Aligning Strategy with

Execution – The Secret to

Success
Strategy and goals set direction, but execution drives
results. How can you unify these often disparate paths?

By Laura Mooney, Senior Director, Corporate & Product Marketing

This white paper is provided courtesy of

The Heart of the Problem – Mind the Gaps
Setting strategic objectives, putting processes in place to achieve them, and realizing the results
you desire seems simple – at least in theory. In reality, organizations of all sizes struggle with
making this happen. Why?

We could launch into many reasons to address that question, but the heart of the problem lies in
three distinct silos within your operations – strategy, analysis, and execution – and the gaps that
exist across these critical functions.

Gap #1: The Strategy Silo

Most organizations have a set of people who are focused on strategy. Strategy includes defining
the mission of the organization, setting key objectives, taking an inventory of critical assets
– systems, people, data, products, customers, suppliers, services, etc. – and outlining plans for
growth or consolidation across these assets. The titles vary by organization, but this team often
includes executives (such as CIO, COO, CFO, CEO), enterprise architects, strategic planners,
program managers, and enterprise modelers.

The larger your organization, the more likely you are to be using multiple types of technology to
help with these activities. Technologies such as spreadsheets, modeling tools, Visio, scorecards,

 Aligning Strategy with Execution – The Secret to Success | Metastorm Inc.

and of course our much loved Microsoft Word documents and PowerPoint presentations. The
combination of the output of these comprises your overall strategic plan – and provides an overall
understanding of the organization as it stands now and where you would like it to go in the future.

The Strategy silo should ideally align and collaborate with the Analysis and Execution silos, but
most often it does not. However, before you can effectively tackle that challenge, it is important to
standardize your strategy efforts as much as possible. Otherwise you end up with mini-silos within
your strategic planning efforts and this just adds to the chaos and further hinders results. See the
Tip #1 callout box for tips on how to standardize your toolset for clearer understanding.

Tip #1 – Standardize your enterprise modeling

technology.
While use of Microsoft Office® software such as Excel, Word, and PowerPoint will
likely remain in use for reporting and presentation purposes, it is most critical to
standardize on a single modeling tool. A single enterprise modeling and architecture
tool will allow each strategy stakeholder to model its piece of the business in a
common format, allow for collaboration across multiple participants, and enable
the models to come together easily into a single enterprise view. The resulting
enterprise-wide model can then be viewed at a high-level or viewed in detail by
drilling down into specific areas of the enterprise. A strong Enterprise Architecture
(EA) and Modeling tool will provide the following:

• Ability to model all assets and interrelationships, including systems, data, people,
resources, products, services, customers, processes, etc.

• Ability to work on, share, and manage models in a collaborative online environment.

• An interface and methodology that is intuitive and easy for business users of all
types to use.

• A set of reference model frameworks that accelerate adherence to desired industry

standards.

• Ability to roll multiple models up under a single framework and overall enterprise
model.

Let’s say that you achieve a strong, cohesive strategic modeling function. You have a big picture
view, you know the interrelationships and dependencies of critical assets, and you can use your
enterprise model to identify the key processes that impact your objectives. Congratulations
– you now have complete understanding. Understanding is critical, but understanding without
the means to analyze and optimize your use of assets in an effective way – i.e. through effective
processes – leaves you with nothing but a bunch of pictures and strategic plans that collect dust
on your bookshelves.

 Aligning Strategy with Execution – The Secret to Success | Metastorm Inc.

You should now clearly see how a gap between the Strategy Silo and the Analysis & Optimization
Silo is a critical roadblock to aligning strategy and execution.

Gap #2: The Analysis & Optimization Silo

An Analysis & Optimization Silo often results from organizational attempts to improve quality
and perfect processes. Initiatives such as Six Sigma, Lean, DMAIC, ISO 9000, value chain
analysis, and TQM trigger the formation of teams focused on process discovery, definition,
and optimization. Typical roles involved in process analysis and optimization include business
analysts, blackbelts, quality executives, IT analysts, and experts trained in a specific quality
discipline or optimization technique. As is the situation with the Strategy Silo, the Analysis &
Optimization Silo is often comprised of scattered mini-silos throughout the organization. This
makes closing the gap between strategy and analysis a complex and difficult challenge.

