STAT-A-MATRIX is the world’s leading performance improvement consulting and training firm.

We know that the economic climate is tough and likely to get tougher still. The one key element that will help your organization weather these challenging times is performance improvement. STAT-A-MATRIX can help you learn how to achieve organizational excellence and sustain viability in your particular sector.

In addition to developing custom solutions for our client’s needs, we use a variety of methodologies to assist organizations’ improvement initiatives, including Six Sigma, Lean Six Sigma, Lean manufacturing, Process Management, Nuclear Quality Assurance, ISO 9000, AS 9100, TL 9000, ISO 14000, and ISO 13485. Our FDA Regulated Practice assists Medical Device and Pharmaceutical Manufacturers regulated by the United States Food and Drug Administration to comply with the quality and regulatory requirements that are imposed upon them.

Founded in 1968, STAT-A-MATRIX began by helping clients in the U.S. and around the world develop and implement unique performance improvement programs to enhance the quality of their products and services and improve their performance. Having been around longer than any other firm in the industry, we have a clear understanding of our customers’ needs.

STAT-A-MATRIX Headquarters, Edison, NJ

Our experience in providing excellence in performance improvement training and consulting services, along with our proven methodologies and overall customer satisfaction, sets us apart from our competitors. Our approach incorporates a blend of concepts, methods, techniques, and tools designed to transfer skills and knowledge to your organization effectively and efficiently.

The STAT-A-MATRIX Institute, our nonprofit educational institute, provides quality education and training to government and industry. The institute currently offers hundreds of public seminars each year in Six Sigma, Lean Six Sigma, Lean manufacturing, Process Management, Medical Device and Pharmaceutical quality and regulatory requirements, ISO 9000, AS 9100, TL 9000, ISO 14000, and ISO 13485.

With trainers and consultants in 33 states and 14 countries, STAT-A-MATRIX has achieved measurable success in helping our clients successfully compete in the global marketplace. Call us today and let us show you how we can empower your organization to achieve and sustain quality and excellence.

It’s been said, “If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.”  It’s also been said, “Opinions are like a*******, everybody’s got one.”   The ability to manage by fact (measurement), rather than opinion, is what sets the rare professional manager from the masses of loudmouth, intimidating, egotists who’ve been given the title Manager.   Leaders, on the other hand, earn that title.  And one of the most effective ways of earning that title is to learn to mange objectively, not subjectively.  Objective management starts with identifying objective performance measurements.  By objective, I mean quantifiable.  For example, height is an objective measurement.  Preference is usually subjective.

In my work with clients, one of the most difficult tasks managers encounter in their transformation to process-centric thinking is the work of identifying objective process metrics.  It’s not easy.  Few managers, if they’ve received any management education or training at all, are ever exposed to performance measurement concepts, tools, and techniques.  Check the course catalogs from the USA’s most prestigious business schools like Chicago-Booth, Harvard, and Stanford and see how many graduate MBA courses cover quantified performance measurement.  Wouldn’t you think these schools, given their premium tuition rates, be all over the subject?  You’d be surprised.

You can save yourself a few hundred thousand dollars and get a great education in the process (pun intended) by visiting The KPI LIbrary.   Here you’ll find hundreds of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for use in business categorized under 13 different industries and 10+ major process classifications .  Basic (free) membership gives you access to KPIs.  Premium membership gives you information about KPIs: comparative benchmark/baseline values, popularity of use, KPI-to-Strategy alignment, and reporting and downloading capabilities.  To give you an idea and get you started, here’s a list below of just a few of the 80+ KPI’s listed under the Sales category:

I was recently talking with the president of a SMB, and during that conversation he mentioned some technologies he was thinking about implementing to improve some of his internal processes.

It is a constant refrain.

Technology Takes Last Place

Technology should be a distant last place in your considerations.

Technology is a tool that can be used by people.

A tool used by people to generate business results by following business processes.

Read these two reviews by John Caddel, and Bob Sutton referencing the same study on improving medication processes in hospitals. To quote Mr. Caddel;

I’ve seen both these situations in action: the ability of front-line personnel to understand and fix problems with the processes they use, and the effectiveness of often-overlooked simple and low-tech solutions.

The SMB Takeaway

Technology tools can help standardize, they can help speed up existing business processes. But if those processes don’t even exist right now. Don’t think (or let vendors convince you) that a software tool will be a magic bullet that can do it all for you.

You can get updates to this blog by clicking the RSS icon on the Home Page!

