Terminology

Attrition due to chaos: when a new employee quits because of lack of training caused by workflow and procedural chaos

Business Continuity operational weakness: the state of lacking current, accurate, and accessible workflow documentation and standardized procedures

Continuous improvement: the ongoing act of examining current practices and identifying improvements to those practices

Data blindness: the state of being uncertain when and where key data elements are used in workflows

Duplication of effort: duplicate tasks completed in different workflows and without unique results

Inappropriate system administrator privileges: Administrator-level rights granted to an individual “for the time being” and not revoked when the individual moves to another position

Multiple points of failure: the points within the time-bound phases of a distinct process that, if they occur, reduce the likelihood the objectives of the process will be met

New Talent: a new employee

New Talent Training Plan: the time-bound phases of a training process, from beginning to end, performed to ensure New Talent is exposed to systems and tasks necessary for a trust relationship to develop

Operations Book of Knowledge (OBOK): a single repository of operations knowledge for a department, business unit, or small organization. A key resource during transitions, the OBOK includes important facts, such as department and team structures; descriptions of functions; list of Standard Operating Procedures; vendor lists and contact information; third-party technology subscriptions and access; lists of documents and reports

Standard Operating Procedure: a unique set of tasks performed in a workflow, documented in a standardized format, saved in a shared location, updated regularly and reviewed annually

Tactics: short-range actions taken to support long-range strategies

Unnecessarily complex systems of doing things: a result of growth that doesn’t include documenting workflows or procedures

Workflow: the time-bound phases of a distinct process, from beginning to end, and the procedures performed throughout the process

Workflow mapping: creating a visual diagram of how categories of work move through internal operations and interact with other categories of work

Documented workflows, Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), and new talent training plans are strategic, confidential documents and key tools for business continuity. Without these essential documents, internal operations can fall into chaos, resulting in:

  • hampered continuous improvement gains

  • loss of new talent

  • duplication of effort

  • unnecessarily complex systems of doing things

  • unreasonable workloads

  • multiple points of failure

  • inappropriate system administrator privileges

  • data blindness

  • absence of business continuity tools

  • unpreparedness for an AI investment