Tip #2 – Select the right business process analysis

tool and standardize on it.
We know you love it, but you must accept the fact that Microsoft Visio is not a true
business process modeling and analysis tool. It is a great drawing tool, but it does
not provide any intelligence to help you with process discovery or optimization. Nor
does it provide you with an easy path for process deployment. If you want to get
serious about process improvement, you need to select a business process analysis
(BPA) tool that provides:

• Ability to model not only the process itself but also all of the people, systems, data,
services, resources, and associated interdependencies associated with that
process.

• Ability to work on, share, and manage process models in a collaborative online
environment.

• An interface and methodology that is intuitive and easy for business users of all
types to use.

• A built-in set of optimization algorithms and methodologies that are proven and that
meet your specific industry and process needs.

• Ability to import Visio diagrams so you can use what you have as a starting point.

• A clear technology path for automation and deployment of process models – either
a packaged connector to a third-party BPM system or ideally a shared framework
with a BPM platform from the same vendor.

 Aligning Strategy with Execution – The Secret to Success | Metastorm Inc.

The Analysis & Optimization Silo is perhaps the most dangerous of the three. If analysis is not
linked to strategy, then you could be wasting valuable time, resources and money focusing on
the wrong things. You could be optimizing processes that have very little impact on meeting end
goals, and it is likely that you are not leveraging all of your enterprise assets in the most optimal
way across processes. Equally dangerous is the gap between analysis and execution. You can
optimize processes to perfection, but if you have no way to efficiently deploy them and gain
insight into how these processes truly perform in practice then you risk failure. Many companies
have flirted with bankruptcy at the same time they are winning quality improvement awards.
Why? Because they are either focusing on the wrong things – a victim of the gap between the
Strategy and Analysis silos – or they are optimizing processes with no way to actually deliver
and benefit from the improvements – a victim of the gap between Analysis and Execution. Or
perhaps both gaps exist.

The first step in addressing the gaps that surround this silo is putting the right business process
analysis and optimization technology in place and to standardize it across the organization. As
with enterprise models, process models that are defined in the same toolset (a real process
modeling tool, not Visio) can be shared and combined to ensure interoperability and to better
optimize dependent processes. See the Tip #2 callout box for key criteria to help you select the
right business process analysis and process modeling tool.

Choosing the right technology also provides you with a path for process execution, a must-have
to avoid getting lost in the gap between the Analysis & Optimization and the Execution Silos.

Gap #3: The Execution Silo

A few years ago, the Execution Silo would have solely consisted of people doing their jobs
amidst a ton of paper, bureaucracy, and inefficiency with no visibility and no control over what
happened outside of the scope of their particular job function. This may still be the case for
many organizations or individual departments, but thanks to the rapid adoption of business
process management (BPM) technology and methodologies, many departments are turning their
Execution Silo into a well-oiled machine of efficiency and productivity. These organizations have
discovered how to lower costs, eliminate paper, streamline work, and capture a complete audit
trail of activities and data. If you have not deployed a BPM tool yet, see the Tip #3 callout box for
advice on selecting one. You cannot and will not be successful if you cannot execute efficiently
and do not have consistency and control over your operations. BPM is no longer optional.

Process managers, IT analysts, business analysts, department heads, and IT developers are
using BPM software tools to automate and deploy process after process after process and
seeing substantial financial return as well as a wealth of soft benefits. This is good; however,
the majority of business process management projects fail to close the loop. They fail to really
leverage the data they are capturing for strategic analysis and they fail to circle back to simulate
and deploy better scenarios for continuous process improvement. Instead, they get caught up in
the automation cycle at the expense of linking back to strategic objectives – hence the existence
of the Execution Silo.

 Aligning Strategy with Execution – The Secret to Success | Metastorm Inc.

 Tip #3 – Select the right business process
management suite.
Without the right Business Process Management (BPM) software, you will never
achieve the gains in efficiency, productivity, or visibility that you desire. BPM software
also allows you to become more flexible and agile while at the same time gaining
greater control over your processes. Here are a few critical capabilities to look for in
a BPM suite:

• Ability to support the entire process life-cycle, including process design,

automation, integration, monitoring, analysis, and simulation.

• Ability to fully support both human-centric and system-centric processes on an

enterprise scale.

• Ability to integrate with a diverse set of systems, platforms, and services.

• An interface and methodology that is intuitive and easy for business and IT users of
all types.

• Proven results and a track record of rapid deployment and flexibility to adapt to
change.

