KAI Partners recently graduated the second cohort of our Internship Program in Sacramento! With interns from Sacramento City College and Sierra College, we were honored to have such hard-working interns adding value to our Special Projects team for the past few months.

We wanted to check in with our interns to get their feedback on the internship program. Here’s what they had to say:

Sumayyah Jackson: Since I was young, I have been exposed to IT consulting—my aunt is in the Organizational Change Management (OCM) field and my father is an IT Consultant. While I had some prior knowledge, IT is not something I usually focus on, so I knew this internship would be stepping out of my comfort zone. I have always been open to change and learning, so this opportunity caused excitement rather than fear.

During my time at KAI Partners, I learned about each field in IT Consulting and I was able to gain background on these fields by interviewing a few of my colleagues. I became a Certified ScrumMaster, learning the ins and outs of the Agile/Scrum methodology. I learned to facilitate meetings, assisted in planning and executing events, and mapped out Business Process Diagrams using the BPMN 2.0 standards. Overall, this internship sparked an extreme interest in me for IT and Business. My internal personal skills strengthened along with my analytical and research skills.

Shyanne Long: I wanted to be an Intern for KAI Partners for a few reasons. I have family members who either are currently in the business or were previously in a similar line of work. However, they were never able to give a solid answer of what they actually did on a daily basis for work. I never had a clear understanding until I started working at KAI Partners.

The KAI Partners Internship Program exceeded my expectations! I was able to become a Certified ScrumMaster and practice using Scrum methods throughout the program. I learned how to create and maintain a LinkedIn profile, how to plan and execute events, and how to write a blog post. I also learned BPMN 2.0 standards and applied them by mapping KAI Partners’ business processes. I supported special projects, the communication team, and the business development team. I was forced out of my comfort zone many times with facilitating meetings, events, and conducting interviews with team members. It felt great to do things I never thought I could do before!

Says Stephen Alfano, KAI Partners’ Fall 2018 Intern Program Manager, “I’ve participated in many internship programs in my career. Of all the programs that I helped construct and lead, this one was the most rewarding for me personally. In addition to helping me drive special projects forward faster, this program provided me with a golden opportunity to deliver on our firm’s workforce development and diversity agenda—creating commercial value for our business in the process.”

Stephen continues, “Shyanne and Sumayyah were engaged and all-in from Day 1; I couldn’t ask for a better cohort.”

KAI Partners wants to thank our superstar interns for their diligence and dedication over the past few months. We know you will go on to do great things and we are excited to be just one small part of shaping your future!

Interested in applying for KAI Partners’ next Internship Program cohort? Email your resume to recruitment@kaipartners.com.

There are many paths to success and while not everyone takes the same path, we often manage to arrive at the same destination. In our KAI Partners Staff Profile series, we share interviews and insight from some of our own employees here at KAI Partners. Our staff brings a diversity in education, professional, and life experience, all of which demonstrate that the traditional route is not necessarily the one that must be traveled in order to achieve success.

Today, we bring you the journey of Ajay Bhat, Senior Data Architect, KAI Partners Inc. who works as Enterprise Data Architect for one of KAI Partners’ public sector clients. His role involves managing different Data Management activities and architecting solutions to meet the client’s needs.

KAI Partners, Inc.: How did you get into your line of work?

Ajay Bhat: My first job as GET (Graduate Engineer Trainee) was assisting in doing Business Process Reengineering and helping implement Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP). Though a Mechanical Engineer by background, my first job introduced me to various IT tools used for ERP implementation.  Over a period of time, I got trained in different ERP softwares.

KAI: Are there any certifications or trainings you’ve gone through that have helped in your career?

AB: Staying up with technology is something that I have always liked. I have completed certifications in Oracle, JAVA, and SAS. I did some self-learning courses in Big Data technologies and Data Science. I also went back to school to get my MBA in Business Intelligence from University of Colorado, Denver.

KAI: What is your favorite part about your line of work and why?

AB: Problem solving is my favorite part of my job. When I go to work, there is always an issue to resolve that involves some aspect of critical thinking. Using technology to implement solutions is another thing I like about my job.

KAI: What is one of the most common question you receive from clients and what counsel or advice do you give them?

AB: Depending on the project, the questions may vary, but most frequently I am asked how I am able to switch the roles on a project so fast. One day I may be a Database programmer, DBA another day, data Modeler, BI guy, or Data Architect some other day. Switching between roles is what I do frequently. My answer to this is that any role is a series of small logical steps. It may seem quite overwhelming from a distance, but if we break it down into a series of logical steps, it is doable. This directly applies to any problem solving I do in my day-to-day life as well.

