Implementation Levels
Each initiative in your program must go through an Implementation Level process (also often referred to as Stage Gates). Wave has been designed to fit your program's governance and implementation process to ensure that initiatives have been properly planned, implemented, and that their impact numbers are validated.
Wave also requires initiatives to go through approvals at particular implementation levels. Most commonly, initiatives must be approved by a senior leader or workstream lead in order to move forward to the L3 - Implementation level. Your program may include additional approvals between various stages, all intended to validate the information that has been entered into the initiative.
Note: The implementation levels process in your program may vary slightly or use different naming conventions
Example Implementation Level Process
L0: Idea |
L1: Identified |
L2: Validated |
L3: Implement |
L4: Realize |
L5: Signed Off |
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In this level you have: | Initial idea | Sized initiative | Business case | Approved plan | Completed implementation | Realized value and signed off by Finance |
What must happen to enter this stage: | Idea generated |
Owner assigned Value estimated |
Validation complete Plan developed |
Plan feasibility confirmed Finance confirm size/timing of savings |
All planned actions have been taken | Financial impacts have appeared in bottom line results |
Key activities in this stage: |
Rough sizing Rough L3/L4 milestone dates Assign owner |
Refine value Build the business case Develop high level action plan |
Develop concrete action plan Identify risks & resources |
Complete all steps laid out in the action plan | Savings are accruing | Cost savings seen in cash flows at level of new run rate |
Who typically approves entry? | Initiative Owner | Workstream Lead | Sponsor | Sponsor, Finance | Initiative Owner | Finance |
Example Initiative | An opportunity exists to save on filter spend | We spend $10m on filters and we think we can get 10% | We have checked pricing across sites and believe a 15% improvement is possible | We confirmed applicable baseline and estimate opportunity value of $1.4m. We are now implementing the initiative | We have firm price commitments from suppliers and have changed ops practice to begin buying | We are only buying the lower cost items and/or following the new process |
Note: It is possible that some initiatives will not make it to implementation. For these cases, users can update the "Weekly Status" field to "Cancelled" in order to indicate that the initiative is no longer active.