Photo Credit bunchofpants via flickr

We know that a business event can be triggered by time, a decision, a situation, or a third party need.  When an event occurs, the business responds by initiating one or more pre-defined process.  In a perfect world, we assume these business events are always recognized and the response processes always execute.  In reality, both recognition and response are always at risk.

When an event’s stimulus (trigger) depends on someone remembering something or deciding to take the initiative to do something, I call these “Memory-Based Event Triggers.”  For time-based events this means relying on someone to keep track of the date or time of day.  For decision-based events, it means relying on someone to remember or be willing to make a decision.

The big risk with Memory-Based Event Triggers is the risk of the response process not starting at all.  If the person (the process “performer”) fails to show up for work, and the performer is the only one assigned to the recognition task, nothing happens that day.  Even if the performer is at work, if an event is only triggered if and when the performer remembers to trigger it, nothing happens if the performer forgets – or simply decides not to.  While the resulting response process may be elegantly engineered, and once triggered, executes flawlessly and consistently, it’s worthless if nobody’s around to kick it off.

For example, let’s say there’s a Purchasing Clerk whose job it is to process Purchase Requests for office supplies.  The process rules state that all Purchase Requests must be submitted as an attachment to an E-mail sent to the Purchasing Clerk.  When the Clerk receives the E-mail, he opens the attachment, reads the Purchase Request, identifies the data he needs to prepare a Purchase Order, creates one, then sends it off to the vendor.  Everything depends on the Purchasing Clerk opening the E-mail.   What if the Purchasing Clerk takes a day off?  What if he gets busy, behind, assigned to another “top priority” task? What if the E-mail system has a glitch?  What if the Purchasing Clerk is having a bad day and just doesn’t feel like processing another darn Purchase Request?

Unfortunately, process engineers often fail to design management tasks or sub-process that mitigate the risk of failing to recognize or act on Memory-Based Event Triggers.  Besides the risk of relying on the performer’s memory, or consistent output from another system (the E-mail server in our example), many organizations have no backup or alternative performers in place.  There’s no process contingency plan.  If the Clerk takes a sick day (or week) off, no Purchase Requests get processed.  Who knows what far-reaching impact this has on the organization’s value chain?

Two things need to be engineered.  First, there needs to be a process that involves verification that the perfomers are ready, willing and able to to the job.  Second, there needs to be a process in place that efficiently, effectively and systematically temporarily re-assigns another performer the Purchasing Clerks’ process tasks.  This is better than scrambling around every time there’s an absence.

Be careful not to design a process that relies on a single manager to initiate the temporary replacement process.  What if he’s out sick too?  It’s better to build-in processes that make performers take deliberate steps to back someone up.

The Trigger Verification Management Process should include SCHEDULED INSPECTIONS at “10-2-4”.  Inspect the performer and the health of the E-mail system.

The Absentee Management Process should include both SCHEDULED INSPECTIONS (“are they at work and awake?) and Automatic Absentee Role Delegation – where other Performers are responsible for recognizing an absence and automatically assuming the absentee’s role and responsibilities.  The contingency process should’t have to rely on the manager to recognize and initiate the Absentee Role Delegation process.

Business events happen.  In reponse, business processes initiate. Focusing on managing the integrity of the response process initiation narrows the gap between what should happen and what does happen.

The universe wide problem entails computerization because in any case for the reason that the processing inside ask to chop up gulp the expenses also to grant consumer satisfaction. inside this competitive globe these subjects should be want to know inside apply to strike the varied skillful companies. For this definite intention there are a portion of firms which are by way of the BPM or the Business development Management software given that their drive achievement plus competency. The BPM is a worth helpful successful plus solitary of the guaranteed management course of action which is furthermore set up to engagement helpful in nature.

Following are a few benefits take pleasure in which you might dig up to comprehend how enterprises would be triumphant by by means of this form of software.

The sophisticated would troth finished plus the analysis of that chronicle which emerges quickly subsequent to the moving processes along with the quintessential configuration with the plan exercise.

With the outstanding gain in the visibility furthermore efficiency, BPM experience an skill of securing the affair altogether transparent. The inhibition might certainly engagement seen plus subsequently steps could engagement allowed in apply to put off it. You will engagement able to envision the delays which are approaching to you plus are making becoming snag as you. You will troth able to trot out early the stages where there is blockages are approaching inside the way.

This techniques you will troth able to judge the memoir entirely accurately. You would also type references absolutely delicately since any breed of bid diary to engagement consulted.

