Question 11

An example, where an employee has to use their own judgment in the service delivery process at Accenture would be during the design phase of an implementation project. Once a customer delivers their requirements the design team is tasked with designing the layout, logic and interfaces of the system. This requires significant judgement since their is no truly prescribed way to proceed. The design team has to decided how the software will look aesthetically, how the interfaces with other systems should be designed and the process in which information will flow through the system. The designer's own experience influences how he/she will design the system logic. Based on their design, the outcome can be a system that meets, exceeds or falls below the customer's requirements and expectations. Should the the system fall below expectations there are several ways to ensure the design team does not fail to deliver again. First, they could be offered training in the specific software or module. Second, they can be teamed with more skilled personnel who can help guide them through the process. Third, project managers could take a more hands on approach and be more involved with reviewing the design team's work through the design phase. Fourth, a super-user from the client team could be partnered with the design team to ensure that all client requirements are being met and designed correctly. Lastly, if the problem was egregious or if the designer had similar issues before, the designer could be removed from the position.

Question 10

1. Since Accenture is such a large organization and with such a wide variety of services offered, I'll focus on on particular micro-level problem that can occur during service delivery that can go unnoticed by the customer. One of Accenture's main services offered is that of systems implementation. During the initial part of any implementation, called the requirements gathering phase, a significant investment of time is required by the customer so they can clearly relay their requirements for the new system. Say for example, SAP R/3 - HR module is being installed the customer will have to state what functionality they want. At this point, very detailed and thorough documentation is required to ensure no requirement is missed. Should Accenture miss an important or large requirement the mistake can prove very costly. Once requirements are gathered they are put together into design documents, tested, sent to the software engineers to be built, and deployed. Within testing there are 6 different phases as well. Should a requirement be missed all of these phases would have to be re-done retroactively for the change. Testing would prove difficult because you would have to see what effect the requirement has on other functionality. Further, there is a cost associated with "negative pr". The client may think Accenture dropped the ball and is not fit to continue the implementation.
2. A plan of action would be to ensure that first all requirements are clearly documented prior to moving to the next step. To ensure their completeness Accenture could have a workshop with key client users and the project sponsor. At this workshop Accenture could go through the list of requirements and verify one last time that they are correct. To ensure accountability the project sponsor from the client side would sign off on the requirements. This would provide an audit trail that the client agreed to and verified the requirements prior to any creation of design documentation.

Question 9

1. A major customer queue at Accenture can occur when a client already being serviced on one project is waiting for key resources to be freed for an upcoming project. Lets say BP has 5 Accenture Peoplesoft experts with deep oil industry and BP process knowledge. They may have another project requiring people with Peoplesoft skills, but have to wait for for the previous project to finish before those resources can be deployed to the new project. They would not want to switch to another consulting firm because those new resources would need to get familiarized with BP's organizational structure, systems, and processes.
2. Using Maister's psychological principles of waiting - Accenture could explain to BP that the quality of service they will receive by waiting will be higher than selecting another vendor to complete the service now. As I said before, training consultants from another company would take too long even if they were deployed quickly. Another method would be to help BP deal with the anxiety by creating a transition plan where for example, 2 of the resources work half-time on each project while the remaining 3 wrap up the previous project. This would also serve to turn the pre-process wait into an in-process wait. Essentially, a the project would not be fully kicked-off, but there would be some work being done. This technically means the process has been started, so the customer is now waiting in-process. Lastly, Accenture would communicate in clear timeline what the approximate wait time will be to deploy their people. This would give BP some certainty about the queue time.

Question 8

1. At Accenture the service would run more smoothly if capacity and demand were better matched during the initial phase of the project. At Accenture the major capacity constraint is people. Say for an example, a project requires 3 people with deep knowledge of an SAP HR module. If those 3 people are already on different client engagements, the new customer will have to wait until an acceptable substitute can be found. This waiting time adversely affects the service because it shows that Accenture was not adequately prepared for the work they agreed to. If Accenture has the right people at the right time then the customer wait times will be minimal.
2. Demand and capacity can be kept in line in three ways. First, based on upcoming project work Accenture can hire experienced employees in the area. This ensures that there are people in the pipeline with the right skills for the work. Second, Accenture can hire new employees (such as college grads) who are cheap and also a blank slate. They can train these employees from the outset in the areas that need to be filled. Last, they can train existing employees, during project downtimes on new skills that will help fit the needs of clients.

Question 7

1. Accenture should track a variety of information about each customer. Because of the vast array of services offered to potential clients, I will focus on high level data. They would start with things like understanding the client's core business, business processes, number of employees, global areas of operation, ERP systems used, modules used, etc. For example, let's say they were doing a PeopleSoft implementation they would want to collect data on how the current software is setup, how many employees use it, what processes are they used for as well as technical aspects such as number of licenses, load times, etc. After the work has been completed, they should monitor things like improvement rates, adoption rates, cost savings, time savings, etc. This type of data can be used when marketing the same service to a different company.
2. This type of data should start to be even before Accenture is given the contract. During the RFP (request for proposal) phase they should be collecting this high level data to ensure that they are well suited to compete for the work. It's critical to know the companies core businesses and for systems work what type of technical architecture is being used. Once the work has been awarded, then they can dig down another level and begin to learn specific details of the processes and systems that will be affected.
3. The same type of data could be captured by a different service provider to help them differentiate themselves and their service to potential clients. Based on the the same information, they could compare themselves to Accenture and determine ways how they differ or how their service is an improvement over Accenture's offering.

Question 5

1. Accenture's processes would be both divergent and complex depending on the situation, client and type of work being done. An example of a complex process would be an implementation of certain functionality within an ERP module. Say the ability to record credit card transactions was being added to SAP. There would be an intricate process to follow, but one that has clearly guided steps and likely has been done before with another client. An example of a divergent process would be setting up a call center for a client. The project manager would have to exercise judgement in critical areas such as location, cost, team structures, roles and responsibilities, etc. In this instance there may not be a guided process that could be followed and easily implemented. There would be countless decisions that required judgement and discretion.
2. If I had a choice of substituting one of these processes over another I would substitute a complex process for a divergent one. I would do this to execute the process more efficiently and with goals in place to measure results. Further, completing and documenting the process once could allow me to leverage it for another client or customer at a later time. I believe this works best when executing fairly simple processes. For example, let say you provide a service that sends e-mail notifications for actions to customers. I would want a documented process that could be easily followed and executed by anyone that has access to the proper resources. I would not want a process where too many options are left to the discretion of the employee executing the task.

Question 4

For the purpose of this question I will use my bank, Dearborn Federal Credit Union.

1. I use the checking and saving services from the bank. It offers fairly standard rates and do not have any exceptional aspects to them.
2. I would rate the service as excellent.
3. I have very high satisfaction. As other banks were defaulting over the past two years, DFCU has been able to offer a dividend payment to its customers. Further, as a credit union they didn't engage in risky behavior other banks did through the crisis.
4. I believe customer satisfaction is a huge portion. As a credit union, members get to vote on drastic changes affecting the banks service and offerings. As a result, board members usually implement measures that are beneficial to the whole bank community.