Key takeaways
- • 99% accuracy can hide a high cost of quality and unknown operational risk.
- • A kaizen event produced 30 ideas; the top nine were delivered within 90 days.
- • Automating reviews and data feeds cut errors and freed hours every day.
The challenge
After major technology upgrades, the fund accounting department was hitting timeliness and accuracy goals more than 99% of the time. Two questions remained: what did it cost to achieve that, and where were the operational risk points?
Our approach
A five-person cross-functional team, working with ProcessArc for six weeks, mapped the department's day from open to NAV publication, attaching rework, reject, touch-time and wait-time data to each step.
A kaizen event then brought people from every side of the process together. It produced 30 improvement ideas, ranked by impact and ease. Nine quick wins were selected, each to be delivered within 90 days, with a steering committee keeping momentum.
Examples of the quick wins
- Eliminated line-by-line trial balance comparisons with a new calculated check value
- Automated the corporate action review: zero errors since, and four hours saved every day
- Automated the expense payment feed, removing distribution, entry and verification steps
- Replaced manual price change spreadsheets with an automated daily report
Results
- $225,000 of savings in four months
- Stronger process controls and shorter cycle times
- Green Belt training for the core team and Champion training for leaders, to tackle the larger strategic projects
"The entire organization is involved in the culture of process improvement, mainly because they see that management is hearing their voices and responding," says Sheila Shaffie.
Sheila ShaffieCo-founderBusiness transformation leader who honed her skills at three GE businesses: Plastics, Healthcare and Capital. GE Master Black Belt, University of Chicago MBA and co-author of The McGraw-Hill 36-Hour Course: Lean Six Sigma.