Process improvement that inspires everyone in the organisation
Process discovery that’s easy for everyone to access, understand and adapt
The challenge
Award-winning creator, distributor and licensor of branded gifts and cards, Carte Blanche, is well known for Tatty Teddy, the cute grey bear with a blue nose. The company was founded in 1987 with a dream and a collection of just 12 greetings cards. More than 30 years on, design and innovation are at the very core of the Carte Blanche business.
In 2019, Carte Blanche embarked on a sustained period of change and an ambition to enhance productivity. Dealing with the implementation of two new software systems (MS Dynamics and Perfion), personnel changes and diversification of product offering – the organisation needed to re-evaluate operating procedures.
Getting under the hood of the business
If Carte Blanche was to benefit from greater clarity and understanding of their processes, they would need to be clear on the current state of the organisation, before they started to make any changes. They used Liberty Spark, our process improvement and mapping software, to embark on this initiative.
“We chose Liberty Spark as our solution because it’s perfection as far as simplicity goes… Everyone can look at a Liberty Spark map and understand it. Everything can be broken down into two types of boxes – what we’re doing and why we’re doing it.”
Stuart Morgan
Process Engineer, Carte Blanche
The solution
Carte Blanche used Liberty Spark initially to simply record and clarify what happened in their everyday business.
A visual tool, the team used Spark to facilitate workshops and map at the speed of conversation whilst allowing their colleagues to focus on the realities of the process being recorded. It became an integral tool in the business to achieve analysis and improvement.
The team used Spark to note any issues or queries whilst mapping the processes. Everything was easily logged as a simple attachment in the process map. This enabled the team to carry on capturing information and engaging with colleagues whilst documenting important information. At the end of the exercise the team could export all the extra details as issue logs and use them as a checklist to resolve any issues to improve and enhance the current processes.
Process mapping had fallen down in the past for two reasons – it was produced on sticky notes, which is laborious and inevitably wrong when you revisit it. Or or was mapped on archaic software, for which only one person in the organisation had the expertise and access.
Processes are living things – they evolve and change. People must be able access and understand them and easily change them when needed.
Using Liberty Spark meant they could visually display how complicated some parts of the process were which enabled them to discuss collectively in a team how to improve and make things easier.
Spark made everyone start thinking differently. It challenged the team to realise that they could make different choices.
Spark became a way of engaging with a significant number of colleagues. It gave the opportunity for people to understand how processes work and how they could be improved.
Mapping technical processes and system interactions showed people that the processes were robust, dispelling myths around technical issues.
Using Spark meant they could visually display how complicated some parts of the process were which enabled them to discuss collectively in a team how to improve and make things easier.
Liberty Spark enabled Carte Blanche to take any diversity into account and effectively tailor processes to the individual needs of customers.
When focusing on the sales process for UK independent customers (a vital part of the customer base) they were aware of the complexity involved with servicing them. With so many variables built in, it was a good example of a complicated process.
Also, the team needed to engage with a wide audience and a range of tools, including the Operations Team, the Sales Team, systems used by Sales Reps, internal software systems and the introduction of new products. With Spark, they were able incorporate all this information and clearly document it, to whittle away perceived issues and misunderstandings.
“We really understood through Liberty Spark that we could clean up a messy process. It has saved us a huge amount of time by streamlining our flow of activity and understanding that, by resolving issues earlier on in the process, we could make it easier for our people to do their jobs. There really is an amazing human centric benefit to Liberty Spark beyond the mechanics of process mapping.”
Stuart Morgan
Process Engineer, Carte Blanche
The result
Process mapped Procurement & Inventory, Sales Orders & Fulfilment and Product Management systems.
Using Liberty Spark, Carte Blanche has explored the possibilities of using responsibility matrices. Using the RATSI method they have defined who is doing the work, who is signing off, who is helping and who is informed. This helps everyone to understand what people do, create job descriptions, understand workloads and help each other.
Employees have complete clarity over their roles. They can use Spark to navigate and understand their roles, what is expected of them, where they fit in the process, to whom they speak to understand an issue and appreciate why their role is vital.
Liberty Spark has become the place to hold all vital information.
An innovative future
When reviewing processes, Liberty Spark allowed Carte Blanche to recognise what areas could be improved, record specific issues and, most importantly, empower the team to make changes. They recognise the potential and their objective is to build an even clearer and more complete picture of the whole business. As Carte Blanche expands and diversifies, Spark sits at the centre, helping to support staff to do their jobs and to keep delivering fantastic customer experiences.
Impact
Full clarity
of business processes
Engaged teams
people understand processes and where improvements can be made
Human-centric
benefits beyond process mapping
Power up your process skills
With Liberty Spark you can quickly and intuitively map any organisational process and then rapidly build them in Liberty.
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