The Project's objective was to assist in the setting up of an internal Business Improvement & Continuous Improvement function within QR, and to equip it with the skills, tools, capability and resources for the execution of value chain and / or business process improvement activities. This was achieved through the completion of a ‘pilot’ project delivering Business Improvement within selected sub-functions of the SEQ Network Maintenance (Administration) function, and the deployment of the Linear Relationship Management (LRM) scorecard-type technique within a number of Corporate Services functions to kick off the Continuous Improvement initiative.

BI Scope:
Asset Maintenance Functions and their 11 processes for Business Improvement included;
• Labour time capture, matching and recon,
• Procurement (PO and Receipting) - Opex, Minor Capex, Inventory,
• Cost Control & Reporting,
• LMS Training, and Safety Briefing delivery and reporting.

BI Approach:
• Process Inventory ('Stock Take') - Identify NWM (Admin) business processes for representative Division, Derive baseline requt., (‘As Is’), Prioritise 11 key Admin processes for ‘deep dive’ analysis & improvement.
• Key ‘As Is’ Process Mapping (in Representative Division) - Validate Key, ‘As-Is’ T&C Admin process maps, Confirm Upstream & Downstream impacted areas and stakeholders,
• Key ‘As Is’ Process Validation (in 3 other Admin Divisions) - Validate Shared, Key ‘As Is’ processes across 3 Admin teams – ID diffs / similarities, Derive baseline requt., for each of 3 Admin teams.
• E2E Process Validation (in Up / Down- stream processes) - Map impacting up / downstream processes. Understand how the up / downstream processes impact the key NWM Admin process sections.
• Critique & Solutions Identification - Critique & Solutions Identification Workshop, IT-dependent solutions validated. Root cause analysis, Solution themes identified, Quick Wins ID’d, Process change requirements identified.
• ‘To Be’ Process Validation - Draft Key ‘To Be’ process maps validation by NWM Admin, & by Up / (+/- Down) stream stakeholders, Review and validate requt. variance. vs. ‘As Is’. Standardised NWM Admin ‘To Be’ processes (4 Teams), Process improvements ID’d and agreed, Implementation Action Plan.

BI Achievements:
Over a 3-month period, the team achieved the following;
• Confirmation that many of the selected processes should be redundant, as they were entirely manual, rework or aimed at correcting errors that should not be present in current volumes. Automation recommendations for those processes were made,
• Where automation could not be achieved to remove the processes, improvement opportunities identified included Process elimination, Process redesign, Data capture and quality improvement.
• Process improvements ID’d and agreed, Implementation Action Plan formulated and adopted.

CI Approach:
• Stage 1 (Definition) - Agreed current state LRM and a future state LRM. Recommended program of work to drive the adoption and utilisation stages of the program,
• Stage 2 (Adoption) - Refinement and adoption of the LRM model, to a point where all managers are using the principles and nomenclature of the LRM to challenge themselves and the business to ‘do better’,
• Stage 3 (Utilisation) - The realisation of benefits (which specific benefits to be targeted will be defined by QR).

CI Achievements:
• LRM Methodology developed, tested, and implemented in selected Corporate Services functions,
• Skills transferred to QR CI personnel to continue with ongoing performance evaluation, and rollout of the LRM framework and methodology to other Functions.