Managing along furthermore furthermore done distinctive individuals is how useful managers dig up subjects done. useful managers certainly not estimate that they comprehend it the entirety in addition to they acquire a humble feelings toward facts as well as the knowledge as well as capabilities of those on the subject of them.

They have an always-learning mindset, this someone lone of the absolutely esteemed traits of satisfactory leadership.

Managing corresponding to this looks to come naturally to various persons minute others go through to notice how to modify inside this way. Any solitary may well do this.

This is realized by behind the five steps planned below:

There is an older adage that says two heads are superior than one. This is not regularly true, then again where human beings in a management role are reflecting almost about the matching problem question with talking it openly as well as truthfully it is additional feasible than not that they will catch a more adept modify on it.

several managers sort information finished the lens of finance along with accounting, others finished the impact that a management pronouncement may possibly pass through on people. everything these predispositions plus countless others carry invaluable insights to tolerate in contributing their perspectives as well as creating a aggregate photo of an top-notch affair concern.

Once a understandable icon plus an sure conception withstand emerged derive pleasure this collegiate entrance to managing precise affair features it is a large amount of more leisurely at the moment to reveal an assured group of objectives. This is realized by ensuring that the common meaning is translated into apparently articulated affair objectives that must engagement saw to choose the focus at hand.

Once the objectives go through been outlined, it is reasonably easy to construct an comprtment budget that fulfills the significant objectives indoor the certain moment frames also also the beneficial delegations with accountabilities assigned.

Effective managers get moving along with they act. only once the state of affair is it seems that learnt with clarity has been gained as regards to the objectives that tolerate to be ran into getting into data inherent risks and occurrences household tasks in addition to accountabilities, they act.

Effective managers exert along furthermore and ready others using frequent approaches to matters of concern. since of this they are able to pact at once along furthermore emerging facet throughout the implementation of any petite affair plan. This current with instinctive comment allows since incorporating fresh understanding into the unbeaten unending management of the problem state individual addressed. You can find more information at business process management tools and business process management tool

As described in my earlier post, a manager’s primary responsibility is to manage processes.  The folklore catchphrase “people, process, and technology” is so widely used, that many new and experienced managers think they are the three things/objects a manager must manage.  While partially true, they are not equal.  Process is far more important than people and technology because process is what people and technology participate in.  A business is first defined by its processes and secondly by the people and technology used to execute those processes.

Making the transition from a reactive-centric manager to a process-centric manager requires the ability to develop and maintain the skills of structure, focus, discipline, and accountability.  Structure and focus are the first skills a new, process-centric manager needs to concentrate on.  In an earlier post, I explained that the first step in process management involves categorically identifying all the processes the manager is responsible for.   What I failed to do was put this task in perspective and explain what the high-level goal and eventual outcome would be.

Continuous process improvement is the primary managing value and principle for the process-centric manager (and organization) .  The CPI mindset is guided by Deming’s “Plan-Do-Check-Act” management framework.   In the case of the new manager and the task of identifying processes, this is clearly within the scope of the “Plan” management   phase.  One of the objectives of the “Plan” phase is to identify the object of that planning.  In this case, the objects we’re focusing on are processes.

Within the “Plan” phase, we’ll identify the processes, then identify process problems and opportunities, then prioritize which problems and opportunities to work on, then begin planning how we’ll structure and manage problem resolution and opportunity exploitation.

A simple tool we’ll use to organize our work will be a process inventory worksheet.   In time, this worksheet will grow to be large, yet relatively simple. The first “versions” of this process inventory worksheet is here (http://www.reardanonline.com/PDFs/Help Desk Business Process List.pdf).   The example shows processes and two levels of sub-processes.

I’ve used a spreadsheet like this on a number of process management coaching and improvement projects and have found it to be quite useful.  In every case, managers I’ve worked with have seen it (the worksheet) have an immediate and positive impact on their management knowledge and skills.  The most common benefit (and example of process improvement) is when a manager discovers one or more processes he/she didn’t either didn’t know existed or didn’t fully understand he/she was responsible for.  It’s like turning on the lights in a dark room.  The second most common benefit has been the peace of mind and beginnings of a feeling of control, just by being able to “get their hands around” the scope of things the manager is responsible for.  Most human beings (managers included) just naturally prefer a structured/organized world.   This simple list of processes is the first step toward reducing stress in a manager’s life.

In subsequent posts, I’ll discuss the work of identifying business events (process triggers), process resources (human and capital), alignment of processes with strategy, and techniques for identifying process problems and opportunities.

