Mapping process at the Smallpeice Trust

The Smallpeice Trust in the context of the Arkwright Scholarship Programme, offers the chance for a successful student to be taken through a 2-year scholarship programme to introduce them to the world of STEM. This is sponsored/funded by a 3rd party organisation and aims to create an interest and hopeful career path along the fields of Engineering, Science, Technology or Maths. The charity’s focus is to broaden knowledge and interest in these areas through education and these Programmes to produce the next generation of specialists in these fields.

The Smallpeice Trust has been selecting a new Application Management System (AMS) to better manage their prestigious Arkwright Engineering Scholarship. Simon Wilson, the scholarship’s Programme Manager, told us that Smallpeice began this work because they “had a dire need for an integration into the existing CRM.”

This work would later lead to Requirements Gathering and Partner Selection processes for the AMS technology partner – both supported by Hart Square – but began with a Business Process Review to understand the detail of the as-is processes surrounding the scholarship.

High value process analysis

The purpose of this was two-fold: to detail the myriad of processes which a future AMS technology partner would need to understand when working with Smallpeice and, secondly, to identify quick-wins to refine the Trust’s internal processes. Analysis of this type if always highly valuable before this structure is codified into a new system. Before embarking on such a project, Simon’s advice to organisations was to, “take it as an opportunity to review your work-flows and where those efficiencies can be brought in.”

Simon told us that, prior to the project, “we’d had a system that had grown organically with the [scholarship] programme. It was a very bespoke system, and it did everything that we needed it to.” However, as is common, these processes had become increasingly complex and intricate over time. Smallpeice suspected that there were efficiency gains to be made but first the true, actual processes carried out by teams had to be understood. Simon summarised: “if you can’t explain it simply and concisely to somebody else then you probably don’t understand your own processes.”

Foundation for improvements

Simon explained Hart Square brought invaluable challenge and insight into the project, and often a gentle interrogation of the team’s practises: “The diplomacy is second to none. And [Hart Square] was eternally understanding.” Before this, Simon told us the work done to understand the processes prior, “didn’t feel like it had the depth that we got through Hart Square.”

Hart Square took this wide analysis and then built detailed process maps. Simon told us that, having been so close to it day-to-day, “the complexity of the programme I hadn’t appreciated. Taking a step back and being able to see it holistically was a real eye opener.” This mapping work became foundational for making improvements to processes, and for communicating requirements with prospective technology partners.

Expert guidance and support

During this entire process, Hart Square grounded the conversation, something Simon felt was important to such projects. “It’s technology, it’s not magic. Make sure that you’re going in with realistic expectations. And that’s what Hart Square really did and really drove for us.”

After Hart Square’s involvement, the virtues of moving to a new system are now better understood by the wider internal team at the Smallpeice Trust. Rather than being a hindrance, being part of the project team is now seen as highly desirable. So much so, Simon told us he now receives requests from non-project team members to be part of the change.

Simon was clear that Hart Square’s support on the project was transformational: “I genuinely believe that that’s probably the best thing that could happen… Hats off to you.”