how business architecture value streams can benefit

Health Care Service Corporation, a Mutual Legal Reserve CompanyFOR INTERNAL USE ONLY

How Business Architecture Value Streams Can Benefit Project and

Program ManagersFrank Fons

July 2020, adapted mainly from content created by fellow

HCSC business architects, Greg Gulledge and Julie Gerdes

• Overview of Business Value Streams

– Definition

– Purpose

• Business Value Stream Usage

• What can Program and Project Managers do with or without the help of Business

Architects

Contents

FOR INTERNAL USE ONLY

What is a Business Value Stream?

Business Value Stream: Definition & Examples

Example Business Value Streams

Establish Product Collect Payment

Acquire Coverage Settle Claim

Onboard Member Provide Customer Service

Select Provider Onboard Employee

*Example is illustrative and does not represent a finalized set of value streams

* See appendix for definitions from the Business Architecture Body of Knowledge (Bizbok)

Business value

streams show how

an organization

creates value for

stakeholders within

the context of a set

of business activities

Request PositionValidate

Position

Source

Individuals

Evaluate

Individuals

Finalize

Acceptance[Value Stage]

Recruitment

requisition opened

Position

opened

Potential matches

for position are

identified

Match for

open position

identified

[Value Item]

Commitment

from individual

confirmed

An individual fills the

identified position and

is ready to contribute.

[Value Proposition]

Onboard

Individual

Individual is

contributing

*Example is illustrative and does not represent a finalized value stream

* See appendix for definitions from the Business Architecture Body of Knowledge (Bizbok)

Hiring Manager

has an open

position

[Trigger]

Stage Name:

Finalize Acceptance

Entrance Criteria:

Offer Extended

Exit Criteria:

Offer accepted/rejected

Value Item: Commitment

from individual confirmed

Stakeholders:

Hiring Manager, Recruiter,

Human Resources

VA

LU

E S

TA

GE

AT

TR

IBU

TE

S

Business Value Stream: Onboard Employee

Business Value Streams: Purpose

– Quickly get teams to a common

understanding

• Less need to define current state repeatedly

• Put initiatives in visual context that business stakeholders can understand and see commonalities and dependencies across initiatives before and after funding

– Facilitate strategic conversations

• Speak in terms of process, not just capability

• Easier path out of the weeds

Better facilitate the strategy & planning stages of delivery


How will Business Value Streams be used?

Usage: Problem Solving & Brainstorming

• Bring focus to conversation

• Heatmap pain points


Position

Source

Individuals

Evaluate

Individuals

Finalize

Acceptance

Onboard

Individual

EXAMPLE

Delays in receiving

equipment

Delays in getting access to

systems

Departmental orientation

activities may be confusing

Lack of qualified

candidates for

specialized role

Pa

in P

oin

ts

Job descriptions not

defined for new roles

Pre-screening

questions have not

been established

Recruiters have not

been informed of the

business need

Interview scheduling

constrained by

resource availability

Offers are rejected

by qualified

candidates

* Pain points listed are examples for illustration only

Usage: Inform Investment Decisions


Position

Source

Individuals

Evaluate

Individuals

Finalize

Acceptance

Onboard

Individual

Strategic

Goal

Strategic

Goal

Strategic

Goal

Existing Project

Proposed

Project Proposed

Project

Proposed

Project

The first step is to map the

alignment of projects and strategic

goals to value stages

Existing Project

Usage: Inform Investment Decisions


Position

Source

Individuals

Evaluate

Individuals

Finalize

Acceptance

Onboard

Individual

Strategic

Goal

Strategic

Goal

Strategic

Goal

Existing Project

Proposed

Project Proposed

Project

Proposed

Project

Alignment & Implication

• Proposed project and 2

strategic goals align to

the same value stage

• Highly likely the

proposed project will

have strategic value

• Further research may be

needed to understand

strategic impact


• No project is aligned to

the strategic goal

• Does a gap exist?


• No connection

between proposed

project and strategic

goals

• Likely a less desirable

funding candidate


• 2 existing projects and 1

potential project align to a

strategic goal

• Is there opportunity to combine

these efforts?

