Transforming Sales & Project Management in the Rail Industry

Client Challenge

The client, a leading provider of signaling solutions and passenger information systems in the rail sector, is currently transitioning from being a medium-sized company into part of a corporate group. Processes have developed historically, leading to blurred and unclear roles & responsibilities. The overall processes are uncoordinated and important stakeholders are involved insufficiently. 

H&Z Approach

H&Z began with a detailed analysis of the as-is processes in offer preparation (sales) and project execution. This analysis identified pain points and led to actionable improvement measures. H&Z worked closely with the client, conducting a series of workshops to develop the future processes, considering the identified pain points, industry standards as well as best practices. Roles & responsibilities as well as interface functions along the processes were defined and detailed using the RASCI (R = responsible; A = accountable; S= supported; C = consulted; I = informed) logic. Additionally, the future repair handling (service) process and the associated roles & responsibilities were developed.

Results

The to-be processes have been designed to be feasible, efficient, innovative, and standardized, meeting the necessary quality and safety requirements:

• To-be processes in the areas of offer preparation, project execution and returns (repair handling) were documented and aligned, with clearly defined roles & responsibilities.
• Existing process-relevant role profiles were sharpened and new role profiles, such as bid manager and bid engineer, were introduced.
• Interface functions were defined to ensure the coordinated involvement of relevant stakeholders at specific process steps.
• A clear separation of responsibilities between the division and business units in the sales process was defined.
• Process milestones and decision points, including decision-makers and -criteria, were established and standard documents (e.g. checklists) were introduced.
• To support the organization in implementing the newly designed processes, specific measures were defined and planned on a roadmap.