Process Maturity Matters for Finance
If you repeatedly feel frustrated at work by late or delayed projects, documentation or people, please take this 5-minute read. 25 years of Change Management consulting across FTSE 100 and SME’s suggest — somewhat controversially — that no one is to blame.
Instead, the challenge and solution comes down to Process Maturity.
Read on to learn more about Process Maturity and access a link to our wee free Process Maturity Assessment Tool (PMAT).
What is Process Maturity?
Process Maturity, also known as process capability, measures the efficiency and strategic alignment of your business processes. This covers matters like tools, technology, methodology, rules, jobs, and team structure. A clear picture of your Process Maturity answers questions such as:
· To what extent are your processes geared to help your business operate smoothly?
· To what extent are your resources and people flowing in a way that fully supports your company’s Vision, Mission, Values and Customer Satisfaction?
· Where and how could you improve?
· What are the next steps to working better together?
High Process Maturity results in a job done to world class standards. That means on-time delivery with high quality products and/or services, repeatably and consistently. Organisations with this level of Process Maturity will also see collateral value such as elevated good reputation through customer satisfaction and goodwill!
In short, without a healthy level of process maturity, your organisation’s results depend on luck. Both internal and external customer experiences are likely to be a little chaotic.
How can I use Process Maturity in my business?
Process Maturity applies to all industries and can be measured and improved across all functions of your business including:
- Finance
- Project Management
- IT
- Legal
- Operations
- People
- Product Development
- Sales & Marketing and more.
Best practice and best-fit processes will vary depending on the department, organisation and customer needs.
How it works for Finance
If you’re itching get started and just do the thing then simply:
click here and access the free CCS PMAT for Finance
which is designed to take less than 20 minutes to complete.
Otherwise, let’s run through a quick breakdown of how it works for Finance.
You can choose to assess your whole Finance organisation, or focus on just one area. For SME’s, we’ve homed in on four broad Finance areas and kept our assessment tool “lite” to give you the best chance of doing it all in one go:
1. Core Accounting
2. Planning
3. Business Support, and
4. Specialisations (Tax, Insurance, Treasury & Internal Audit).
A robust Process Maturity assessment will give you a clear idea of where you sit on the path to where you want to be. Our PMAT applies five broad stages of maturity. In order to reach the next level, you must complete the criteria for the previous.
Each maturity level is defined by its own behind-the-scenes measurement criteria:
1. Fundamental
2. Defined, repeatable & process enabled
3. Integrated and fully controlled
4. Optimised & Best Practice
5. World Class
It’s worth noting that not all organisations need or want World Class processes! In fact, investing too much into creating World Class yet irrelevant resources might actually work against your organisation as “too much” is essentially waste. Depending on your organisation’s journey, it may be fine for you to rank at Fundamental in some or all processes.
Once you know where you are, you can build a clearer picture of what good looks like for you, then begin to identify areas for improvement to the appropriate level of maturity.
Aligning your Process Maturity might involve eliminating wasted processes (TIMWOOD), identifying and mapping your processes, applying existing processes differently, re-distributing your resources, investing in learning and development or consulting with experts in unchartered territory…the possibilities for improvement are endless but identifying your Process Maturity helps you understand where you’re at so you can begin to prioritise!
It’s definitely not all hard work, the PMAT also serves to highlight things you’re doing well and can aim to maintain and reinforce.
In all, the PMAT is one of the first steps to continuously levelling up your customer value, by helping you see your organisational processes clearly, so you can keep your promises!
Chat with an expert and other resources
Our PMAT is just one way that you can begin your change journey. Get in touch via our website changeconsultingscotland.co.uk where you can also find free learning materials and tools via our Resources page. Have fun!