• Further research may be

needed to understand strategic

impact

Existing Project

1

1

4

2

2

3

3

4

The second step is to analyze the

implications of

project/strategy/value alignment

Usage: Program Planning/Phasing

• Use heatmap to show project phases

PHASE IPHASE III

EXAMPLE

Pa

in P

oin

ts


Position

Source

Individuals

Evaluate

Individuals

Finalize

Acceptance

Onboard

Individual

Delays in receiving

equipment

Delays in getting

access to systems

Departmental

orientation activities

may be confusing

Lack of qualified

candidates for

specialized role

Job descriptions not

defined for new roles

Pre-screening

questions have not

been established

Recruiters have not

been informed of the

business need

Interview scheduling

constrained by

resource availability

Offers are rejected

by qualified

candidates

PHASE II

* Pain points listed are examples for illustration only

Usage: Map to Processes & Capabilities

Get approval for

position

Post position on

HR site

Post position on

public sites

Search for

candidates on

LinkedIn

Assign recruiter

Review

candidate

resumes

Conduct

interviews

Select preferred

candidate

Send offer letter

Receive

acceptance

Set start date

Grant security

access

Request system

access

Request

equipment

Set up employee

payroll

information


Position

Source

Individuals

Evaluate

Individuals

Finalize

Acceptance

Onboard

Individual

Create job

description

Submit position

request to HR

Hiring and

Termination

Policy and

Procedure

Management

Recruiting

Program

Management

Hiring Candidate

Review

Employment

Inquiry

Management

Employee Profile

Management

Training

Delivery

Role Based

Education

Management Job Role

Definition

Cap

ab

ilities

Pro

ce

ss A

lign

me

nt


Enterprise-Level Business Value Streams

Business Value Stream Reference Model

• Collection of Business Value Streams should

represent the highest level of process across the

enterprise

– Provide business context to solution architecture and

– Can be decomposed to most meaningful level of detail

– Can find libraries of commonly used value streams across

multiple industries IF anybody has a membership to the

Business Architecture Guild, which is under $200 per

person

• For maximum effectiveness, create Value Streams

in partnership among PMO, business, and IT

stakeholders


So what should a Program Manager or Project Manager do next?

Next Steps• If your organization has business architects

➢ Remember that anybody can join the Business Architecture Guild, so get

one member who can research Value Stream concepts to avoid starting

from scratch

➢ Ask them about partnering to borrow or create key Value Streams that cover

activities important to the enterprise related to key customer experiences

➢ Ask for help from both business architects and key business leaders to

collaborate firming up a few strategies, goals, key objectives, and timeline

for desired outcomes at each milestone/value stage in a Value Stream

➢ If your organization does not have an enterprise Business Capability Model

(BCM), don’t wait until one is done; Outline a few key Level 1 and maybe

Level 2 Capabilities that resonate with the business and align with the key

Value Streams and stages

Next Steps• If your organization doesn’t have business architects

➢ Remember that anybody can join the Business Architecture Guild, so get one

member who can research Value Stream concepts to avoid starting from

scratch

➢ In lieu of business architects leading this effort, have a senior Program

manager start with one key strategy and any key initiatives related to it and

identify the experience applicable to your customers; break it down into

milestones/stages and call that a Value Stream with an identifiable value

proposition attained for your customers at the end of the series of activities

➢ If your organization does not have an enterprise Business Capability Model

(BCM), don’t wait until one is done; Outline a few key Level 1 and maybe

Level 2 Capabilities that resonate with the business and align with the pilot

Value Stream and stages

Next Steps• Regardless of whether your organization has business architects, once

you have at least one important Value Stream created

➢ Map key pain points and/or opportunities related to gaps in people, process,

and technology

➢ Map the strategies and goals that match up to each Value Stream stage

➢ Map current and planned initiatives that relate to each Value Stream stage

➢ To help prioritize and sequence work, and inform funding and planning

decisions, identify any redundancies, dependencies, overlaps, etc. with the

help of subject matter experts and your IT/solution architects

Next Steps• Regardless of whether your organization has business architects, once

you have at least one important Value Stream created (continued)

➢ Ask business leaders what happens if initiative X is not done versus initiative

Y; this can help leaders decide what to fund

➢ Even during execution, refer back to milestones and value outcomes desired

and use that to inform decisions about rework, cancellation, etc.; you can use

earned value measurement techniques

➢ Cultural change is hard, so try this with a willing executive to back at least one

pilot; don’t try to implement this for several or all current and planned

initiatives, especially if you don’t have business architects, a BCM, and a

library of Value Streams to help


Appendix

Value Stream Concepts Defined• Value – “the benefit that is derived by an organization’s stakeholder while interacting with that organization”

• Value Stream – “a visual depiction of how an organization achieves value for a given stakeholder or

stakeholders within the context of a given set of business activities”

• Stakeholder – “internal or external individual or organization with a vested interest in achieving value through

a particular outcome”

• Value mapping – “value-focused analytical techniques intended to help organizations better understand how

they exchange value with their stakeholders”

• Value proposition – “an innovation, service, or feature intended to make a company, product, or service

attractive to customers or related stakeholders”

• Value item – “judgment of worth attached to something tangible or intangible and attained in the course of a

particular interaction with one or more other parties”

• Value stream stages – “represent the series of interchanges with stakeholders as the value stream moves

from initiation to conclusion”

• Business process – “series of logically related activities or tasks performed together to produce a defined set

of results”Source: Business Architecture Guild, Bizbok 8.0

Principles of Value Stream/Stage Creation• A stage needs to have well-defined entrance and exit criteria

• A stage needs to have an associated value item (value is accrued moving left to right

through a value stream)

• A stage needs to have one or more stakeholders

• As a value stream is navigated, stages may be skipped or may be reentered based on

entrance and exit criteria

• Value stages can be decomposed into sub-stages

• If there is heavy back-and-forth interaction between two stages, they possibly should

be combined into one

• If two stages share more than 90% of the same capabilities, they are basically doing

the same thing and there is good chance they should be combined

Source: Business Architecture Guild, Bizbok 8.0

how business architecture value streams can benefit

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