QPMQUESTIONSANDANSWERSWhatisQPM?QPMisthecontinuousprocesstodefine,developanddisseminaterelevantinformationthatmeasuresthesuccessofcompanystrategies.Successisachievedwhenthecompanyactsonthatinformation.AQPMprojectisoneinwhichArthurAndersenhasassistedintheinitialidentificationofmeasures,baseliningtheinitialcalculationandimplementingtherequiredsupporttechnology,processchangesandtraininginordertointegrateperformancemanagementintothecompany.WhatisdifferentabouttheQPMapproachtodefiningperformancemeasures?TheQPMapproachensuredthatALLofthecompany’sperformancemeasuresareconsistentwiththecompany’sstrategies.Allmeasuresusedtoevaluatesuccesswillbetiedbacktothestrategies.Further,theuseofthe“balancedscorecard”approachtoperformancemeasurementensuresthatthemeasureswillbalanceshortandlongtermbusinessneeds,andreflectallofthecriticaldimensionsofbusinesssuccess.TheQPMapproachdefinesintegratedmeasuresattheOrganization,ProcessandPeoplelevelsofacompany.Althoughmanycompaniesarenotorganizedbyprocess,theuseofprocessmeasuresiscriticaltooptimizethecompany’ssuccess.Processmeasurescreatefocusformanagersontheoveralldeliveryofaservice-notjustcompletionoftheirpartoftheactivityuntilthehand-off.Manycommunicationscompanieshavespentthegreaterpartofthelastdecadereengineeringprocessesinordertocreategreaterefficiency.However,thatefficiencyisoftennotachievedbecausemanagerialperformancemeasurescontinuetofocuson“functional”measures.Whileeachfunctionalorganizationneedsitsownmeasures,therightmeasuresaretheonesthatcontributetotheoverallprocessmeasures.Finally,noneofthesemeasureswillbeeffectiveunlessthemeasuresaredrilleddowntothepeopleintheorganization.Foraprocesstofunctioneffectively,thepeoplewhomakeupthatprocessneedtounderstandtheirroleintheprocessandhowtheycontributetoitsoverallsuccess.Thepeoplealsoneedtobelievethattheir1performancewillmakeadifference.TheQPMapproachensuresthatthiswilloccur.2IfQPMisimplemented,howwillIknowitwassuccessful?ThesuccessofQPMisdefinedbythecharacteristicchangesintheorganization.Thefollowingisalistofsomeofthesecharacteristics:·Managerstakemoreresponsibilityfortheactivitiesoftheirorganizations.·Acommonlanguageexistsamongalllevelsofmanagementsurroundingstrategiesandthemeasuresoftheirsuccess.Managersknowthattheircareersaretiedtotheachievementofthetargetsintheirbalancedscorecards.·Higherlevelmanagersspendlesstimereviewingtheresultsoftheirsubordinates.Instead,theywillhavethetimetofocusonstrategic/forwardlookingissues.·Becauseoftheintegrationofmeasures,managerswillnotberequestinghugeamountsofanalysistobeperformedwithoutcleardirection.·WhyshouldAAbehiredtodothiswork?Isn’tthiswhatIpaymymanagerstodo?Manycompaniesdonothaveaperiodicprocessforassessingthereasonablenessofthemeasuresusedtoquantifysuccess.Inperformingtheworkforthefirsttime,wewillwalkthroughtheprocesswhichwillbereplicatedbythecompanygoingforward.Also,duringtheimplementationandintegrationofthemeasures,wewillputinplacethesupportstructurestoensurefuturesuccess.Willthisreducethenumberofpeopleanalyzingresultsfordaysonend?Whilenoperformancemeasurementprocesswilltakeawaytheneedformanagementanalysis,oneofthekeybenefitsfromQPMismanagementfocusonafewcriticalmeasures.BecausetheQPMmeasuresare“integrated”throughtheorganization,“drillingdown”tounderstandrootcausesismuchsimpler.WillIgetinformationfasterafteraQPMproject?TimelyaccesstoperformanceinformationisoneofthecornerstonesofQPM.Informationisuselessifitisnotreceivedinatimeframewhereinmanagerscanactontheinformation.Limitingthemeasurestothosethataremostimportanttothebusinesswillreducethetimeneededtogatherandprocessinformation.ThesuccessofQPMreliesonprovidingrelevantinformationtomanagers-butalsorequiresgivingthemthetoolswithwhichtoactonitquickly.34Can’tIjustbuyacomputersystem?QPMisnotsimplyacomputerizedmanagementreportingsystem.Thebesttypeofreportingisdependentonthecost/benefitsforeachcompany.Akeysuccessfactorischangingmanagementbehaviorbygivingtheminformationwhichistimely,comparativeacrossequivalentworkgroups,accurateandhighlightsareasforimprovementorreward.5
