Where does the customer’s request get held up?

Follow one piece of work

• Which functions touch the request?

  Trace the information, resources and approvals needed from beginning to end. Record where the request waits, returns to an earlier stage or has to be entered again.

• What does the delay cost?

  Establish its effect on customer service, operating cost and management attention. Repeated intervention by a senior person may conceal a responsibility the model has never assigned.

• Why is this activity centralized?

  Examine the specific capability and consistency the center provides. Shared procurement and local commercial authority may both be appropriate within the same group.

• Who has the information to act?

  For each activity, name the role of the center, country operation and business unit. Responsibility needs to be accompanied by access to the information required to exercise it.

• Can the receiving function carry the work?

  Check capacity, systems and authority before transferring a responsibility. Roles and technology may change at different speeds, leaving a gap unless the transition accounts for them.

Review the same request after the change

Keep the original service measures visible during the transition. Check whether the delay has been resolved or moved to a different function. People need to understand their revised responsibilities and have the means to carry them out.

The organization chart records reporting relationships. The operating-model review should also explain how a customer request will move through those relationships without requiring repeated exceptions.