The Roles and Responsibilities Matrix

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As part of the process decomposition effort just described, a business analyst has already prepared an input/output/deliverables matrix. Next, the team should map clearly defined and specific roles and responsibilities for each process step. This activity is essential to ensuring the commitment of each process participant to his or her role within the project team's proposed model for enhanced or reengineered business process delivery. For the IT project team, this information is also essential in identifying those who will create or provide knowledge components for others to use within the process's value chain. In addition, this mapping element often documents the sequencing of component handoffs within the larger business process.

It should come as no surprise that some of those involved in process delivery are unwilling to acknowledge their actual roles and responsibilities. The mapping process helps these folks face up to their own accountability. For some, the information in this matrix may come as a real surprise. Whatever the particular circumstances within your organization, it is essential that all business process stakeholders recognize and assume responsibility for their process roles. By achieving this aim, the IT project team will find it easier to build these assignments into new IT systems and IT-enabled business processes, and to define more clearly task hand-offs, labor-saving opportunities, and so forth. The actual execution of a roles and responsibilities matrix is demonstrated in the solution selling example. See Exhibit 4.

Exhibit 4: A Roles and Responsibilities Matrix

start example

Role

Responsibilities

Customer/Process Deliverables

Consultants, sales, Business Units

Collaborate on defining targets; BU and Sales leadership to provide direction, build consensus, determine priorities

List of qualified targets

Consultants, account managers

Appropriate employee/team to approach the targeted prospect and to gather information — both in the marketplace and from the prospect

Approach to specific target

Sales, consultants

Designated solution selling team to distill information into a specific set of opportunity scenarios and options

Sufficient information to craft prospect approach

Sales, delivery, client

Designated solution selling team to meet with prospect to explore a specific set of opportunity scenarios and options and to agree upon a focus and priorities, level of interest

Consensus with client on opportunity under consideration

Sales, finance

Due diligence to ensure that the firm follows the prospect's buying process, that we are talking to the right people, and that we know who our competition is

Determine how decision is to be made and by whom; competition

Sales, delivery

Prepare a cogent scoping document upon which the project team can deliver if engaged

Scope document

Sales, delivery, client

Reach consensus and commit in terms of client's needs, firm's capacity, etc.

Consensus with client on scope

Sales, delivery

Due diligence to set price based on past delivery and pricing experience

Based on scope, price determined

Sales, delivery

Prepare, deliver, and present proposal; reach agreement

Proposal delivered

Sales, delivery (?)

Prepare, deliver, and present contract; get signoff

Contract delivered

Engagement management team

Ensure there is clarity and commitment in the handoff from the sales team to the engagement team executing the contract

Project initiated

end example

Note that the matrix itself should follow the same order as the process workflow map and should use clear, unambiguous language in the definition of assignments and outcomes. Do not be surprised if this step, which some might view as a formality, becomes a major point of contention. Stakeholders do not always want to be reminded of their responsibilities, nor do they wish to have their accountability documented as part of a business process mapping exercise. Nevertheless, for reasons that are obvious, this work must get done. Furthermore, the time spent to discover the current state of the process and to win overall agreement on the desired state is essential to subsequent IT system design and development. Bear in mind that your business analysts will not have the clout to accomplish consensus building. They are there to gather the facts. The more dynamic and interpersonal task of reaching a common view of the replacement business process must be left to the project director in partnership with his or her project sponsor and working clients.



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The Hands-On Project Office(c) Guaranteeing ROI and On-Time Delivery
E-Commerce Security: Advice from Experts (IT Solutions series)
ISBN: N/A
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2006
Pages: 132

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