• Can your organization easily sustain the gains it’s achieved from improvement projects?
• Have your organization’s key business performance metrics shown meaningful change as a result of improvement initiatives?
• Has your organization significantly enhanced its competitive position as a result of improvement activities?
• Has your organization freed up a significant amount of cash to either reinvest in the enterprise or increase profitability?

See Full Details:

Oriel Inc. Business Process Management

In spite of the growth in the number of certified Project Management Professionals (PMP) and Certified Business Analysis Professionals (CBAP), the failure rate of technology development and implementation projects has increased.  This correlation makes me question the financial value of these certifications.  And it offers another example that knowledge, skill, and experience are three separate measures of a human resource.  In other words, just because someone is highly knowledgeable about work, it doesn’t mean they can skillfully peform the task, or that they have been doing it for any length of time.

Unfortunately, far too many IT hiring managers and IT organizations equate certification with competence (skill).  Ironically, the Project Management Body of Knowedge (PMBOK) emphasizes process.  The certification tests a PMP candidate’s level of knowledge of the many processes involved in managing projects.  The Standish Group’s recent report is a measurement of results and the results imply a direct, if not at least indirect, measurement of skill.  In this case, the skill being measured is project management skill.  It’s not unreasonable to conclude that while more people may know what good project management processes are, a declining number were able to demonstrate adequate skill in performing those processes.

I’m sure there are plenty of opinions about the root cause of the rising failure rate of projects.  In my opinion, and now based on a decade of evidence, it has little to do with an inadequate level of knowledge of project management processes.  Nor does it have anything to do with the range or level of knowledge of topics a typical Business Analyst possesses.  There’s no quantifiable evidence to prove that a BA who knows how to draw an accurate and elegant UML diagram is any more skilled at adequately eliciting software requirements than one who doesn’t know what UML is.

In my opinion, project failure rate still points to the same problem it did two decades ago.  Quite simply, Business Analysts fail miserably in the skill of eliciting technology solution requirements.   For most BA’s the process of eliciting requirements is unstructured, inconsistent, usually incomplete, rarely thorough, lacks focus, is undisciplined, and immeasureable.  I know of only one legitimate, structured, repeatable, measurable, and quanitfiably effective elicitation process in IT.  Yet I’ve never personally met any BA who’s aware of it.  And I’ve never met any BA who knows of another one, or who can demonstrate their own structured, focused, disciplined, and accountable (measureable) method.

The Standish report should make senior IT executives take notice.  A stable of certified PMPs and CBAPs on staff isn’t the answer to closing the IT-Business Gap.  Nor is Agile or RUP.  It’s time to stop over-emphasizing (and over-relying on) the results of a test of knowedge about subjects covered in a book (like the PMBOK and BABOK).  It’s time to start quantifiably measuring skill, above all else.  Two decades of trying to get by on a narrow band of book knowedge has proven to be the wrong tactic.  Time to try another process.

I’d like to share some thoughts related to processes. There is a clear, ability to manage processes is very important. However, user adoption is very important. I know lots of systems that once implemented never been used or been used by a fraction of the people in the organization. So, when I’m looking on how Social Tools and other Enterprise 2.0 -like tools getting their path into the organization, I think this is something that can improve collaboration and process adoption rate.

I was thinking about micro-blogging services such as Twitter or Yammer. I had chance to post about that before. If you just get on plmtwine, you can take a look on the following posts:

Micro-blogs and Micro-content for PLM
PLM beyond Twitter

What drove me to think about it again? I was looking on Twitter Retweet project and thinking that this is a good example of how process interface can be implemented in microblogging. On the back-end it can be connected to any process tools you want. However, providing such process experience to the people may take it very much forward in organization. Instead of getting to complex enterprise systems people will be twitting their processes. Remember, simple wins all the time!

Below you can see some pictures from Twitter retwitt project (thanks mashable for pics).

Just my thoughts.
Best, Oleg

Government Services

Oriel Inc. has delivered Lean and Six Sigma training, facilitation and consulting to government and quasi-government organizations.

Oriel Incorporated is listed on the Federal Supply Schedule under its Mission Oriented Business Integrated Services (MOBIS) contract GS-23F-8002H for consulting, facilitating and training services.

Oriel offers Operational Excellence in Six Sigma, Lean, Lean Six Sigma, Process Management, Human Error Reduction, Teams, Enterprise VOC, Leadership Development, and MBNQA.

Here is a few of the organizations Oriel Inc. consults with:

• U.S. Postal Service
• New Jersey Transit
• NASA centers
• Department of Defense
• International Atomic Energy Agency
• Port Authority

As well as many more organizations and countries other than the USA.

