EDISON ENERGIA - Increase visibility and collaboration through an efficient process mapping program

An interview with Cristina Macchi, Quality, Compliance & Processes Manager at EDISON ENERGIA

The Quality, Compliance & Processes function ofthe Gas&Power Market Division of Edison supports the business in defining, updating, and formalizing processes. Looking back over our long experience in process mapping, the three key pillars have been business needs and development, instruments, and people.

Our journey through the processes of the Gas&Power Market Division (GPMD) of Edison, started many years ago. In fact, we moved our initial designing processes in 2004 due to an internal re-organization which required mapping the activities of 200 people in two different business units and allocate them to the new functions. At that time the culture of working by processes was not very diffused in the commercial area. We succeeded in mapping all the processes using instruments like a meta IBM software to design the process, and Word or Mind Manager to describe them. Completing a single process was a very time-consuming activity though, and it was difficultto align processes because organizational changes occurred frequently.

In 2008 Edison decided to enter the mass market. The company was becoming increasingly customer oriented and received the ISO 9001:2000 Certification, awarded for meeting the needs of customers and other stakeholders while also meeting statutory and regulatory requirements. It was during this time that the company learned about MEGA. We immediately realized the potential MEGA’s solutions offered and how well they aligned to our need to design an end-to-end customer experience. Five yearsago,withtheneweditionofISO9001:2015,theorganization conformed to the standard’s requirements for organizations to have a “Risk Based Thinking” approach.

Over time our objectives have evolved:

• from mapping all the organization processes in a unique repository
• to the full support of our business transformation needs
• while facilitating process updates and maintaining alignment between organization changes and processes.
• in managing Compliance aspects in relation to process

An easy visualization mapping process

MEGA’s business process engineering tool supports the organization in mapping processes and all the elements that contribute to this process. I like to describe a process like a daisy: each petal is a process component. We currently have identified nine petals.

MEGA’s solution has allowed us to trace each petal of the process in a unique repository: the company organization, processes workflow, procedures, activities in house and outsourced, operational instructions, processes’ owners, customers touch points, operational risks, sector regulation, KPIs and systems.

In the most recent project phases, we have further developed the regulatory part of the project, including the mapping of the risks inherent to Compliance (Privacy, L.231, L.262...).

Additionally, MEGA’s platform allows us to share information with internal stakeholders through an online portal and this was extremely valuable to Edison.

Involving people to change and create a corporate culture

What is always challenging is to involve all the organization in creating a corporate culture. Each company is not an abstract, solitary entity, but is made up of people and it’s important never to lose sight of this. We can have the best instruments to support the business but if people do not use them, they are completely useless.

For this reason, a process company mapping should be supported by a change management project where:

• Goals should be clear and well defined
• Communication should help to create a process culture
• Identifying people comfortable with change should lead the project
• Providing continuous leadership and guidance helps reduce uncertainly and boosts motivation
• Spreading process culture through the organization both top down and bottom up should help attain goals quickly

Key factors that have enabled this project to be a success

1. The commitment from top management
2. A function in charge of designing processes to guarantee the general overview of all processes
3. A defined organization or at least a baseline
4. A map of the main processes
5. A definition of the level of depth of each process or of the different levels
6. A definition of the process of the processes including the designing rules
7. The involvement of processes owners (« processes are not of the processes function »)
8. The knowledge of the potential of the solution in order to give the right architecture to the processes map from the beginning
9. The choice of the right software solution (we determined it was MEGA)
10. The definition of change management actions and project goals

The ability to control business transformation with a shared view of the organization and the connections between the different functions

Other benefits we’ve experienced since implementing MEGA’s solution include:

• Having a smart instrument to design organization processes
• Generating workflow and process documents at the same time
• Having a repository containing all the processes and being able to share information throughout the organization thanks to a mini-site
• Ability to incorporate company organizational changes quickly
• Ability to create reports according to the business needs (i.e. KPIs, risks)

Over the past few years, we’ve also been able to support the business in the development of new projects, like the launch of new products in particular, through a representation of the whole pipeline by highlighting only the processes involved. This allows us to provide a complete picture of the end-to-end process and all the connections between processes.

All the results we obtained over the past years were possible thanks to the dedicated process team that communicated to all colleagues the importance of working by processes to work better. The next step for us will now be enriching our platform to enhance the support of other business areas and bring more internal stakeholders to the platform.

Solutions

• HOPEX Business Process Analysis
• HOPEX platform
• MEGA Services Team

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About Edison Energia

Edison Energia, part of the Edison group, provides Italian consumers with electricity and natural gas, as well as innovative solutions for the comfort and well-being of the home. For business customers, Edison Energia offers tailor-made solutions suited to companies and professionals’ specific needs. Established in 1884, Edison employs about 4,000 people in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. www.edisonenergia.it