University of Sunderland COMM80 Risk Assessment of Systems Change Unit 9

Risk Assessment: Business Risk Assessment: Business Activity Maps (BAMs)Activity Maps (BAMs)

COMM80: Risk Assessment of Systems Change

Unit 9

University of Sunderland COMM80 Risk Assessment of Systems Change Unit 9

Objectives of Objectives of Session CoverageSession Coverage

• To understand the use of RAMESES Business Activity Maps.

• To understand the purpose of RAMESES Business Activity Maps.

• To develop an ability to read, modify andcreate such maps.

University of Sunderland COMM80 Risk Assessment of Systems Change Unit 9

Business Activity Business Activity Maps (BAMs)Maps (BAMs)

• Focus on perspective of fit of system to business.– Layers of information,

• current,

• proposed system

• Tutorial: consideration of usage, modification of existing maps.

University of Sunderland COMM80 Risk Assessment of Systems Change Unit 9

Requirements for Requirements for the Techniquethe Technique

• Evolved in response to three main requirements for a Small-Medium Enterprise (SME) environment: – effective acquisition (gathering the data), without

disrupting the business,– accessible presentation of findings, and – analysis of the business process.

University of Sunderland COMM80 Risk Assessment of Systems Change Unit 9

Mapping the Mapping the Business ActivityBusiness Activity

• Mapping happens at two levels:– managerial (macro)

• This follows the reporting structures for the area of the business being examined.

– operational (micro)• This follows the individual tasks in a

process.

University of Sunderland COMM80 Risk Assessment of Systems Change Unit 9

Mapping the macro Mapping the macro (top) level(top) level

• To map the business activities at the macro (managerial/top) level “reporting-to” and “responsibility for” structures are used.– A starting point for these can be

organisational hierarchy charts.

University of Sunderland COMM80 Risk Assessment of Systems Change Unit 9

Example Example – starting at the top level– starting at the top level

University of Sunderland COMM80 Risk Assessment of Systems Change Unit 9

Mapping the macro Mapping the macro levellevel

• … Then the boundary for the project is identified.– only the relevant reporting-structures are

tracked any further. – To track this information from the senior

managers worksheets (forms) are used.

University of Sunderland COMM80 Risk Assessment of Systems Change Unit 9

Example Example – starting at the top level– starting at the top level

University of Sunderland COMM80 Risk Assessment of Systems Change Unit 9

Example top-level Example top-level WorksheetsWorksheets

•The top worksheet (form) collects the “data from each senior manager within the areas of concern to the project.

University of Sunderland COMM80 Risk Assessment of Systems Change Unit 9

Example top-level Example top-level WorksheetsWorksheets

•The second worksheet (form) typically records:

• the managerial/supervisory structure below this particular senior manager

• the related responsibilities, and

• any software that is believed to be used within their area of influence.

University of Sunderland COMM80 Risk Assessment of Systems Change Unit 9

Constructing the top-Constructing the top-level Business Activity level Business Activity

MapMap• This mechanism of gathering the necessary data

using worksheets (forms).

– avoids the need for specialist training of the staff.– reveals the senior managers perceptions of what

is happening within the organisation.

University of Sunderland COMM80 Risk Assessment of Systems Change Unit 9

Macro Level ExampleMacro Level Example

Jeff Walker(European Sales)

John Smith (CEO)(Director)

Business Planning

Strategic Marketing

Operational Planning

Responsible for

R & DHenry Davenport

(Product Marketing)

US Sales

ProductDevelopment

Customer Liasion

InquiryGeneration

AccountManagement

OrderFulfillment

Henry Davenport

University of Sunderland COMM80 Risk Assessment of Systems Change Unit 9

Mapping the micro Mapping the micro levellevel

• To map the activities within a business process at the micro level individual task inputs and outputs are tracked.

