A commercial pharmaceutical client was struggling to manage change in their IT ecosystem due to a lack of a centralized process by which to receive, track, and implement requests from the business. Requests were coming into various points of contact from various different sources, such as emails, tickets, and in-person conversations, leading to disorganization and duplicative work. To resolve this issue, we worked with affected stakeholders to identify pain points, devised a simple process to help streamline and organize requests, and created a tool in Smartsheet for tracking and reporting. As a result, we empowered the business with the understanding of how to ensure their requests were received and prioritized effectively, strengthening their relationship with IT and ultimately positioning IT as a strategic partner.
What We Did
1. Met with Key Stakeholders to Diagnose Pain Points
First, we identified the individuals most heavily involved in the current state request management process, and we met with them to better understand how requests were being managed, what the pain points were, and how each individual interacted with the process as it stood. These conversations yielded valuable insight into the lack of structure and inconsistent handling of requests in the current state.
2. Established the Process, Tool, and Team
Based on the above insights, we established a centralized process for the intake, prioritization, management, and completion of IT requests. We defined explicit roles and responsibilities, socialized them with the affected individuals, and we devised a Smartsheet tool to intake, track, and report requests through the entire lifecycle.
3. Operationalized the Process
To alleviate the burden on client staff, who were stretched thin, we dedicated a PrO team member to drive the process, helping all parties adapt to the change and ensuring the process was running as intended.
4. Continuously Improved the Process
As the process and tool became more widely adopted across the client organization, we established a cross-functional steering committee responsible for reviewing all requests to drive alignment on the relative priority of each. This helped to ensure all parties were communicated as needed to continue to drive the process effectively.
Client Results
Our client significantly increased the volume of IT requests completed year over year.
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Increased throughput of Commercial and Medical Requests within first two years
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Increased throughput of Commercial and Medical Requests in year three