> The operations cycle

Customers now expect their service providers to execute flawlessly, as a condition of business.  Yet, few organizations have efficient processes in place to manage operations, consistently mapping demand against capacity, and making effective decisions in real time.

Leveraging years of experience in operations management consulting,  decision/analysis partners has developed a unique framework for analyzing and designing state-of-the-art operational processes: The operations cycle.  This operations cycle is depicted below and consist of three segments: Planning, Execution, and Measurement.

planning

The purpose of the plan is to enable the mobilization of the assets and resources required to execute.  Planners must devise a way to deliver services that will meet the expected demand.  In our operations cycle, planners use "lessons learned" from the measurement phase and forecasts of demand in order to improve the "previous" plan.

execution

Executing means implementing and monitoring the deployment of assets and resources and, in general, doing everything possible to stay on plan.  Detailed decision making processes must be in place to manage unforeseen conditions and irregular operations.  Alternatives must be evaluated according to preset criteria and scoring functions.

measurement 

The role of this phase is to determine to what extent variations from plan encountered in the execution phase require changes in execution processes (when to cancel service)or changes in the plan (more capacity for instance). Measuring is an evaluative task, designed to lay th efoundation for the next planning cycle.

integration

The power of this framework is that its sets the stage for complete accountability within each phase, and between phases.  Information technology is used thoughout the cycle to record activity, demand, capacity and events in order to support the decisions required within each segment.