Greenfield Enterprises’ quantitative
motto is “Anything can be measured, anything can be modelled”,
meaning that we believe that a key requirement to an organisation’s
effective problem solving and business issues resolution is often “to
know and measure the facts” (measurement) and then to use
this information to “try the future now” (modelling),
allowing the decision makers to see in advance the likely effects of proposed
solutions to problems. Of course, both measurement and real-life modelling
is not always precise, and Greenfield Enterprises endeavours to also quantify
the confidence limits around the measurement and modelling. Sometimes
those confidence intervals can be very wide, but such information can
be vital to decision-makers.
In parallel with this quantitative solutions capability, we offer
a process solutions capability to organisations. Very often the
way forward is not clear, with different stakeholders of an issue having
different emphases relating to the problem. When this occurs, there is
a need for the stakeholders to communicate effectively with each other
concerning all the key issues, and looking to see how each other’s
requirements can be mapped and modelled. By process mapping all the stakeholder
issues, a provisional way forward can emerge, onto which – often
- measurement and modelling can lead to the best solutions being proposed
and implemented.
Our philosophy of modelling embraces these two parallel solution dimensions
(quantitative and process), and also brings in a third dimension –
type of modelling. We believe that all organisational modelling/
problem solving/ issues resolution needs to be looked at three ways:
Top level, middle level, and bottom level modelling. Each modelling
type is crucial to the successful delivery of any modelling solution.
* The middle level is usually (but not always)
the “process modelling” level, where the key stakeholders
look to create process or structural models of the situation, from various
aspects, then converge to an overall set of ways forward.
* The bottom level is usually (but not always)
where all the analysis, number crunching, computer modelling, what-if
work usually takes place – equivalent to a Data Analysis department,
arguably.
* And the top level is where the effects of
the current modelling work is carefully compared against other company
aspects, i.e., if we do this in department A, what is the effect on departments
B, C, D, bottom line etc?
It is absolutely crucial that all three types of modelling take place
in any company, otherwise solutions that seem effective in a subset of
the organisation will likely not be effective in another part of the company.
And many companies and organisations have regretted not implementing a
solution strategy based on all three components of this modelling strategy.
Though just a small company, this “triple modelling” philosophy
is an essential aspect of our work.
Steve Greenfield
14th April 2004