No matter how efficiently you are running everyday processes, if you do not have visibility into
the impact of your actions, how your processes affect the enterprise as a whole, or how they are
contributing to strategic objectives, then you are delivering suboptimal results.

The Secret to Success – Close the Gaps

The focus of this paper is helping you figure out how to align strategy, analysis, and execution.
The secret to success is simple – close the gaps. Eliminate the silos by closing the gaps that exist
between them.

You can adopt all of the best practices and deploy all of the best people in the world within each
discipline, but if you do not close the gaps across these three silos your results as an organization
will always be suboptimal. That is why we focus on technology. Selecting the right technology for
each area and standardizing on it delivers visibility, interoperability, productivity, and agility. The
right technology can also serve as a bridge for collaboration – and collaboration is critical.

 Aligning Strategy with Execution – The Secret to Success | Metastorm Inc.

Collaboration both within and across silos
is necessary to close the gaps, but this
is often a challenge due to disconnects
between business users and IT and a lack
of a common and shared understanding of
objectives, needs, and results. Technology
that appeals to both business users and IT
can act as a bridge for communication. See
the Tip #4 callout box for ideas on achieving
collaboration across roles.

Tip #4 – Collaborate, collaborate, collaborate.

Communication across the three silos is important, as is communication between
business users and IT. Here are a few ways you can foster collaboration across
roles:

• Create a heterogeneous working group comprised of representatives from various

departments; include both business and IT constituents.

• Reward people for actions that result in process excellence and have a positive
impact across the enterprise.

• Leverage technology as a bridge for collaboration – software that appeals to both

business users and IT can help foster a shared understanding and accelerate
project success.

In an ideal world the technologies you select for strategy, analysis and execution should
interoperate well, share data and services without the need for complex integration, and facilitate
collaboration across the enterprise.

Summary
Isolated efforts related to defining enterprise strategy and architecture, analyzing and optimizing
business processes, and executing on day-to-day operations will fall short of success if the three
areas do not align. Closing the gaps between strategy, analysis and execution is feasible, but
technology and collaboration are critical factors.

You can accelerate success by choosing a single technology platform that addresses all three

 Aligning Strategy with Execution – The Secret to Success | Metastorm Inc.

critical disciplines and is designed to meet the needs of both business and IT stakeholders.

Until recently, this common technology platform did not exist from a single vendor. But in August
2007, Metastorm, a leader in Business Process Management (BPM), acquired Proforma
Corporation, a leader in Enterprise Architecture (EA) and Business Process Analysis (BPA).

The combined platform – Metastorm Enterprise™ – can help you establish a unified enterprise
model which can be leveraged to inspire collaboration, guide improvement and innovation,
and enable the alignment of strategy, analysis and execution for optimal business performance
throughout the enterprise. The result is never before achieved visibility into the impact of
decisions at all levels, the opportunities available to the organization as a whole, and the ability
to accelerate the execution of decisions and actions with less risk and increased confidence of
success.

But whether you choose individual technologies from multiple vendors, a subset of Metastorm’s
offerings, or the entire Metastorm Enterprise platform, remember to mind the gaps between
strategy, analysis, and execution – and then focus on closing them.

About Metastorm
With a focus on enterprise visibility, optimization, and agility, Metastorm offers market-leading
solutions for Enterprise Architecture (EA), Business Process Analysis & Modeling (BPA)
and Business Process Management (BPM). As an integrated product portfolio, Metastorm
Enterprise™ allows organizations to maximize business results by unifying strategy, analysis
and execution. Metastorm is the only solution provider to bring together these critical disciplines
on a single software platform to enable an understanding of enterprise architecture and strategy,
accurate impact and opportunity assessment, effective process execution, and accelerated value
realization for organizations worldwide. For more information on powering strategic advantage
with Metastorm Enterprise, visit www.metastorm.com.

1-877-321-META (6382) +44 (0) 208-971-1500 www.metastorm.com

© Copyright 2007, Metastorm Inc. All rights reserved. Enterprise Process Advantage,
Metastorm BPM, Metastorm DNA, Metastorm Enterprise and Process Pod are either
registered trademarks or trademarks of Metastorm Inc. Other product, service and company
names mentioned herein are for identification purposes only and may be trademarks of their
respective owners. 0807

8
9 Aligning Strategy with Execution – The Secret to Success | Metastorm Inc.