Jennifer Foreshew | June 17, 2008
WHEN non-bank lender Resi Mortgage Corporation wanted to create an online knowledge library of its business processes for staff and franchisees, it sought a solid investment for future service delivery.
Piers Ramsay says operations manuals lose credibility in a changing market
"I came in to run operations early last year, and one of the things we seemed to have a constant battle with was the currency and the depth of the knowledge library that we had available to new franchisees and new staff in the group office," Resi chief operating officer Piers Ramsay says.
"We had an operations manual sitting on the shelf, but the currency in a changing market was not being maintained, so it lost its reliability and credibility. It seemed that with an internet-based library, there is one change and the whole world sees it."
After considering other possibilities such as Microsoft's Visio modelling tools, as well as Excel spreadsheets and Word documents, Resi chose Holocentric Modeler by Australian software developer Holocentric.
Resi engaged Synoptic Consulting to introduce Holocentric's business modelling tool in September 2007, after a four to five month set-up process.
With Resi, Synoptic Consulting used Holocentric to refresh existing Visio process maps to create a set of standardised up-to-date business processes in a single repository.
These were published using Holocentric to create an online operations manual, which is easily accessible to Resi's 40 group office staff and national network of almost 40 franchises.
The online franchise manual is the first phase in a project designed to continually improve the delivery of services to Resi's customers.
"Synotics helped us to map processes and to build them into an internet library that was available to all and gave us that depth and reference capacity," Ramsay says. "So users just jump on the intranet and then once they get to the knowledge library, they are provided with a process map in a flow-chart fashion, but with attached documentation and step-by-step instructions."
The online manual is improving Resi's communications and proving a valuable induction tool to help new employees and franchises to be productive more quickly.
Ramsay says the technology is also expected to affect operational efficiency.
Resi expects the new system to build customer loyalty.
If its processes are defined and standardised there is much less chance of human error or a poor customer experience, Ramsay says. There will be continual enhancements to the system.
"We have used it mainly around those customer-facing pieces, but there are other aspects of the business that we could build in there," Ramsays says.
THE PROBLEM
With almost 40 franchises across the country there was a geographic problem communicating updates and changes to business processes.
THE PROCESS
Synoptic Consulting used Holocentric Modeler to deliver an online manual.
THE RESULT
Staff and franchisees can easily and quickly access systems and procedures using an online franchise manual. It is a valuable tool, helping to make new employees and franchises productive more quickly.