Part 3: Optimizing the Enterprise Planning Lifecycle

This is the third in Forum Solutions’ four-part series: An Integrated Approach for Maximizing Strategy Realization: The Enterprise Planning Lifecycle.

In the previous segment of this article, we described the best practice Enterprise Planning Lifecycle (EPL) framework designed to maximize strategy development, deployment, and associated benefits:

Figure 1 Forum’s Enterprise Planning Lifecycle Framework

In Part 3, we outline how to assess, design, and develop the EPL for any organization. See figure 2 below:

Assessing current state

Using the EPL as a guide, the current state assessment examines how all functions of the EPL currently are being implemented (or not). How do strategic planning, finance, and operations currently coordinate to drive effective deployment? Most organizations have disconnected governance structures with overlapping membership and charters, so taking an inventory of the related governance ecosystem is an important part of the assessment. Here are some key questions associated with each segment:

Existing Governance: Are there existing committees in place to evaluate and provide oversight over the entire EPL? If not, what parts of the EPL do they currently oversee? Do these governance bodies have the right amount of visibility into the EPL process and the current state of strategic initiatives that were approved for deployment? Do these governance structures have the appropriate membership (e.g. C-suite) to drive accountability? Are subcommittees build around the main committee to provide oversight into major strategic areas of focus (e.g. high priority initiatives and investments)?
Long Range Financial Plan (LRFP): Are targets explicitly reflected in the strategic planning process? Does the LRFP incorporate feedback from how the last strategy development and deployment cycle performed? Does Finance have a standard timeline for when organizational inputs (e.g. OP Ex, CAP Ex, FTE needs) are required for each step in the budget process?
Strategy: How is the strategic planning process currently performed? What is the process for prioritizing areas of focus and allocating the associated funding? What level of participation do the deployment teams (operations) have in influencing the strategy? Are measurable goals and targets being set? How are these goals and targets communicated to the teams developing their roadmaps?
Planning: What is the interplay between roadmap development, financial benefit estimation through business plan development, and deployment feasibility in developing the 1 to 3-year roadmaps for approval? Is there enough alignment between local department and enterprise level prioritization? Is there enough detail in the roadmaps and associated business plans for a transition to a deployment team? Have the high-level goals been effectively translated into process and outcome measures that can be used to monitor performance? Have these measures been evaluated by analytics teams for validity? Is enough time allocated in the process for a feedback loop from Planning (III) to Strategy (II)?
Budget: Is there enough detail in the plans (III) to inform the budget? Does the budget process allow for enough lead time for the planning phase to provide their inputs to Finance? How are plan to budget variations reconciled?
Deployment: How are deployment teams informed of upcoming efforts? Are these teams able to create the bandwidth to effectively deploy these initiatives or do they need executive support to reprioritize their current workload? If outside consulting resources are needed, were they considered and had associated funding incorporated into the planning phase (III)? How much lead time are the internal deployment teams given before expected to deliver against these plans? Do these deployment teams have enough access to planners and operational leads to develop detailed deployment plans with associated milestones (e.g. Gantt charts)?
Monitoring & Forecasting: Have the metrics developed in II, III, IV, and V been incorporated into reports and dashboards? Are these reports tiered depending on the audience (Board reporting versus operational reporting)? Do the reports also incorporate project milestone reporting? Are these reports reviewed by leadership, and if so, at what frequency? What venues are these reports reviewed? Do the strategy and deployment teams work with finance on updating performance forecasts? Are these forecasts reviewed in the same venues? Are these forecasts used to update or inform budgets and the LRFP?
Interventions: Are interventions proactively managed by the deployment teams before being escalated? Are governance structures utilized to provide executive level engagement as necessary (e.g. to sunset an initiative, procure more resources, reprioritize other efforts)? Do governance structures allow for lower-level oversight to take care of issues before they reach the C-suite level? Are there mechanisms for off-cycle business plans to be evaluated, approved, and effectively resourced?

The assessment informs the gap analysis between what an ideal EPL would look like, versus where your organization currently is. The next phase becomes designing the journey to the ideal state.

Designing the optimal EPL

Key activities of designing the optimal EPL for an organization are outlined below:

Define the value proposition/justify the new process. There are innumerable demands on the scarce resources of an organization. A compelling and executive ready “elevator pitch” and call-to-action will be critical for engaging in a new multi-disciplinary process. How does a formalized EPL benefit the organization and the members of the C-suite? Think in terms of financial and mission benefits (e.g. financial benefit, customer satisfaction, better quality, etc.).

Configure governance. Designing the appropriate governance mechanisms with sufficient C-suite visibility is critical for success. The art of governance design is to:

Keep appropriate audiences informed on progress

Ensure visibility to allow for timely interventions
Have a venue for escalations to remove roadblocks and make trade-off decisions
Minimize meeting fatigue: minimize venues and meeting frequencies

An optimal governance ecosystem approach matches the audience with the purpose and scope. The higher up the level of the audience, the more high-level the updates and discussions. Escalation pathways allow for issues to be resolved at lower levels before they need to be raised up. The diagram below shows a governance hierarchy framework:

Figure 4 EPL Governance Hierarchy Framework

There should be enough governance to ensure strategy deployment effectiveness, but not so much that it becomes a burden. The ultimate governance ecosystem design resembles a portfolio or pyramid with one C-suite level committee being ultimately responsible for EPL performance before reporting to the CEO and ultimately the Board.

