Gap Analysis Evaluation

Hello Heidi.
When I conduct a Gap Analysis I do it at two levels. The first is with management and the second is with operational knowledge workers. The goal of the analysis with management is to define where they see shortfalls in the current value being delivered to stakeholders. The format I use is a simple “T” diagram. On the left hand side of the “T” I place a statement defining the current situation that needs improving. On the right side of the diagram I place a statement that defines a preliminary goal. Once a sufficient number of statements have been developed with management the diagram is tested for quantitative measures and all vagueness is removed. Then the model is refined to reflect uncontrollable variables and imposed constraints. The goal is to work with management to develop “realistic” goals and objectives complete with metrics for measuring success.

With this first high level analysis complete, the end-to-end business processes that need to be changed to achieve these goals are identified. Knowledgeable workers from these processes are organized into cross-functional groups and the second tier Gap Analysis is conducted. A review of the improvement goals is conducted and then the group is facilitated to develop the changes needed to achieve those goals. At this level I use the same initial modeling technique plus a series of workflow diagrams. The models are then correlated and current situations are mapped to existing workflows and goals are mapped to proposed workflows. The result is a complete GAP ANALYSIS with associated improvements down to the procedural and systems level. I have attached template to help you to visualize this process. Hope this helps