30-60-90-180 Day Model: Simplify and Streamline Complex Transitions
By Shefali Gupta, Suryaprakash Tripathi
For an organization planning a process or knowledge offshoring project, change management and stakeholder expectations are unavoidable. Successful execution requires that the project not only meet offshore objectives, but also minimize impact on business as usual.
Traditional CARES (Connect-Assess-Redesign-Execute-Stabilize)-based transitions are based on time-consuming, sequential knowledge transfer, because each activity is dependent on completing the one before. In addition, the go-live process also poses challenges—including centralized management and lack of flexibility—that are compounded in large, complex projects especially if an organization is new to offshoring.
The 30-60-90-180 Day model eliminates these challenges. It facilitates non-linear execution of transition-related tasks and sub-projects. As a part of an accelerated timeline, multiple parallel tasks converge, while pre-defined milestones keep project components on track. This ensures increased implementation discipline; effective information exchange and transparency; increased customer involvement in monitoring; and continuous bi-directional feedback during transition.
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Innovation and 30-60-90-180 days Transition Framework
CARES (Connect-Assess-Redesign-Execute-Stabilize)—the traditional approach to transition—is saddled with numerous limitations that hinder large and complex projects. Among them are:
- Sequential execution, which inhibits management of parallel projects and sub-projects
- Centralized project and transition management
- Client involvement limited to status reporting
- Governance limited to operational level stakeholders
- Lack of focus on IT-BPO synergy, people issues and change management
As a result the transition model is plagued with the following drawbacks:
- Persistent risks and issues, due to lack of prompt identification and communication
- Lack of partnership between organizations during transition
- Lack of transition speed and flexibility
Figure 1 - Traditional approach
An 8-step methodology
To overcome the above challenges, Cognizant's 30-60-90-180 Day framework provides a simple, streamlined transition methodology, with the following eight steps:
- Identify and freeze the scope of transition as a part of the contract
- Connect, gather and compile "the Voice of the Customer" and expectations; define engagement/transition interface and scope
- Plan and create a framework of major and minor business milestones (e.g. 30/60/90 days) and critical deliverables for a successful transition
- Align rewards and penalties to performance against each major milestone
- Create workstreams and sub-projects; empower joint task forces for areas with the most activities:
- People (resourcing/communication/change management)
- Knowledge Transition (Training)
- Study Transition (Operations)
- IS/IT Transformation (Systems)
- Target Process (Operations)
- Create a mirrored organization for each workstream, including task forces with sufficient client leadership representation to help monitor progress; support change management for smooth progress
- Create a robust governance structure and communication plan for individual workstreams and across workstreams
- Iterate through Assess, Redesign and Execute stages, using workstreams and the 30-60-90-180 Day model
Figure 2 - 30-60-90-180 Day framework
30-60-90-180 Day model features
- Aggressive, milestone-based transition management methodology relevant for large complex transitions
- Provision for early, timed milestones that are linked to achievable client benefits
- "Transform while you perform" approach, instead of traditional "Transition -> Stabilize -> Perform -> Transform" approach
- De-centralized decision-making and issue resolution; multi-threading of activities
- Joint ownership at all levels and strong transition governance to move smoothly into steady state governance
- Interlinking of sub-milestones across various threads and workstreams, for tight alignment of transition goals
Key innovations/advantages over traditional CARES approach
- Rewards and penalties linked to transition goals and milestones
- De-centralized, workstream-based project management
- Change management and people issues in scope
- Improved IT-BPO synergy during transition
- Joint accountabilities across organizations and for each workstream
- Multi-level stakeholder involvement across organizations
- Improved, dashboard-driven governance model at multiple levels
Practical applications for Cognizant's 30-60-90-180 Day model may be best illustrated by citing a recent large transition for a top pharmaceutical company. In shifting the company's operations to Cognizant delivery centers, the following goals were achieved against certain key challenges:
- The multi-geography challenge: The client's data management activities were performed at seven sites on three continents. In addition to time zone differences, cultural and language variances added to the transition challenge.
The solution: Process simplification, standardization and economies of scale for operational excellence. 14 services were executed by nearly 1100 resources, across seven sites and four geographies with localized non-standard methods.
