Context:

In July 2008, the Australia Government introduced the most significant changes to the Australian Superannuation System since its inception in 1992. Our client, a mid-sized industry fund, recognized the significant operational changes to their administration. System changes would be managed by an IT patch but additional support was required to support staff retraining and member communication. AML/CTF changes were also imminent (December 2008 implementation).

In May 2008, a DHA consultant was asked to manage a program (design, implementation and maintenance) to address member correspondence. The fund was utilizing in excess of 1000 standard letters and forms in the process of administering the fund. All correspondence needed to be updated to reflect structural changes and new language.

A cultural shift was required to improve consistency and compliance. Teams and individuals felt ‘ownership’ of their correspondence and many took pride in the ‘work product’ associated with volumes of documentation. Teams suffered from a silo mentality with little cooperation or communication with other parts of the business. The lack of governance and approval processes meant some material was non-compliant. While breaches had been detected, there was no agreed approach in how to fix the system. Inconsistent data sources meant that universal fields were absent and there was virtually no automation.

The structural changes to administration provided an opportunity to completely revisit the correspondence function and ‘start from scratch’.

A full audit was conducted in consultation with various administration teams. This permitted appreciation of the scope of the challenge and also developed working relationships with the affected teams. A focus on streamlining effort was adopted to encourage collaboration and compliance.

New governance and policies were established for the development of new templates. This included process mapping, stakeholder management and work instructions. To accompany the policies, processes were established in conjunction with IT to provide system support for compliance and maintenance. This included server rationalization and development of new workflow tools in the existing TRIM system. The concurrent installation of Office 2007 enabled a new database system to be implemented – all new templates were established as automated mail merge letters encouraging automation in data population.

Material for re-work was prioritized according to regulatory change. This was essential in ensuring compliance with the new legislation by 1 July 2008. This material was completely rewritten and restructured with a focus on clear, concise and effective communication. Brand values and a consistent style were adopted in all development communications. Signature policies and standard terminology were developed to reduce inconsistencies. All material followed a strict approval process to ensure compliance and appropriateness.

Stage two incorporated all material not captured in the first round of regulatory change. This was completed by December 2008.

Key to the success of the approach was:

• Collaborative and transparent communication with all stakeholders. Acknowledgement of team dynamics and motivations and how this could be used to benefit the change.
• Disciplined approach to scoping of requirements and prioritisation of key tasks. A staged approach permitted compliance with changing legislation and better suited a workforce with significant competing interests.
• Significant experience and skill in written communications. Adoption of style guides and brand language enhanced the value of communications.
• A commitment to rationalization and simplification both in process and communication.

• Policies and processes have been developed to support compliance and consistency. There have been no regulatory breaches related to correspondence since implementation.
• Reduction of standard correspondence letters and forms from over 1000 to 300. Templates are coded and logged for source, purposes, relevant legislative content, owner and approver. The new templates are stored in a safe environment which all users have read-only mapped access to.
• All users have been trained and tooled to better automate the development of member communications. Consistency in forms has dramatically reduced processing times.

Context:

This work has been undertaken for a client in the industry superannuation sector. The project is being delivered to several teams within the operational processing area of the business. Management expectation is that the system will be broadened to encompass further business teams in future phases. There were two major drivers that underpinned the need for better workflow. The first was the need to provide a superior service to members – for example, the ability to see the status and progression of a member’s case at a glance. The second was the need to improve internal efficiencies in response to higher and more complex volumes of work. Both of these needs were driven by the organisation’s strategic and business plans, their desire to improve competitive advantage, and their future vision of where they wanted to be in the marketplace. Furthermore, executive strategy demanded a cost-effective system that could be implemented in a timeframe to allow benefits to start being realised before the eventual replacement of the back-office. Over the past three years, a number of DHA consultants have been engaged to work on this project in varying roles. Their skills in process mapping, project management, systems design and evaluation, analysis and stakeholder management have been pivotal to their contribution.

Whilst there were existing systems that provided a basic level of workflow ability, there was no real capability to effectively workflow the complex business processes that are undertaken daily by superannuation administrators. The business also desired to continue using its current records management system, which would interface to the workflow system. The limited visibility of member case information, and the existing systems, led to real difficulties in detailed, insightful reporting. Much time was spent in extracting reports that were sometimes limited in their breadth. A better workflow system was needed, not only to track work, but to display and report on it for senior management to make more informed decisions.

