the request.
The
problem that our client was experiencing was that the process to
complete a project authorization request form had grown to be so
intricate and complex that very few project owners could even
fill out a form correctly. Codes, acronyms and internal
classifications were numerous and constantly changing. There
were many internal transit codes that needed to be associated
with cost types, but it was quite difficult trying to determine
the correct code. The list of possible signatories at all
management levels was constantly changing as well. A user would
have to be highly versed in properly filling out a request form
to correctly fill out the form in the first iteration. Most
request forms were rejected at the project management office
because they were prepared incorrectly. The numerous iterations
back and forth between the project owner and the project
management office greatly lengthened the time required to
approve a project. This administrative bottleneck severely
delayed internal projects, which resulted in frustration by
everyone involved in the process. The cost implications were
different for each project request and difficult to quantify
accurately, but each delayed project carried its own opportunity
cost.
The Solution
The
PAR Wizard software allows the project owners to correctly fill
out a project authorization request form every time. A system
administrator updates the software as required so that users
always have current information. A 20-step wizard guides the
user through a complex maze of choices by allowing only
legitimate choices. When a user makes a selection on one screen
of the wizard, that selection determines what the user sees on
the following screen, so users can only select legitimate
choices each time. The Wizard guides the user to create a
perfect form each time.
Users
can review and alter their choices if necessary before
printing. The printed form is automatically expanded or
collapsed to include only the information that the user filled
in and users can print preview their form to see exactly how it
will look when printed. If the request is only partially
complete, users can save the request to their hard drive and
return later to upload, complete and print it.
Results and Benefits
The
software completely restructured how the organization approved
project requests, greatly reducing project approval turnaround
time. Not only were the project owners happy to not have to
waste their time in correcting numerous iterations of a request
form, but the project management office was also thrilled to not
have to review numerous iterations of the same form. It is
difficult to measure an exact dollar amount of value that the
software application provides the organization each year because
much of the value is realized in the form of greatly reduced
opportunity costs associated with delayed projects. The other
large cost saving is associated with the man hours saved in
streamlining the entire process. The employees involved in the
process have an increased quality of work life and the training
costs both in terms of dollars and time has been greatly
reduced.
Visit our
Process Workflow System demo page to see the software
application in action.
You can
also download a
full
length and full screen movie of the Process Workflow System if you
are interested in viewing the entire application (note that the
file is 25 megs in size and may take a while to download).
.
|