Now that we’ve learned more about Ajay’s data architecture work, here’s a little more about him!

Quick Q&A with Ajay:

Daily, must-visit website(s):
https://github.com/
https://www.kdnuggets.com/datasets/index.html
https://www.kaggle.com/
https://slack.com/

Preferred genre of music or podcast to listen to: Classic jazz, Bollywood music

Best professional advice received: At the end of day it is just another day at work, do your best.

Book you can read over and over again: Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda

Most-recent binge-watched show: I don’t binge watch now, but did binge “24” a while ago

 About Ajay: Ajay currently supports a public sector client doing Data Management. Besides work, he loves outdoor activities, racquetball, running and a game of chess. He also practices meditation regularly.

There are many paths to success and while not everyone takes the same path, we often manage to arrive at the same destination. In our KAI Partners Staff Profile series, we share interviews and insight from some of our own employees here at KAI Partners. Our staff brings a diversity in education, professional, and life experience, all of which demonstrate that the traditional route is not necessarily the one that must be traveled in order to achieve success.

Today, we bring you the journey of Denise Larcade, an Organizational Change Management (OCM) Consultant for KAI Partners. Denise recently supported Business Process Re-engineering implementation for a KAI Partners client before moving on to implement some special projects at KAI Partners headquarters. Denise’s next client-facing role starts soon—she will be an OCM consultant for a California public sector state agency to help them move from a paper system to an electronic process.

KAI Partners, Inc.: How did you get into your line of work?

Denise Larcade: I started in grocery retail working in the stores—I found areas where I excelled and was able to implement Human Resource, Technology, and Operations practices. The grocery industry, much like banking and airlines, fell into mergers and acquisitions. I was placed on various mergers and acquisitions teams and due to my experience, eventually led activities to support retail mergers and acquisitions. My last merger came with a relocation from Idaho to Minnesota which didn’t work for my family at that time, so I chose to go back to school and get my bachelor’s degree. Not enough to fill my time and still residing in Idaho, I looked for local opportunities where my skills would transfer outside of the retail industry. I was hired on as a contractor to a local tech firm headquartered in Boise, Idaho to work on HR restructuring. While creating a plan to support HR restructuring, I saw an opportunity to move from paper-based manual processes to electronic stream-lined process improvements. My next venture, also outside of my roots in retail, was to lead training and development efforts to support the implementation of Idaho state’s new MMIS (Medicaid Management Information System). Two years in, I received the phone call from a former Idaho colleague at MMIS to support training and development on California’s MMIS. This was the opportunity to move back home to California, and I was excited to spend more time with my 96-year-old grandmother. I moved back to California and was fortunate to have three quality years with the matriarch of our family.

KAI: Are there any certifications or trainings you’ve gone through that have helped in your career?

DL: I received training and certification as part of leadership development when I worked in grocery retail. This training was instrumental in understanding the people side of change long before Prosci was identified as a Change Methodology. My experience in mergers and acquisitions prepared me for being a leader for change. Later, getting my Prosci certification was a desire as the methodology aligned to activities I valued in my merger and acquisitions experience.

I have been twice certified as a Lean Six Sigma Green Belt. The first time was more than 20 years ago and my recent certification occurred earlier in 2018. It was nice to compare what is still a valued practice in Lean Six Sigma methodologies and how technology advancements provide a more streamlined approach to process improvement.

KAI: What is your favorite part about your line of work and why?

DL: Teaching others and assisting resistors through change. No one likes change and what I find most interesting is that we adapt and make changes in our personal lives every day, so why are we not as willing to make changes in our work lives? I like leading a group through the awareness of making a personal change and how and why adopting that same mindset is valuable to you, to others, and to your employer in your work life.

KAI: What is one of the most common question you receive from clients and what counsel or advice do you give them?

DL: “Why do we have to change? We have been doing it this way forever. Doesn’t ‘if it’s not broke, don’t fix it’ apply?” My advice is to walk people through their personal life changes, e.g., The oven still works and isn’t broken, so why would you invest in a microwave? What are the benefits of a microwave versus an oven? Do those benefits support the investment? There are so many examples that support change. If we don’t change as a business, how can we be current and competitive?

Now that we’ve learned more about Denise’s OCM work, here’s a little more about her!

