How FIT is Your Company?

Executive Summary on FITness™ Evaluation and Program

How does your company measure up to others competing in the same space? Are your business processes more productive than those of your competition? Are your instruments, systems and other parts of your infrastructure providing the efficiency and support that they should, in a cost effective manner?

Facilitated Integration Technology, Inc. (FIT) can assist to determine, in a very short (one to three week) evaluation, if there are areas for improvement, with an estimation of the bottom line benefit of making suggested changes. We have consultants who have retired from your company or your competitor's companies, most with over 25 years of experience in technical and managerial positions. We have a very robust, time-proven set of tools, including industry benchmarking tools, cost and benefit evaluation tools, and written templates and programs to assist your firm in setting up an improvement program. FIT can provide a targeted evaluation, facilitate a management session to make choices among alternatives for improvement, set up change programs, sponsor employee buy- in to programs, mentor program implementation and finally provide post audit and adjustment to Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and measurement programs in the improved areas.

FITness™ in New Acquisitions and Mergers

New acquisitions and mergers present a real test for any company. The question moves to which company's standards are more appropriate, those of the acquiring firm or of the new entity. FIT can assist, providing an impartial methodology to determine a default best set of business practices and systems to become the corporate standard. FIT can also (in most cases) suggest improvements to that set of practices, taking site or company 'ownership' biases away. Additionally, FIT's methodologies for analysis provide an environment for employee acceptance as the process proceeds through all the locations being examined.

The FITness™ Evaluation: Structured Analysis of the Business Situation

FIT is highly versatile, flexible, and remarkably efficient. We perform most high level business processes reviews and analyses of the systems of a 'typical' location in three weeks. The FIT professionals and tools are scalable. We can analyze 1). Only one area of the business, 2.) Only one set of business processes, 3). Only IT systems, 4). Only control systems, 5). Only laboratory bench tops, etc. Or we can take a high level overview of all the business processes of the organization. In all cases, our tools can assist our cross-industry, cross-company team with a combination of modeling and benchmarking against industry pacesetters, to do a quick and accurate assessment of areas for improvement in your company. Then, again with a seasoned set of tools, FIT professionals can perform a cost and benefit analysis of change initiatives in order to properly prioritize efforts for improvement and to align them with company fiscal plans.

The FITness™ Program

Once targets for improvement have been set, it is critical to put them into a program to effect change. FIT suggests one of several programs, where specifications for change are moved from ideas to tangible events. These can be stand alone efforts for improvement to business processes, KPI and reward programs, organizational structure, or specifications for change to IT and control systems and other hard and soft infrastructure elements. Most commonly, however, the programs are a combination of change to the business processes, the organization, and systems that make up the infrastructure.

FIT has many tools, methodologies and trained consultants to help put programs into place to effect change. We use a number of well-tested tools, among them the FIT Business Process Model©, the FIT-Herlyn Best Practice Benchmarking Scoreboard©, the FIT-Herlyn Cost and Benefit Analysis© Tool, the FIT Change Plan Framework©, the FIT Software Requirements Templates©, the FIT Vendor Analysis© Program, the FIT Systems Requirements Specification©, the FIT Software Project Scope© Specification, the FIT Project Management Tools and Methodologies©, and the Herlyn KPI Analysis and Improvement Tools and Methodologies™.

The availability of these tools means a bottom line savings for the client. FIT can do an analysis in as little as a few days or up to several weeks. Having a set of generic flow-diagram type models and a robust, time-proven set of benchmarks as a starting point 'jump starts' efforts to describe and discuss the organization and its associated business processes and cuts the overall analysis effort by a factor of ten or more. Then, when the analysis is complete and targets are set, having program templates that can be used to create change programs to business processes or information and control systems can cut costs further, by a factor of twenty or more.

Areas of Specialty FITness™

FIT has industry specialists from multiple differing areas in the process plant infrastructure. We can perform general evaluations and programs:

• Business Process Benchmarking, Modeling and Analysis
• Economic Evaluation of Alternatives for Change and Prioritization
• IT System Evaluation and Specification for Change
• Control System Evaluation and Specification for Change

• Instrument and Analyzer Evaluation
• Laboratory Bench Top Evaluation
• R&D Process Evaluations
• Validation for Pharmaceutical Clients
• KPI Enhancements and Adjustments
• Specialty High-Caliber Temporary Staffing

Organizational Involvement in the FITness™ Program to Fully Effect Change

The most important factor in the success of the overall change program is 'buy-in' and involvement of the organization. 'Buy-in' to targeted change begins during the interview process that is a part of the modeling and benchmarking effort. FIT Senior Industry Consultants, with twenty-five or more years of experience in the areas being discussed, are exceptional facilitators of internal discussion around the efficiency of the existing 'way it is done.' In these sessions, 'seeds' are planted that, through our methodology, become the roots of the overall change plan, with all levels of the organization having input and discussion.

Creating a change program as a conclusion to business process analysis takes advantage of the ground swell of interest in change created during the analysis process and 'sets the stage' for active organizational involvement and 'buy-in.' FIT suggests written and mentored organizational, and business process change programs. FIT also suggests a very structured, template-driven change program for IT and control systems.

A 'Typical' FITness™ Evaluation and Program

Our goal is to increase the profitability of our clients' bottom lines with minimal cost and minimal disruption of the client's organization. The flow diagram below pictorially describes the analysis and change implementation process. FIT programs are designed in such a way that the client can choose to begin or end at any juncture of the process, gaining ability for the client to select only the support they feel they need for their unique situation. Our services can include, as appropriate:

FITness™ Evaluation Example: Business Process Modeling and Benchmarking

FIT configures a generic industry model of a client's business processes, working to modify the FIT Business Process Model? to accurately reflect a client's unique processes and practices. We then use the FIT-Herlyn Best Practice Benchmarking Scoreboard? against the model to suggest targets for improvement and change.

An example is shown of a part of one process, planning, below.

FITness™ Program Example: IT Systems Specifications

Often, IT systems come up as targets for change in an evaluation. Either the system is too simple and thus, not able to provide proper decision support; too old and thus, too cumbersome and costly; or too complex and thus, not being properly utilized. In these cases, FIT will evaluate alternatives, often suggesting replacement of the current system by a new commercial system. Additionally, FIT can assist with vendor evaluation and selection, IT specifications that will allow a plus or minus ten percent cost estimate and plans and programs to control installation and configuration cost to within the allocated amounts.

Below, please find an example table of contents for a system change specification:

Results, But at What Cost?

There is a lot written today on using modeling, benchmarking, and economic analysis as a means to discovering areas of change for increased profitability. And all authors agree that if an organization is planning change to a system, doing a benchmarked business process analysis first is most desirable, as business process improvement changes can be written into specifications, with the new system acting as a change agent. But what if a client doesn't have time or funding for a full analysis or what if a client already has a set of defined targets?

FIT's services structure is aligned so that a client can use as much or as little assistance from FIT as is needed. All of the services from FIT can be expanded, reduced or segmented as appropriate to each situation. We can begin or end at any juncture in the process. We also look to leverage a client's strength, to take advantage of a client's 'in-house' talent, and to facilitate a client's organization through improvement or change, always with an eye to impact on the bottom line. Over our past eleven years, we have found that each engagement is unique, as we match our assistance to optimize client resources and facilitate client goals.

We look to guide our clients toward improved business processes and support systems, optimizing their efficiency and productivity, and gaining maximum return from business process, organizational or systems changes.

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