Tata Power Delhi Distribution adopts Tata Teleservices’ best practice for

evaluating business excellence initiatives

In 2015, Tata Power Delhi Distribution’s (TPDDL) Business Excellence department was
contemplating putting in place a standardised system to evaluate the engagement and
effectiveness of the ongoing Business Excellence (BE) initiatives across the company’s various
business units and functions, and drive the same using defined review mechanisms. The
objective of the process was to ensure greater accountability of the business units (BUs)
towards excellence initiatives and inculcate a culture of continuous improvement among
employees.
During internal best practice sharing session of available practices on EDGE platform, TPDDL’s
BE team identified the ‘Business Excellence Approach and BE Index’ practice being followed
at Tata Teleservices (TTSL) to develop a structured and holistic approach to drive excellence
initiatives. Taking a cue from TTSL’s excellence initiative, TPDDL’s BE team members came up
with the Business Excellence Maturity Index (BEMI) Scorecard.
A snapshot of the BEMI Scorecard
The BEMI Scorecard carries a score out of 100 and is a standard format applicable across all
functions and BUs within the organisation. Each department is evaluated with respect to the
scoring guidelines and a performance scorecard in the form of the Business Excellence
Maturity Index (BEMI), biannually. Depending on the BE Maturity Index scores, a
‘performance band’ would be allocated to the respective groups / departments as per pre-
defined criteria.
An important aspect of the index is that it is in alignment with the organisation’s strategic /
long term goals.
The scoring mechanism is designed such that it encourages BUs and functions to work
collectively with team spirit and cross-functional synergies. Also, it acts as a review process
that effectively monitors progress on a half-yearly basis and gives an opportunity for mid-
course corrections, if necessary.
Motivation to score higher rating in BEMI Scorecard is ensured through reward and
recognition by the senior leadership team (SLT).
Planning and execution
A team of three members from the BE group spent nearly three-weeks for finalising the BEMI
Scorecard. A SHINE (improvement project initiative of TPDDL) project was registered by the
team for planning and implementing the excellence initiative.
The key challenge while preparing the scorecard was to come up with a structured index that
would be uniformly applicable across various BUs and functions of TPDDL. This was overcome
by identifying relevant key performance indicators (KPIs) and assigning an appropriate
weightage that ensures the rigour for driving all excellence initiatives.
The BE team listed the BE initiatives and identified KPIs for each BE initiative. Taking into
account the learning from TTSL, weightages were assigned to each KPI based on the impact
being made by BE initiative of long term strategic goals of the organisation.
A scorecard page displaying the weighted scores against each KPI of the specific BE initiative
was created which provides a snapshot to the BU / functional heads. For each BE initiative, a
separate sheet was designed detailing the criteria for scoring under each KPI.
The framework was then presented to SLT members including the CEO and MD and the BEMI
Scorecard was finalised post review with the HOD (BE) and CQH, and SLT members after
incorporating the suggested changes.
The final BEMI Scorecard was unveiled during the Business Excellence Annual R&R ceremony
held on July 23, 2016.