- The time-line challenge: A target timeline of seven months for setup and implementation of all services across both new and ongoing studies. A single day's delay in achieving the deadline was equivalent to a loss of $800,000.
The solution: Business goals were derived to maximum benefit, with an aggressive transition timeline of seven months. This included checks and balances to support risk of losing operational and intellectual resources.
- The technology challenge: The studies being transitioned were on multiple platforms. From a Good Clinical Practice (GCP) compliance perspective, anyone working on these studies had to have training on the process and applications. The studies were set on multiple applications that needed to be transitioned "as-is".
The solution: Key stakeholder confidence and support through successful completion of early milestones and sub-milestones with 55+ applications across locations.
- The ongoing study-transfer challenge: Transferring an ongoing study to an external provider is sensitive and business-critical for any organization. All transactions around ongoing studies are a "moment of truth" in the pharmaceutical world. It required diligent planning and execution to move them to a provider.
The solution: The process of reverse knowledge transfer implemented, as a method of creating certified trainer and (train-the-trainer) capability. Successful knowledge transfer for 80-plus individual studies/clinical trials on time (one of the milestones) helped the company meet its business goals. Most studies were locked and submitted to global regulatory authorities on time, helping to speed delivery of life-saving drugs and saving patients lives.
- The SOP challenge: Although the company had Standard Operating Procedures, interpretation and implementation was at the study team's discretion. Processes differed across various R&D sites and study teams. Hence, each study transition became a unique transition.
The solution: SOPs across all activities were standardized and implemented. The move to a new online clinical data management process was achieved. All SLAs were met consistently with over 40% improvement over historical baselines. Service delivery was enabled for various end-to-end services as well.
As a result of the above, the company realized the following benefits:
- Overall savings of $32 million over CARES approach due to the aggressive timeline of the 30-60-90-180 Day method
- Early and ongoing savings achieved at each key milestone by reducing variable cost, over and above cost arbitrage savings
- IT-BPO synergy. Early application of synergy and transformation reduced application and system footprint from 55+ applications to 29 at steady state
- Reduced risk. Due to focused knowledge management during transition, continuous joint monitoring of "tollgates" and minimal impact to business as usual
Implications for the Future of Work
Cognizant's 30-60-90-180-Day model aligns effectively with the Future of Work, a philosophy that places high value on the kind of global workplace flexibility and collaboration that is critical to today's offshoring trend.
As offshoring shifts from a traditional multi-vendor to a single-partner approach, more large transitions are being executed across industries and processes. And as organizations continue to focus on their core business and outsource non-core processes, the 30-60-90-180 Day model can be applied to transition those processes—especially when they involve large and/or complex projects that exceed eight weeks.
Outsourcing is a big change for any company—an internal transformation that involves changing fundamental business processes. Cognizant's 30-60-90-180-Day model takes responsibility for overseeing data management, from database design to delivery of clean data to the client.
To reach the desired level of efficiency, Cognizant offers a shared vision to clients of setting up a model way of working in conformity with its concept of the Future of Work. The concept involves the following capabilities and artifacts:
- Using one set of technologies and one set of standards, while also driving down costs
- Achieving simplicity and ease of implementation
- Achieving the goal to decentralize the client's data management services
- Finding opportunities to greatly simplify current processes
- Bringing about more consistent delivery
- Creating economies of scale
- Achieving significant resourcing, time and cost savings
Figure 3 - Recognitions
The business impact and future business potential of the 30-60-90-180-Day model has proved transformative to transition methodologies. It has provided a Future of Work blueprint for handling large and complex transitions across BPO engagements.
- Traditional transition approaches are ineffective for executing complex and large transitions. They fail to provide focus on people, change management and transformation.
- Cognizant's 30-60-90-180-Day framework helps companies accelerate transition timelines. By doing so, it helps meet transition objectives on cost, time and business-as-usual impact.
- The 30-60-90-180-Day model's systematic due diligence and planning help gain stakeholder and executive management confidence through early successes.
- The framework has inherent flexibility and scalability, due to its "transform while you perform" structure.
- 30-60-90-180 can be applied to any transition scheduled to exceed eight weeks in duration.