• DHA has led and supported many of the key activities associated with this program of work. Background work included the mapping of many operational business processes using a flowcharting application. This allowed processes to be detailed, confirmed and baselined as a major input to the development of the technical workflows.
• For this project, DHA first undertook a review of several marketplace offerings (product evaluation) because the organisation was not in the business of software development. The review involved defining the evaluation criteria (business requirements), evaluating the products from a business and IT perspective, analysing cost and payback/business benefits realisation, and making formal recommendations to executive management. DHA ensured a disciplined, logical approach to evaluation of the various solution alternatives and gave management key information to allow a decision to be reached.
• Once a product had been selected, DHA then coordinated the execution of a proof-of-concept. This took a sample process to demonstrate the viability of conducting the full project, and integration to the existing records management system. The proof-of-concept was completed on time and within specifications, and gave management confidence in proceeding with the full project.
• The project is currently being implemented within the business, in a controlled manner whilst achieving project constraints of scope, time, quality and cost. DHA holds the trusted roles of project manager and senior business analyst on this project. DHA has been instrumental and crucial in translating business needs and requirements into tangible, focused workflow deliverables – including user screens, technical flows, reports, dashboards, and system integration. DHA has collaborated and communicates with business stakeholders, management, project management office, vendors, technical developers and IT specialists.
• DHA will also be providing expertise in leading user acceptance testing, training, deployment, and handover to normal business operations.

Context:

While the Australian health care landscape remains under significant stress to this day, the Federal Government regularly makes changes to financing and regulation of various health care services. Generally, these changes are with a view to giving patients a better quality of care, better choice, improving competition amongst players and improving the efficiency of our system. Our client, a large integrated health care corporation, was keen to capitalize on regulatory changes to one of their operational divisions. To captilise on existing strength but also gear up for growth, the company needed to develop a truly commercial business and marketing strategy. Effectively, an existing operational unit would be evolved to create a new business. To accompany this change, a DHA Consultant was engaged to develop a stakeholder management and communications strategy for during the change program, and a brand strategy to meet the marketing objectives of the commercial business strategy.

• The communications required to relevant stakeholders during the change program
• Communications to announce the change to relevant stakeholders
• Communications to cement that change within the industry, community and market
• Communications to promote the new business come July 2011 (full regulatory change implementation).

In addition, registers were established for the business assumptions with accompanying recommendations on how to mitigate their accompanying risk. Significant research was also done to identify the key stakeholder groups and provide recommendations on communications objectives, discuss the challenges inherent with each group, recommended timing for communications and identification of resource requirements. Once this framework was established, various stakeholder responsibilities could be delegated to the most appropriate staff and departments. This immediately brought better coordination to the different streams of work. This then permitted the development of a brand strategy, positioning and personality development for the new business. Market research guided insights into patient drivers and motivation. Desktop research into comparable markets overseas provided insight into more mature markets and a future focus. The company’s existing values provided insight into culture and achievable service delivery. A brand framework was designed and presented which outlined the key functional and emotional drivers that would best deliver a competitive advantage. These values could be incorporated in all streams of service delivery – physical building, fit-outs, merchandise, online communications, printed materials and staff training. Implementation frameworks were established for each stream and workshopped with stream leaders.

Context:

Five years ago, our client, a medium sized member based superannuation fund, faced a number of challenges for its existing operations but also its intent for future growth and development. The introduction of Choice legislation in July 2005 ramped up the competitive nature of the industry, despite it being what is considered an immature industry (having only been compulsorily legislated in 1992). In particular, the industry fund environment was increasingly competitive with highly-resourced retail funds developing ‘industry’ type products. Our client had limited strategic analysis and decision making skills and experience but recognised the need for a ‘mentor’ for the organisation. A DHA senior consultant was asked to partner with the organisation through their strategic planning process with a view to coaching them through a ‘strategy cycle’ and improving their focus on culture, process and rewards.

• Collaborative and transparent communication with all stakeholders. This was essential for achieving clarity and cohesion in the plan.
• Continuing skills transfer to client executive.
• Use of cross enterprise teams to promote engagement and reveal operational and growth opportunities.
• Adaption of the consultant’s role from leader to facilitator. The organisation is now skilled and empowered to better approach their strategic planning.

• Clear and compelling vision and purpose that promotes enterprise alignment.
• Focused program of the prioritised strategic initiatives necessary to achieve and sustain competitive advantage
• Early identification of all steps critical to superior strategic performance.

From individual participant’s perspective, there has been enormous achievement in enhanced strategic thinking, analysis skills, planning tools and the capacity to compare, contrast and prioritise different enterprise options.