Raffles Consulting Services
Build a WDG(JR+) work-process baseline from sampled tasks, volumes, handoffs, exceptions, time, skills and employee evidence.
A WDG(JR+) work-process baseline should show how work is actually performed before jobs are redesigned. SBF’s current programme materials describe workforce consultancy from initial diagnosis through implementation planning, plus capability building and workforce technology. A generic process chart or manager estimate cannot show whether a later job change improved work, skills or employee outcomes.
Design the WDG(JR+) work-process baseline
Define the affected roles, process start and end, locations, shifts, systems and customer outcome. Use the current SBF WDG(JR+) page and the official programme factsheet for the supported components and current caps. Keep programme eligibility separate from the employer’s baseline method.
Choose a representative sampling period that includes normal and peak work. State known seasonal events, policy changes and outages. Sample enough cases to see common work and meaningful exceptions, without collecting unnecessary employee or customer information.
Measure tasks, handoffs and skills
For each sample, record task, role, elapsed time, active time, system, handoff, wait, rework, error, escalation and completion result. Note the knowledge and judgment needed. Distinguish a process delay from an individual performance issue and protect worker privacy.
Validate the record with employees and line managers who perform the work. Capture disagreements and additional examples rather than forcing one narrative. A baseline should explain variation, not erase it. Identify controls that must survive any redesign.
Use the baseline for design and later measurement
Translate findings into job-design questions, not predetermined technology purchases. Define the future task, capability, decision right and training need. Select outcome measures such as cycle time, quality, workload, service, skill use and successful exception handling.
Freeze the original baseline before implementation. After launch, sample comparable work and explain changes in volume, mix or external conditions. Connect the result to milestone acceptance and the capability handover so the employer can continue measuring after external support ends. Keep the sampling instructions, anonymised source references and calculation workbook with the project file. A future reviewer should be able to repeat the method without relying on the consultant who designed it.
Turn the decision into a controlled file
Use a dated decision record that identifies the applicant, business need, current official source, chosen route, responsible owner, costs, milestones and evidence. Separate facts already verified from forecasts and assumptions. A catalogue listing, supplier statement, consultant recommendation or portal acknowledgement does not establish approval. The company remains responsible for its declarations and commercial decision.
Give each quotation, contract, invoice, payment and deliverable a stable reference. Preserve earlier versions and explain material changes instead of silently replacing them. Where the authority, tax adviser, auditor or another professional must decide a point, record the open question and obtain the required view. Do not convert uncertainty into a confident eligibility statement.
Review before commitment and again before closeout
Run four reviews: suitability, authority, implementation and closeout. At suitability, test the entity, activity and business outcome. Before commitment, freeze the proposed scope, vendor and financial assumptions. During implementation, compare actual work with approved terms. At closeout, reconcile deliverables, accepted results, invoices, full payment, operating evidence and obligations that continue.
Name the person who may approve each stage and the records that person must see. Procurement should not treat a draft application as permission to contract. A project team should not treat supplier completion as company acceptance. Finance should not treat a submitted claim as cash received. Clear status words prevent accidental commitments and weak reporting.
Handle exceptions without rewriting history
Maintain an exception log for changed facts, delayed milestones, supplier variations, cost movements, missing records and failed tests. State the effect on scope, eligibility, timing and expected value. If an authority decision or formal variation is required, use the published route before relying on the change. Silence and helpdesk receipt are not approval.
If a material defect appears, pause the affected acceptance, filing or claim item. Keep original evidence, assign corrective action and set a review date. Do not backdate records, move costs between categories or adjust a baseline after seeing the result. A candid exception with an owned resolution is more credible than a clean-looking file that cannot explain what happened.
Plan handovers before the original project team disperses. The handover should identify the current version, source locations, system access owner, next review date, open exceptions and any condition that continues after payment or filing. Restrict personal, financial and commercially sensitive records to authorised users, while giving each responsible owner enough information to perform the assigned control. Record the external event that should trigger an earlier review, such as a changed programme page, revised authority letter, supplier failure or material business change.
Verify the final outcome independently
Ask someone who did not prepare the final pack to compare the decision, current official source, approved terms, deliverables, payments and operating evidence. Recalculate totals and sample source records. The reviewer should be able to reproduce the conclusion without relying on the preparer’s memory. Record unresolved points with named owners and dates.
Use the WDG(JR+) before-and-after guide for the wider decision and keep this article as the narrower operating guide. After submission, preserve the receipt and reconcile questions, adjustments and the final registered or paid outcome. Continue any reporting, retention, asset-use or other condition that survives closeout.
Practical review checklist
- Process boundary fixed
- Representative period sampled
- Tasks and exceptions measured
- Employees validated evidence
- Comparable follow-up scheduled
A WDG(JR+) work-process baseline is useful when sampled evidence reveals real tasks and exceptions, workers can validate it, and the same method can test whether the redesigned job performs better after implementation.