Quick Q&A with Denise:

Daily, must-visit website: I don’t have one, but I subscribe to many technology and change newsletters.  Sometimes you need something that pertains to your current focus of work.

Preferred genre of music or podcast to listen to: Top Pop and Top Country—I like to be relatable to the generations following mine. The music is usually uplifting and gives me lots of positive energy.

Best professional advice received: My grandfather was a great businessman; he developed his own corporation and was successful as a professional business leader, CEO, and mentor. He always said, “Your word is your commitment and treat others how you would like to be treated.”

Book you can read over and over again: Jack Welch’s book “Winning.” I could read it over and over again and it always pertains to my work at hand.

Most-recent binge-watched show: I don’t watch much TV and tend to turn it on for background noise; however, I am a fan of Survivor and the Amazing Race. I love to watch people problem-solve and I like to be on teams where people problem-solve.

About Denise: Denise Larcade is an Organizational Development Consultant and Merger and Acquisitions Expert. She is a Certified ScrumMaster, Certified Scrum Product Owner, Lean Six Sigma Green Belt, and is Prosci certified. She has over 25 years of experience in training, development, and leading companies through organizational change management. Denise has worked in corporate retail, technology, and government healthcare and most recently has experience with large-scale implementations nationwide. She currently works as an Executive Consultant with KAI Partners, Inc., providing client support to KAI Partners’ state clients. Denise grew up in the Silicon Valley and relocated to Utah and Idaho before recently returning to her native California roots.

By Denise Larcade, CSM, CSPO, Prosci

One thing I’ve seen in my 25+ years working in change management and business analysis is that documenting Business Processes and supporting documents like Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) adds value to a business in a variety of ways.

Unfortunately, some believe that documenting processes and procedures is not always the most exciting of tasks, and it’s often put off from one person to the next. Before you know it, the documented process for a task may be severely outdated—or nonexistent.

A lack of documentation can reduce efficiency of your business if, for example, someone goes on vacation. The back-up who’s covering for them should have access to the Business Process Diagram (BPD) and accompanying SOPs so they can do the job of the person who’s out. If there’s no documentation, the back-up has no idea what to do. The impact to the business is that while the process may be well-defined and streamlined, if it’s not documented, then time and labor is not utilized efficiently.

A complete lack of documentation can be a major problem if an employee leaves. Without knowing their day-to-day processes, it will be difficult to hire a qualified person to take over for them, not to mention keeping business running in the interim.

Luckily, documenting processes and procedures is not a daunting task. Businesses of any size can and should document their process. KAI Partners, a certified small business with fewer than 100 employees, regularly documents its processes and procedures.

When starting out, a good rule of thumb is that each WHAT documented in the BPD should be supported by some documentation on HOW (oftentimes an SOP). Further, when the Business Processes are updated, the accompanying SOP should be updated at the same time.

For example, if the diagram step in the BPD states, “Create Invoice,” there should be a manual/guide, SOP, or job aid detailing how to create the invoice. If today the invoice is created on a Mac and tomorrow it’s changed to a PC, the step in the BPD may not change, but the supporting documents will.

So, what do you do once you’ve documented your Business Processes? Stick them in a drawer and forget about them? No!

Depending on your current business state, you should look at your Business Processes quarterly, semi-annually, or annually. For mergers and acquisitions, I recommending looking at your processes quarterly. If your business is not going through a major change, you should check in with your Business Processes every six months or every year.

When you do regular audits of your business process, you’re checking for:

1. Accuracy.Is everything the same, or have you made any business changes that should be updated? Think about the scenario above—if the software used to create the invoice is inaccessible due to a licensing issue, a work around may need to be created to keep the BPD current. If the work around does not have a solution date and may be a long-term work around, you should consider updating the BPD to reflect that. (Another reason why regularly-scheduled reviews are valuable—it forces the business owner to address something that was supposed to have been fixed by a certain date.)
2. Improvements. Is there a way you can improve or streamline the process? What steps no longer need to be done or how can we automate? Perform a cost analysis to determine which step is most efficient.
3. Future state. What may the future of this process look like? Look at how is the industry shifting or how have other organizations changed. If there’s a new system the industry is using, assess the initial cost to stand up using a new system, as well as the cost over time to change to the new process. This information will be helpful in the future, as changes start making their way down the pike.

I recommend every business—large or small—regularly document and update their processes and procedures. For those who are on the fence, just remember that while eliminating processes may eliminate roles, streamlining a business process means you can now put people in roles that need more attention. This will help your business running at its most efficient.