Identify key audience members. Work with leadership and the executive sponsor on how best to position the new EPL. Given that this process will affect the entire organization, engaging and soliciting feedback from key decision makers before finalizing is critical.
Map out the high-level process. A high-level map of the governance structure and associated EPL workflow will be helpful when meeting and vetting with key stakeholders. A high-level mapping should include key operational steps, phases, and timing, cross-walked against associated stakeholders, technologies (e.g. SharePoint, CRM), KPIs, and templates. When mapping out the initial experience, it is perfectly acceptable to have a phased roll-out: near-term, medium-term, long-term. For example, the near-term goal could be proof of concept, while the medium-term goal could be hardwiring the new function, and the longer-term goal is innovations and advance IT infrastructure. Finally, consider sustainability when crafting the journey. Any new experience that impacts other stakeholders will need to be simple to understand and be process/documentation light.
Identify the EPL Process Owner. Now that a high-level process is mapped out, who will facilitate and optimize the EPL process? This burden has traditionally fallen on Finance, but without a formal mandate, the Finance department has limited oversight over Strategic Planning or the operational departments responsible for deployment. The best practice is to establish a new Enterprise Shared Service department: Enterprise Portfolio Management (EPM). Having a dedicated team will allow for a single point of ownership responsible for continually incorporating feedback on the EPL process and making improvements over the yearly cycles. The main difference between an EPM department and a traditional Project Management Office (PMO) is the management of the EPL and the frequent interactions with the C-suite to promote strategy deployment. A common approach is to have all enterprise PMOs accountable to the EPM as part of the hierarchical governance and reporting structure to facilitate the EPL.
Mock-up tiered reporting templates: For the measures of success described previously, start considering data sources and reporting frequencies. Where will these measures come from and how often can they be updated?Creating standardized reporting templates for the appropriate venue will help with setting audience expectations on what information they can expect. Reports need to be tailored for the audience as shown in the hierarchy framework. For example, director level reporting has project level metrics and milestones to help forecast performance and allow for early interventions. Leading indicators and process measures at this level are also common. As the measures are reported to the C-suite, they should be aggregated across all the director level projects and associated categories. Milestones and leading indicators are less important at this level unless projects are expected not to meet their targets. This approach with executive leadership is commonly referred to as exception-based reporting. The overall progress should be reported to the C-suite, with a focus on the projects that have a yellow (in jeopardy of not meeting targets) or red (not expected to meet targets) statuses.
Engage internal communications. Strategic initiatives approved at the C-suite level often require increased engagement from front-line staff for deployment. Work with internal communications on a plan to regularly engage and inform front-line staff throughout the EPL. Common topics are: Why are we doing this? What can I do to help? How have we been doing? What is next?

The strategic planning process provides a great source of content and an agenda to interact with your staff. Be sure to capitalize on the opportunity provided through the EPL.

Vet & Approve New Process

Soliciting feedback and addressing concerns from key stakeholders is mandatory before a final pitch and launch. Do not underestimate the work entailed with a vetting roadshow before giving a final presentation. Here are some steps to work through:

Confirm the final pitch date and accordingly plan all your subsequent activities
Work back a week prior to the final pitch for delivering a final version of the presentation
List the necessary stakeholders and final pitch attendees
Schedule meetings with all the stakeholders (starting with core team chain of command and more critical audiences first) to account for potential multiple rounds with certain stakeholders and time to incorporate feedback into your materials between stakeholder meetings
Get a sense of the amount of time for the final pitch. A good rule of thumb is one slide per minute with executive audiences. If you have done enough vetting, the number of interruptions and follow-up questions should be minimized but be prepared to have detailed supporting exhibits in the appendix

A final presentation will organically develop as a tight pitch is being developed throughout the vetting process.

In the final segment of our series, we cover the launch, sustainable management of an EPL, and some final thoughts.

Forum Solutions is a management consulting company dedicated to crafting and delivering transformational outcomes for our clients, our colleagues, and our community. With our help, clients become more agile, resilient, and connected, bringing great ideas to fruition with brilliant results. From start-ups to the Fortune 50, business leaders rely on Forum Solutions to help them form and realize their strategies. Our company is a certified Woman Owned Business that believes in developing and growing our colleagues, company, and region in a socially conscious way.

An Integrated Approach for Maximizing Strategy Realization: The Enterprise Planning Lifecycle - Part 3 of 4

Part 3: Optimizing the Enterprise Planning Lifecycle

Associate Spotlight: Tracy Kudrna

Associate Spotlight: Emily Reitman