To model a process is to diagram, describe, and formally document everything about a process.  I think the term “process modeling” implies something more sophisticated, elegant, or complex than what it really is.  To me, process modeling is just a fancy term for the simple act of inspecting a process.

Arguably, the work of inspecting something nearly always results in good things.  The discipline of inspection is what enables one to deliberately focus in on something.  Often, that something has been in front of  us, and taken for granted, day-in and day-out.  But as soon as we stop, focus, and examine it, we’re able to see things about the object that we’ve never seen before.  Often, we’re able to see both problems and opportunities through inspection.  Problems and opportunities that we might never have seen if we hadn’t “stopped, looked, and listened” if even for a few moments.

There are many reasons to stop and inspect your processes.  Here are at least 45 of them:

Reduce Training Time
Improve Communication And Coordination
Set Performance Expectations
Help Prevent Legal And Compliance Problems
Increases Productivity
Cut Costs
Required For CMMI Certification
Achieve Consistency
Set Fair Criteria For Individual performance Appraisals
The Best Opportunity To Improve Performance
Reduce Misunderstandings
Improve Understanding
Reduce Points Of Confusion
Eliminate the Unnecessary
Combine the Redundant
Develop Similar Methods
Standardize Systems Across Business Units
Facilitate Process Governance
Improve Process Performance
Lower Implementation Costs
Lower Risk
Faster Time To Market
Enables Rapid Change
Supports Team Collaboration
Improve Accountability
Reduce Errors
Support Compliance
Improve Customer Satisfaction
Standardization
Implement a Common Vocabulary
Performance Visibility Integrate Legacy Systems
Spot Bottlenecks (Problem Solving)
Improve Quality
Identify Flaws
Root Cause Determination (Problem Solving)
Prioritization (Efficiency)
Prepare For Software Maintenance
Share Process Information With Customers
Share Process Information With Prospects
Provide Specifications for Automated Workflow
Identify Capacity Constraints
Support Consolidation
Identify And Correct Variances
Eliminate The Need To Reinvent The Wheel
Test All Assumptions

I am still at IBM’s Information on Demand conference here in Las Vegas (not my favorite place..but what can you do). In listening to a lot of discussions around strategy and products I started thinking about one of the key problems that customers are facing around business process and managing increasingly complex data. What companies really want to do is to have the flexibility and freedom to leverage their critical data across applications and situations. They also want to be able to change processes based on changing business models.

This is the core issue that companies will be facing in the coming decade and will be the difference between success and failure for many  businesses.  Here’s an example of what I mean. Let’s take the example of a retailer in a competitive market. Let’s say our retailer had five or six applications: Accounting, Human Resources, supply chain management, a customer support system, and a customer facing e-commerce system. Each of these systems has an underlying database; each one manages this data based on the business process that is the foundation of the best practices that is the value of these packages. Even if each of the packages are the best in their markets there is a core problem since each solution is a silo. Processes that move between these systems tend to fall through the cracks.  This is why we, as customers of such retailers, are often frustrated when we call about a product that wasn’t delivered, doesn’t work, or requires a change only to discover that one department has no ability to know what is happening in another area. For most companies the dream of single view of the customer is aspirational but not practical right now. In reality, it is hard for companies to mess with their existing applications. These solutions are customized for their business environment; they were expensive and complicated to implement — and change is hard. In fact, companies only change when it is more painful to stay with the status quo than it is to change. In a retail scenario, companies change their approach to process and data management when they must change their business model because the current processes will lead to failure. Retailers are currently faced with emerging approaches to selling and managing customer relationships that are challenging traditional selling models.  Look what a company like Amazon.com or Netflex have done to their slower moving competitors.

A number of customers I have spoken with understand this very well. They are looking at ways to separate their core data assets from the underlying applications. Many of these customers are at the forefront of implementing a service oriented architecture (SOA) approach to managing their software assets. They are increasingly understanding that the secret to their future success is the knowledge they have about their customers, their needs and future requirements within their own set of offerings and those from partners. These companies are setting a priority of making this data independent, secure, and accurate. These business leaders are preparing for inevitable change.  At the same time, I have seen these customers creating SOA business services that are, in essence, codified business processes. For example, a business service could be a process that checks the credit of a potential partner or links a new customer request for service to the set of applications that confirms the request, orders the part, and notifies a partner.

