Today's answer is temporary. We institute the function through which the organization can answer again.
Core distinction: the Decision System makes the function possible. Through that function, the organization institutionalizes the responsibility.
A critical decision is the starting point. Depending on the organization's position, InsightIA operates the function through Decision Operating Partnership (DOP), transforms the Decision System through Analytical Transformation on Decision Systems (ATDS), or develops the capability through Capability Development on Decision Systems (CDDS). When evaluation must come first, Due Diligence on Decision Systems (DDDS) provides an independent judgment before any intervention. When an intervention installs a function or capability, that asset remains within the organization.
THE 3 DIMENSIONS
Every engagement is described by 3 independent dimensions.
They are the installed asset, the decision domain, and the intervention InsightIA performs. Each is independent of the other 2.
DIMENSION
WHAT DOES IT ANSWER?
ELEMENTS
Installed asset
What remains in place?
Decision function · Foresight capability · Decision capability
Domain
Which decision does it work on?
Latent Growth · Capital Allocation · S&OP · Capital Projects · Execution on Decision Systems · Institutional Systems
Intervention
What does InsightIA do?
DOP operates · ATDS transforms · CDDS develops · DDDS evaluates
THE 4 INTERVENTIONS
The 4 interventions address different starting points.
InsightIA may operate, transform, develop, or evaluate a Decision System. The appropriate intervention depends on the organization's starting point and the purpose of the engagement.
INTERVENTION
FULL NAME
WHAT IT DOES
RESULT
DOP
Decision Operating Partnership
Operates the function alongside the organization from day one.
A function exercised in operation
ATDS
Analytical Transformation on Decision Systems
Transforms the system the organization uses to decide and execute.
A transformed Decision System
CDDS
Capability Development on Decision Systems
Develops the capability until the organization exercises the function on its own.
Capability installed in the organization
DDDS
Due Diligence on Decision Systems
Evaluates a Decision System and provides an independent judgment.
An independent assessment with no installed asset
Independent interventions
DOP, ATDS, CDDS, and DDDS address different starting points and purposes. Each can be applied independently according to the engagement.
THE CROSS-CUTTING CAPABILITIES
How organizations anticipate and learn through each function.
The 2 capabilities extend across all 6 functions and may also be installed independently.
CAPABILITY
VERB
ROLE
Operating Foresight
Anticipate
Anticipates where judgment will be required so the organization can decide in time.
Organizational Upskilling
Install
Builds the organization's ability to decide with the Decision System.
Entry point
Either capability can serve as an entry point before the function exists.
WHAT REMAINS IN PLACE
An institutional asset that remains in place
When an intervention installs a function or capability, the organization retains and continues to use that institutional asset after InsightIA steps away:
Decision function
— a permanent responsibility, with an owner and continuity
Foresight capability
— the ability to anticipate where judgment will be required and decide in time
Decision capability
— the organizational capability to decide with the Decision System without depending on InsightIA
Shared representations
— a single model of the system the organization can see and discuss
Judgment, memory, and learning
— explicit rules and precedents that inform each subsequent decision
The intervention ends. The asset remains.
TECHNOLOGY SERVING THE FUNCTION
IOS integrates data, models, judgment, and memory so the Decision System can operate and learn. Clients acquire the lasting function or capability that IOS enables.
Technology changes while the theory remains. The organization's way of deciding endures as functions are refined, added, or combined and the supporting technology is replaced.
A PERMANENT RESPONSIBILITY INSTALLED IN THE ORGANIZATION
APPROACH
WHAT IT PRODUCES
Analytics
Optimizes individual parts and answers discrete questions, leaving the full system undecided.
A project
Executes a plan and ends. The decision that prompted it remains alive after the project closes.
A Decision System
Keeps the living representation of the complete system governable, enabling the organization to decide again whenever reality changes.
A permanent function
Gives the decision an owner, continuity, and institutional responsibility for as long as it remains alive.
A consulting intervention may improve today's answer. InsightIA institutes the function through which the organization can answer again whenever reality changes.
Start with a critical decision.
Identify the decision your organization needs to keep alive—and the function that can assume responsibility for it.