University of Sunderland COMM80 Risk Assessment of Systems Change Unit 9

Task TrailingTask Trailing

Task "a" Task "b" Task "d"

Task "c"

Identified by manager

Fred

Freda

Joe Joe

etc

etc

Process A

University of Sunderland COMM80 Risk Assessment of Systems Change Unit 9

Task TrailingTask Trailing

Task "e"

Task "b" Task "d"

Task "c"

Identified by manager

Fred

Freda

Joe Joe

etc

Process A

Task "a"

Sandhu

University of Sunderland COMM80 Risk Assessment of Systems Change Unit 9

Purpose of the Micro Purpose of the Micro (bottom/operation level)(bottom/operation level)

• Gathers the detailed data required.

• Identifies Staff within the Business Processes.

• Documents the Task Trail for the Business Processes within the boundary, including:

• Identification of IT usage.• Audit Staff IT Profile .• Audit Staff IT-Satisfaction.

University of Sunderland COMM80 Risk Assessment of Systems Change Unit 9

Micro-level Micro-level Worksheets Worksheets

These sheets are for individual sets of “input-task-output”.

University of Sunderland COMM80 Risk Assessment of Systems Change Unit 9

Micro-level Work sheet Micro-level Work sheet (for details of IT-usage etc(for details of IT-usage etc.).)

University of Sunderland COMM80 Risk Assessment of Systems Change Unit 9

Construction of the Construction of the Business Activity MapBusiness Activity Map

• The operational-level task trail data is gathered from individuals at their work areas using a set of worksheets (forms).

– Again this approach avoids the need for specialist training of the staff.

– The data from each individual is used to construct the complete business process (detailed business activity map).

University of Sunderland COMM80 Risk Assessment of Systems Change Unit 9

Micro Level ExampleMicro Level Example

University of Sunderland COMM80 Risk Assessment of Systems Change Unit 9

Presenting the Maps: Presenting the Maps: Hierarchies and Layers. Hierarchies and Layers.

• Hierarchies are traditionally used in process modelling to drill down into the detail of a process.

– In this approach comparisons can be made between the activities perceived by management levels and the operationalised activies.

• Layers allow additional features to be added to/removed from a map. E.g:

– IT support is superimposed onto the maps.– Staff skill can also be added.

University of Sunderland COMM80 Risk Assessment of Systems Change Unit 9

Presenting the Maps:Presenting the Maps:IT Usage IT Usage

• Maps with IT usage added provide richer data sets.

– They also enable comparisons (managerial v. operational).

University of Sunderland COMM80 Risk Assessment of Systems Change Unit 9

… … Systems Usage Systems Usage Layer AddedLayer Added

Colour is used to represent different software solutions

detected as in use.

University of Sunderland COMM80 Risk Assessment of Systems Change Unit 9

Presenting the Maps: Presenting the Maps: Current and Planned Current and Planned

IT Usage. IT Usage. • Maps with IT usage added provide richer

data sets.

– They enable comparisons between the current usage of IT and the planned usage.

University of Sunderland COMM80 Risk Assessment of Systems Change Unit 9

Proposed System Proposed System Layer AddedLayer Added

Proposed system usage

University of Sunderland COMM80 Risk Assessment of Systems Change Unit 9

How is this Risk How is this Risk Analysis?Analysis?

• The sets of maps highlight:– Inconsistencies between the managerial views of the business

activities and their actual operation.

– The usage of IT in the organisation (official and un-official) and the level of reliance on these solutions.

– The extent of change from the current state of IT usage to the proposed IT solution.

– The staff competency and confidence in using current IT solutions.

• In all cases the bigger the gap between the comparisons the greater the risk in a change management project.– Without the maps decisions would have been based on inaccurate

managerial knowledge/data.

– With the maps the risks accompanying the change are made explicit and can be dealt with.

University of Sunderland COMM80 Risk Assessment of Systems Change Unit 9

SummarySummary• You have been introduced to RAMESES Business

Activity Maps.• The concept of mapping at the macro (managerial)

and micro (operational) level has been discussed.• The process used to gather the data and construct

the maps has been defined.• Some ways in which the maps can be use for

analysis have been highlighted.• The link with Risk Analysis has been made explicit.