So, here is the problem. These customers are implementing this new model of abstracting data and process based on specific projects or business initiatives.  These projects have gotten the attention of the C-team because of the impact on revenue. But, in reality, the real breakthrough will happen when the separation of data and process are the rule, not the exception.

This is going to be the overriding challenge for the next decade because it is so hard. There is inertia to move away from the predictable packaged applications that companies have implemented for more than 30 years. But I suggest that it will be inevitable that companies will begin to understand that if they are going to remain agile and change processes when they anticipate a competitive threat. These same companies will understand that their data is too important to leave it locked inside an application linked tightly to a process.

I don’t have the answers about what the tipping point will be when this starts to become a wide spread strategy. I think that the cloud will became a forcing action that will accelerate this trend. I would love to start a dialog. Send me your thoughts and I promise to post them.

#!/usr/bin/env python

from socket import socket, htons, AF_INET, SOCK_DGRAM
from array import array

def send_alive(pid, timeout=300, master_host="127.0.0.1", master_port=1271):
    """
    Send a UDP packet to the condor_master containing the
    DC_CHILDALIVE command.

    This will have the master register a trigger to fire in timeout
    seconds. When the trigger fires the pid will be killed. Each time
    the DC_CHILDALIVE is sent the trigger's timer is reset to fire in
    timeout seconds.

    DC_CHILDALIVE should be sent every timeout/3 seconds.
    """
    sock = socket(AF_INET, SOCK_DGRAM)
    sock.sendto(build_message(pid, timeout), (master_host, master_port))

def build_message(pid, timeout):
    """
    Build a datagram packet to send to the condor_master.

    The package format is (command, pid, timeout). The command is
    always DC_CHILDALIVE (the integer 60008). The pid is the pid of
    the process the master is monitoring, i.e. getpid if this
    script. The timeout is the amount of time, in seconds, the master
    will wait before killing the pid. Each field in the packet must be
    8 bytes long, thus the padding.
    """
    DC_CHILDALIVE = 60008

    message=array('H')
    message.append(0); message.append(0); message.append(0) # padding
    message.append(htons(DC_CHILDALIVE))
    message.append(0); message.append(0); message.append(0) # padding
    message.append(htons(pid))
    message.append(0); message.append(0); message.append(0) # padding
    message.append(htons(timeout))

    return message.tostring()

#
# The condor_master is a daemon that can run arbitrary executables,
# monitor them for failures, restart them, watch for executable
# updates, and send obituary emails.
#
# The condor_master can monitor any program it starts for abnormal
# termination, e.g. return code != 0 or caused by a signal. It can
# also detect hung processes if they periodically send DC_CHILDALIVE
# commands.
#
# The condor_master cleans up process trees, not just the processes it
# directly started.
#
# Example usage...
#
# Run this script from the condor_master, e.g.
#  env CONDOR_CONFIG=ONLY_ENV \
#      _CONDOR_WATCH_UDP_COMMAND_SOCKET=TRUE \
#      _CONDOR_NETWORK_INTERFACE=127.0.0.1 \
#      _CONDOR_MASTER_LOG=master.log \
#      _CONDOR_MASTER=$(which condor_master) \
#      _CONDOR_PROG=$(which <this script>) \
#      _CONDOR_PROC_ARGS="-some -args 3" \
#      _CONDOR_DAEMON_LIST=MASTER,PROG \
#      condor_master -p 1271 -pidfile master.pid
#
# At some point kill -STOP or -TERM this script and watch the
# condor_master react.
#
# condor_master configuration/features:
#
#  CONDOR_CONFIG=ONLY_ENV
#    - useful, only look in the ENV for config, no config file needed
#
#  _CONDOR_WATCH_UDP_COMMAND_SOCKET=TRUE
#    - required, make master listen for UDP commands
#
#  _CONDOR_NETWORK_INTERFACE=<ip>
#    - useful, make master listen on <ip>
#
#  _CONDOR_MASTER_LOG=<file>
#    - required, the master's log file
#
#  _CONDOR_MASTER_DEBUG=<level>
#    - D_ALWAYS is default D_FULLDEBUG shows a lot more
#
#  _CONDOR_MASTER=<path to condor_master>
#    - required, master will restart itself if its executable is
#      updated
#
#  _CONDOR_PROG=<path to this script>
#    - required, the path to an executable the master will start and
#      monitor
#
#  _CONDOR_PROG_ARGS=<arguments>
#    - useful, if the executable needs the master to pass it arguments
#
#  _CONDOR_DAEMON_LIST=MASTER,PROG
#    - required, list of executables the master will monitor
#
#  _CONDOR_MAIL=/bin/mail
#    - useful, no default, if email notification of PROG hang/crash is
#      desired. don't specify and get no emails.
#
#  _CONDOR_CONDOR_ADMIN=admin@fqdn
#    - useful, the address to send emails to
#
#  _CONDOR_MASTER_BACKOFF_CONSTANT, C, default 9 seconds
#  _CONDOR_MASTER_BACKOFF_FACTOR, K, default 2 seconds
#  _CONDOR_MASTER_BACKOFF_CEILING, T, default 3600 seconds
#  _CONDOR_MASTER_RECOVER_FACTOR, default 500 seconds
#    - useful, parameters to control the exponential backoff
#      start delay = min(T, C + K^n),
#        n is the # of restarts since last recovery
#        a recovery is a run of RECOVER_FACTOR without a crash
#
#  _CONDOR_MASTER_CHECK_NEW_EXEC_INTERVAL=<seconds>
#    - useful, default 300, how often to check executable timestamps
#      and potentially restart processes
#
#  _CONDOR_MASTER_NEW_BINARY_DELAY=<seconds>
#    - useful, default 120, time waited after noticing a timestamp
#      change before restarting the executable
#
#  condor_master -p <port> -pidfile <file>
#    - specify a port for the master to listen on, default is
#      ephemerial, and specify a file where the master writes its pid,
#      default is nowhere
#      also: -t (log to stdout) -f (run in foreground)
#
# Advanced note: condor_squawk can send DC_CHILDALIVE as well, e.g.
#    $ echo "command DC_CHILDALIVE 1234 15" | condor_squawk "<127.0.0.1:1271>"
#

