Most companies and managers struggle with solving problems that cross business areas - and the majority of problems do.  Seldom are "big" problems limited to only one business area - the business processes are linked with dependencies, but people often discover the impacts too late. 

To provide improvements that cross all of the the involved departments and functions in the value stream, or business process flow, improvement is required far beyond the manufacturing floor or service functions.

The following diagram represents our Business Value System Framework™, useful in identifying all the stakeholders and business process areas in a product or service value stream.

The Business Value System™ represents the internal process areas and responsibilities, while the "enablers" around the edges represent external influencers, including suppliers and customers.

Typical approaches of problem-solving methods frequently limit analysis, improvements and impacts to the “build” or manufacturing/service creation process, or sub-optimize within a single process area.   To maximize the value of change and reduce risk of failure through unanticipated impact, it’s necessary to go upstream from the manufacturing area and processes to the internally linked business areas and processes and external customers, suppliers and information flows.  This helps to identify the events and information that trigger linked activities throughout the business.   Correspondingly, it’s also required to go downstream to the customer/consumer level to define activities from a “pull” or "demand" perspective and determine upstream requirements for delivery.

Successful problem-solving in complex businesses requires a “systems thinking” approach, so that events anywhere in the Value Stream, both inside and outside the company boundaries, can be planned for and acted upon through a proactive strategy. For any product request or other business transaction, it’s important to understand the impact on all of the related business or process areas.   Also, for proper capacity planning and response, it’s necessary to consider the variability of demand as well as the likelihood of occurring scenarios.

For each of the areas represented by the boxes (“Process Areas”) above, there are some key questions to ask when trying to solve a problem, including:

1. Where does the problem start and end?  (boundaries)

2. Which Process Areas are stakeholders in creating or solving the problem?

3. Who is responsible for the Process Area?

4. What are the roles and purposes that this Process Area plays in the problem lifecycle, if any? 

5. What activities, or Processes, are performed as related to the problem?

6. What are the purposes of the activities?  Do they add customer value (Value Add), value to the business (Business Value Add), or no discernible value (Non Value Add)?

7. Who performs the activities?

8. What happens the rest of the "system" when you solve the problem?

By using the Business Value System Method™ Framework and our proprietary Breakthrough Strategic Review Tool as a starting point, we strive to understand the situation from every perspective.  From this point, we clarify the uniqueness of the problem, define a common set of purposes and then perform the complete analysis, develop the business case, solve the problem, plan for change and transition and then implement the solution and measure the impact and tangible results.  

Our clients like it that we solve problems quickly, and that we understand the "ripple effects" of change.

To discuss whether we can be of help:

1. Contact us with an urgent situation, project or problem in mind (by phone 801.358-5304) or email info@great-solutions.biz.

2. We’ll discuss the situation with you in confidence under an NDA (non-disclosure).

3. A Solutions Specialist will clarify the need and detailed requirements .

4. We conduct research and get back to you with options, often within 72 hours.

5. We provide a free 4-hour consultation on your situation.

6. You decide if we're valuable or not - and we go from there.

...  If you have an urgent need and want someone to take on the problem for you, call (801) 358-5304 or click here to contact us - after a brief discussion, we'll advise whether or not we can help.