INVESTMENT FUNDS: Step 4 Action Plan to eliminate high risk processes
Fund Elements provides InFORM, an Investment Fund Operational Risk Management solution, that identifies high risk processes and makes them safe. Our objective is to help you eliminate operational errors.
Go to www.fundelements.io to find out more about InFORM's 5 Steps to make High-risk Processes safe and to sign up for a 14 Day Free Trial.
In my last blog, I talked about Step 3 of InFORM which involves the identification of risk by engaging all of your teams.
In this blog, I will focus on Step 4, the action plans you need to put in place to eliminate operational errors through effective risk management.
Are you playing an active role in your firms digital transformation journey or are you watching from the sidelines?
In the final section of this blog, I will distinguish between two sets of actions plans
Business change that are directly controlled by the Operations Teams and can be implemented in short time-frames, and
Technology change that will require a more collaboration where the Operations Teams will need to use their influence to achieve the required outcome
InFORM applies the same approach to the definition of the risk and action plans for Business and Technology change requests.
Linking Risks and Action Plans
In Step 3, I highlighted how InFORM's approach to risk identification is about finding the right context first and then adding the risk definition.
This approach delivers precise risk definition. It is enabled by providing an operational level of detail to your teams.
Creating a change request as part of your action planning, follows the same approach, for the same reason.
It also creates a link between the risks and change requests. This provides a single view of risks and associated actions for the Calculate Settlement Value process.
Requirement Definition
The risk definition uses a simple language and the process context to establish the operational gap between "what is happening" and "what should be happening".
The change request follows-on from the Risk Definition and is more solution focused.
It's objective is to provide a Solutions Expert with sufficient information to allow for an initial assessment of the change request.
Release Management
A change request is the starting point to establish a requirement that will need to be managed through a series of steps to achieve the outcome required.
The end point is the future release that will deliver the outcome to address the requirement.
Confirming the future release at an early point is important.
It provides feedback to the Operations Teams that the change request has been assessed and manages expectations on the time-line to deliver the solution.
Line of Sight
InFORM establishes a link between the identification of risks and the change requests to make high risk process safe.
Identifying a risk and raising a change request can be done in less than 10 minutes.
Delivering a technology outcome to meet the requirements of the change request will take time. It will also be managed through a series of steps in line with a proven life-cycle.
Providing line of sight from requirements to release will help focus the discussion on the prioritization of change requests.
Without this level of transparency, duplicate change requests will be raised.
Business and Technology Change
Are you playing an active role in your firms digital transformation journey or are you watching from the sidelines?
InFORM uses a process centric approach that applies universally.
The approach has been developed by Business Analysts to provide clear requirements to support technology change requests.
The same requirement definition is used to support effective Business Change projects that don't require technology change.
These projects deliver better engineering, education and enforcement.
Engineering is about improving business processes and controls. Technology automates business processes.
Education is about transferring knowledge and skills. The four part process definition is based on a structure used by Learning and Development Professionals to define learning outcomes.
Enforcement is about behaviours. Making it the norm for Operations Teams to provide feedback on quality and risk management to drive continuous improvement.
Automation makes high risk processes safe but it takes time to achieve the outcomes required.
Better engineering, education and enforcement will achieve results in a shorter time-frame but some level of risk will remain.
Fund Element's approach is to enable both by ensuring high quality requirements definition.
Next Blog
In the next blog, Step 5 Report a Single View of Risk to your Management and Governance Team, I will talk about how we use Elements.cloud's built in Reporting functionality.
I will show you how InFORM can ensure that your Management and Governance Team always have the information they require to keep up to date with Operational Risks and provide support to the Operations Teams.
For more information on InFORM's functionality, the 5 Steps to Make High Risk Processes Safe and the 3 Implementation Plans options go to www.fundelements.io/inform.