import time, os

timeout = 30
while True:
    send_alive(os.getpid(), timeout)
    time.sleep(timeout/3)

Most business processes are people dependent. That is, people are required to make the process work. However, some business processes are person-dependent, and that is limiting. To know if a process is person-dependent you just have to ask yourself what happens if that person, specifically, is not available temporarily, or permanently? Will the process fail? Clearly, some people are better at certain functions than others, but if the process fails without a specific individual available, you have built a flawed process because it is person-dependent.

Most of us have worked in companies where this is an issue within our purview. However, when it extends to the most senior levels of the company, it can be limiting if not damaging. General Motors has for MANY years missed major trends in the auto industry. Where they were once a trend setter, they are now a slow follower. The reason is not lack of talent, but rather a business process that requires too much time to approve a project. GM’s solution to this problem was Bob Lutz. As far as one person goes, he did a GREAT job at moving new product ideas through GM faster than previously. However, Mr. Lutz wanted to retire at the end of this year. He can’t. Why? Because the processes in place at GM are still “Lutz dependent.” If GM does not fix this before Mr. Lutz must retire, they will not be any more viable than they have been. And this is not unique to GM.

Steve Jobs was on leave from Apple for quite a while this year due to illness. Many experts opined that a protracted absence by Mr. Jobs could be an “issue” for the company. If this is true, then as many people believe, Mr. Jobs is a critical, part of the Apple process and without him their performance may suffer greatly. This makes the process person-dependent. As I said earlier, great people make a difference, but if you go from great to a lost cause because of the loss of one person, that is not good business management.

When Steve Jobs originally handed the company off to John Sculley, Apple suffered. And no other CEO was able to get them back on track. Similar things can be seen with Howard Schultz at Starbucks, Arthur Blank at Home Depot, Michael Dell at Dell, etc. Walt Disney, Sam Walton and other legendary CEOs built business processes that were not dependent on them personally, so I will not buy the notion that some CEOs are just so good they are irreplaceable.

Great people are always valuable, but building robust processes that are not person-dependent allows for a sustainable business.

Mitch

In our newest white paper we discussed the concept of Control Charts, and how they apply to marketing and sales.  Control Charts are one of Ishikawa’s Seven Tools of Quality. They are quite useful in helping manage results.

Some of our readers have asked why you would want an “upper control ” limit for something that the more you get the better you like it? For example, why would you want an upper control limit on sales close rate? They understand a lower control limit on sales close rate, but weren’t clear on why you would want an upper control limit.

In truth, as many experienced sales managers will tell you, if you have too high a sales close rate you are probably not moving enough leads through the pipeline and are scrapping leads too early thus possibly moving viable opportunities out of your pipeline. This could also be tracked with the use of Control Charts at other points in the pipeline besides just at close. However, it is possible to have too high of a close rate, so an upper control limit is valid.

