Strategy breakdown analysis and follow-up of objectives

How we helped the client

The initial need expressed by the client, a research and development department in the medical field, was to be able to offer its employees a simple guide as to which documents governed its various procedures. In other words, they needed a quality manual.

The department is a relatively minor part of a large group, and it had been sold on a number of times, becoming part of successive organisations. It had repeatedly been forced into new, big systems, which proved unwieldy for the department. In conjunction with a tightly regulated world, where no detail is left unaccounted for, even experienced employees had had problems in being able to quickly and easily find the right regulatory document.

Later our mandate was extended to include support for integration into the new group, support in introducing Lean Development, as well as a strategy and objectives breakdown analysis and follow-up of results and objectives.

How we did it

During the project, we used the following services:

• A description of their activities to make it clear to the operation how they work and interact; what aids they use, and when; where and how they use them; as well as the regulatory framework that governs this use, and in what contexts.
• A process analysis to match the new group’s requirements of the existing operation and to identify Lean potential in the existing operation.
• Goal modelling to support the operation in formulating objectives and underlying sub-objectives for the various aspects of the operation.
• Management by objectives to support the operation in formulating, compiling and presenting measurable indicators to show the degree of progress achieved in terms of the specified objectives.

What we achieved

Actea’s work has had a number of positive outcomes. The quality manual was expanded to become an integrated operational system where all the staff involved can easily find information. The staff now discuss improvements using a common language, instead of talking past one another from differing perspectives.

The new group management from the United States does not require the department simply to become part of its rank and file, but realises that the “little brother from Sweden” has quite a lot to teach the “big brother from the USA”.

The work involved in introducing Lean Development has provided an obvious starting point. There are synergistic, accepted and appropriate goals in place for the various aspects of the operation. There are also balanced scorecards securing the commitment of the staff belonging to the various aspects of the operation, resulting in each aspect focusing on its contribution to the common cause.