Further Considerations

Deliverable: Further Considerations

“Terms of Reference” approach to deliverable

To satisfy its objectives as described above, the template needs to establish the terms of reference the owner agrees to follow. This sign-off is at the sub-process level.

This can be loosely treated as a form of “contract”[1], as by signing off the document the owner is agreeing to produce a set of deliverables on receipt of a trigger event, within a certain timeline, utilising an appropriate set of resources, and following an agreed exception path.

This approach is summarised in the following figure:

Figure 2: Elements of the ownership “contract”

Why is such an approach, rather than a more detailed specification an appropriate milestone at this stage?

What should be understood is that the detail will be covered by the process design document, itself a signed off milestone in its own right, so there is little point in reiterating it in advance to the owner now. At this early stage what both Sponsor and the owner need is formal agreement that:

	The owner understands what he is the owner for
	The owner agrees that he is the owner to it

This approach puts the focus on what ownership means: The majority of issues in BPM are around ownership not process definition! Discussion around detail is thus inappropriate at this stage and is deliberately avoided by treats the sub-process as black-box (which it may well be at this stage anyway)

Within a SOX context, the owner also needs to appreciate the controls that he/she will be accountable for maintaining and monitoring.

SOX further demands that where ownership is concerned, the agreement is defined in the clearest and most concise terms. This minimal approach is the basis for the choice of template discussed here.

Template overview

Codel Services has prepared a template to satisfy all the above objectives and considerations. This template also ensured that your deliverable is fully SOX compliant.

The template itself gives guidance notes as to its completion, so this detail is not repeated here. In summary, the following are the areas template will capture for each sub-process.

	Goals of the specific stage of the process
	Owner and are of accountability
	Roles and responsiblity
	Inputs
	Outputs
	Exceptions
	Internal Controls
	Service Levels
	Risks if not done

Note: for details on how to obtain the template for this deliverable, please visit the templates section.

[1] Note this should not be confused with any contracts dealing with commercial arrangement. The term contract is used here just to highlight the terms of reference around what ownership means

This paper has been prepared by Codel Services Ltd to illustrate how structured business modelling can help your organisation. Codel Services Ltd is an IT Consultancy specialising in business modelling. If you would like further information, please contact us at: Deryck Brailsford, Codel Services Ltd, Dale Hill Cottage, Kirby-Le-Soken, Essex CO13 0EN,United Kingdom. Telephone: +44 (0)1255 862354/Mobile: + 44 (0)7710 435227/e-mail: info@codel-services.com