Mitch

Here are a few examples of what you will find when you go to Oriel’s White Papers, Webinars, and Downloads pages.

• Leadership’s Role in Performance Improvement
• Tough Economic Times Call for Lean Six Sigma
• Do You Work for ISO or Does ISO Work for You?
• The Performance Excellence Journey (Webinar)
• Achieving Performance Excellence: Combining Baldrige and Lean Six Sigma
• Improving Human Reliability – The Final Frontier (white paper)
• Organizational Human Error Assessment
• From QMS to Lean Six Sigma
• Making Improvement Work: Using Process Management to Transform Your Performance Improvement Initiative (white paper)
• Beyond the Voice of the Customer: How to Grow Your Company Using Customer Value Analysis (white paper)
• Using Enabling Technology to Maximize Returns from Your Six Sigma Program (white paper)
• Integrating Lean and Six Sigma Methodologies (white paper)
• Process Management
• Achieving Strategic Customer Focus Through Enterprise VOC
• Lean Six Sigma Integration for Business Excellence
• Achieving Lean Success: A Pathway for Implementation (white paper)
• The Role of the Process Excellence Champion

Your will find that Oriel is on the Leading Edge of Business Improvement!

Founded in 1968, STAT-A-MATRIX began by helping clients in the U.S. and around the world develop and implement unique business excellence programs to enhance the quality of their products and services and improve their performance. STAT-A-MATRIX drew heavily on existing knowledge in both the behavioral and quantitative sphere of the work environment, which led to cooperative efforts with the Union of Japanese Scientists and Engineers (JUSE) and their programs of “Quality Control Circles” into 1970.

By 1972, STAT-A-MATRIX was known worldwide for providing excellence in training and consulting services in quality systems development, quality audits, and process control and reliability. By this time, these services were offered in more than 20 countries around the world. In response to increasing demands, STAT-A-MATRIX International was formed in 1975 and now has offices in China, Japan, Brazil, Argentina, and Switzerland, and has consultants based in 12 additional countries.

In 1975, STAT-A-MATRIX Institute was formed as a nonprofit educational institute to provide quality education and training to government and industry. The Institute currently offers hundreds of public seminars each year in Six Sigma, Lean, process management, medical device and pharmaceutical quality and regulatory requirements, ISO 9000, AS9100, TL 9000, ISO 14000, and ISO 13485.

By now, we have all read the New York Times article “E. Coli Path Shows Flaws in Beef Inspection”
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/04/health/04meat.html?_r=1&th&emc=th
and the long string of resulting commentary. The article again raises the question of effective safety and quality management in the ground beef supply chain.

One program that has shown consistent success in controlling food safety has been the USDA AMS ground beef purchasing system for the National School Lunch Program. The program actively uses methods that have been developed over the years in industrial supply chain quality management notably vendor certification, process control and active auditing.

The result of this program is that since 2003, the first year using these methods, they have never delivered ground beef to the school kids that tested positive for E. Coli O157H7.

You can read about the program at: http://www.nwasoft.com/appnotes/usdagrbeef.htm
and see videos clips from the Feast or Famine” program which featured the NSLP food safety system at: http://www.nwasoft.com/appnotes/feastfamine.htm .

The system that the NSLP developed has one of the best records in the industry. The food industry should adapt the elements of this program into their food safety efforts.

The Process Capability and Maturity Model is a useful framework for helping organisations to understand the “process journey”.  It describes five, increasing, levels of capability:
- Initial
- Managed
- Defined
- Quantitatively Managed
- Optimising

Each level can be described in terms of the characteristics you would expect to see in place, ranging from “Managing by heroics” at the Initial level, through to “Continuous Improvement” at the Optimising level.
The model describes the progression that an organisation would have to go through in order to embed  process management that delivers true benefits.  Sadly, many (most?) organisations will never get beyond the “Managed” level, largely because their senior managers don’t understand how they need to change their behaviour and act as Process Owners. 

We talk about “crossing the chasm”, which means making the transition beyond the “Managed” level.  It’s the step up from Silo/Departmental working to End-to-end Process/Whole Systems thinking.

Crossing the Process Capability Chasm

The reality is that (probably) 80% of the effort is required to build capability and achieve the “Managed” level, for less than 20% of the benefits.  Once across the chasm, very little extra effort is required, but this delivers 80% of the benefits (and these are sustainable at the “Optimising” level).

You’ll find more information and articles on our approach to helping organisations implement successful Process Management here.

Read “Introduction to Process Management“.