AAOM Handbook

order to effectively set a Service Strategy it is first necessary to understand the threats that may exist or arise in or around a process.

3. Support Work – activities that predominantly serve the purpose of improving the effectiveness or efficiency of a Process. That is, Production and Service work can proceed without effective Support work, but the outcomes and or cost may not be optimal. Many of the elements of the Operating Model define activities that Support the improvement of the effectiveness of a task, function or operation that we are applying the Operating Model principles to. These include Setting Performance Targets, Setting Production and Service Strategies, Setting an Operating Master Schedule, Setting an Expenditure Schedule, Approving Work, Planning Work, Scheduling Work, Measuring results and applying Analyse and Improve. The concepts of Production, Service and Support work can be applied to any process - spanning a single task undertaken by a person, through to the running of a function, department or operation. In every case the effective, efficient sustainable delivery of the outcome should involve; • activities to turn inputs into outputs, • activities to identify and manage potential threats, and • activities for planning, organising and problem solving to optimise performance. Therefore, in the Operating Model the terms Production, Service and Support are applied to activities and not to roles, functions, departments, etc. While it is helpful to consider these different activities independently during the process of identifying options for delivering the activity purpose, there will almost always be interaction and/or interdependence in the delivery of the activities. Through the rest of the Operational Planning Process the Operating Model documentation will refer to the detailed elements of Production and Service work activities as work steps. Some, but not all, Production work is undertaken by people. For example, in mining people are directly involved in the set-up and operation of equipment that transforms or transports ore. In mineral processing almost all of the transformation and transfer of material is undertaken by hardware, and the 'operators' of the plant almost exclusively inspect, monitor, adjust and replace items in order to protect and sustain performance. In accounting or human resources processes Production work is typically shared between people and hardware. In the Operating Model element of Set Production Strategy we will consider all Production work, whether performed by people or hardware, since we wish to optimise the overall Production Strategy. The differentiation between work steps performed by people or hardware comes in implementation. Setting the Production Strategy considers the Production Strategy options for running the process (i.e. our approach to running the process) and, for the selected strategies, the operating specifications required to implement them. Those Production work steps that will be undertaken by people should then be translated into Work Packages that will be managed via the Operating Model.

© McAlear Management Consultants 2006

Operational Planning: Set Production Strategy

Updated: August 2018

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