Self-Service Data Analytics and Governance for Managers

CHAPTER 8Opportunity Capture and Heatmaps

As alluded to in the previous chapter, simply being aware of some number of inefficient processes and several problem statements across the organization is not what we consider to be a well-groomed, investment-controlled, prioritized, and actionable backlog. However, the work we performed together in Chapter 7 has uncovered some diamonds in the rough. Given we have captured some baseline process time data, if we estimate the residual tail post-implementation, we have the data points we need to articulate a benefits case for each opportunity highlighted during process discovery.

In this chapter, we will capture the problem statements and opportunities that were surfaced during discovery and logically build data-driven business cases for them. Next, we will demonstrate how to extract the key capabilities required of viable solutions (use cases) before matching solutions to these opportunities. Once the opportunities have been sized for the expected effort required to solution them, and with benefits cases fully developed, we can objectively evaluate the items in the listing against project acceptance criteria, organizational objectives and constraints, and against each other – to determine an order of priority. The final prioritized backlog can be shown in an automation heatmap format to visually communicate the viable opportunities and the various dimensions considered for project selection through the judicious use of red, amber, or ...