About the Author: Denise Larcade is an Organizational Development Consultant and Merger and Acquisitions Expert. She has over 25 years of experience in training, development, and leading companies through organizational change management. Denise has worked in corporate retail, technology, and government healthcare and most recently has experience with large-scale implementations nationwide. She currently works as an Executive Consultant with KAI Partners, Inc., providing client support to one of KAI Partners’ state clients. Denise grew up in the Silicon Valley and relocated to Utah and Idaho before recently returning to her native California roots.

By Guest Blogger Tony Oliver, Penny Wise Consulting Group

This blog post first appeared on the Penny Wise Consulting Group’s blog and was posted here with permission. The original post can be found here.

Ah, flying. The friendly skies. The luxury aboard the plane. The jet-set and the glamour. All gone.

Nowadays, few experiences elicit the same sort of hatred as commercial aviation. Beyond the vitriol, the stale pretzels, and the harsh treatment from flight attendants, though, there are many project management tactics at play.

According to USA Today, an average day has 1,000 commercial flights over the U.S., mostly distributed across the major ~9 domestic airlines. Major carriers like American Airlines, United Airlines, and Delta Airlines each boast over 200 regularly-scheduled segments, each replete with its own challenges and intricacies.

Despite the obvious similarities (fly a large metal bird from point A to point B), each flight should be seen as a stand-alone project. Though it may be regularly-scheduled and often repeated daily, each one represents a specific, time-boxed instance.

While it does share various elements with its predecessors and successors (such as origin, destination, expected route, etc.) it is very much a different iteration every day. Much like publishing a daily newspaper, a monthly newsmagazine, or hosting a yearly event like the Super Bowl or the Oscars, the blueprint may exist, but its execution may be wholly different. Here’s how:

• The “project team.” Some pilots, co-pilots, and flight attendants may be assigned routes that repeat themselves every week, as circuits begin and end. To paraphrase Jon Bon Jovi, “it’s all the same, only the names have changed.” Much like a professional sports team or even an award-winning theater ensemble, the composition of the crew may carry over to a large degree, but rarely does it reach 100%. Nevertheless, the accumulated knowledge, captured as best known methods, checklists, or even desk manuals, can be reused to the benefit of would-be successors or apprentices.
• The passengers are different. With an average plane carrying 200 souls, things are bound to go awry. Babies, first-time fliers, and stranded connecting passengers can all wreak havoc on the best-laid plans. Much like a project has contingency and risk management plans to address what could “feasibly” go wrong, a plane’s crew has multiple ways to address—and ideally remedy— any misalignments between the project plan and reality.
• The conditions may be different. Yes, point A to point B is typically best served in a straight line…but does it always go that way? Turbulence, traffic, and unforeseen circumstances like airspace closures can make plans just another example of wishful thinking.
• Risks from associated processes, Part 1. A snafu with catering, unexpected downtime by the TSA screening machines, or a broken luggage conveyor belt can prevent the loading and unloading of the passengers. These are shared risks not “owned” by the airline, but with a strong direct dependency. Contingency plans show their value here, shedding any would-be “luxury” label to rightfully claim the “necessity” one.
• Risks from associated processes, Part 2. The above are somewhat related to the airport, but what happens if the issue stems from outside of it? A massive accident on the freeway or the spontaneous protests against President Trump’s immigration order would deter thousands of would-be passengers from boarding their flights. Deciding what degree of delay is acceptable (flying without the passengers seems silly, but affecting subsequent flights from destination cities may affect a much larger portion of the customer base) is part finesse and part analytics— but 100% necessary for proper project management.

Even if your next flight is for pleasure, keep your “project manager hat” on and count the many instances of project management. Like hidden Mickeys scattered throughout Disney World, you will be amazed at how much is in plain view when you are really looking for it!

 About the Author: Tony Oliver is a project manager by trade, a marketing guru by profession, and a lifelong learner from birth. His best trait is an inquisitive mind, which drives his desire to understand not just the “what” but also the “how” and more importantly, the “why” and “why not?” Tony is experienced in supply, pricing, demand, and consumption analysis and holds an MBA in marketing from a top 20 school (UNC Chapel Hill) and an undergraduate English Literature degree from Georgetown University. With 15+ years of experience with Intel and Cisco, Tony is fully bilingual (English, Spanish) with a working knowledge of French, as well as a seasoned public speaker and instructor of Project Management and Presentation Skills courses.