Free template
A target operating model that reads as a set of principles cannot be built, tested or disagreed with. This free template forces the specifics: which team owns which process on which system with which measure, and the transition from here to there.
By Christopher Fagan, Managing Partner, PEF Consulting Partners
A note before you start
Plenty of target operating models are really a list of values: customer centric, data driven, agile. You cannot build anything from that. This template asks the awkward questions instead: who owns the process, which system runs it, what number tells you it works and what has to change to get there. It is less inspiring to read and a great deal more useful to deliver against.
Christopher Fagan, Managing Partner, PEF Consulting Partners
Fill in the current state first and honestly, including the workarounds, because the gap between current and target is the programme. Give every process, role and system a named owner. Keep the whole thing to a few pages and put the detailed process maps in appendices. Review it at every stage gate, because the target will move as you learn, and that is fine as long as the changes are deliberate. Our explainer on what an operating model is walks through each section.
[Organisation name] | Version 0.1 | [Date] | Owner: [Name, role]
What this operating model covers (which business, function or service), the outcomes it exists to deliver, what is explicitly out of scope and the strategic choices it assumes.
One row per end to end process. Supporting processes can be grouped.
| Process | Current state (how it really works) | Target state | Owner | Systems | Measures | Gap and change required |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team or role | Current headcount | Target headcount | Key capabilities required | Reporting line | Change required |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Decision | Who decides | Who is consulted | Forum and cadence | Escalation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Process or capability | Current system | Target system | Data owner | Integrations | Retired by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | In house, partner or vendor | Location | Current | Target | Rationale |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
The five to ten numbers that prove the model works.
| Measure | Definition | Baseline | Target | Date | Owner |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Change | From | To | Dependencies | Start | Complete | Owner |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Risk or assumption | Impact on the model if wrong | Mitigation or validation | Owner |
|---|---|---|---|
Template by PEF Consulting Partners, pefconsultingpartners.co.uk. Free to use and adapt.
Related reading: what is an operating model, operating model design, target operating model design, business transformation consultancy.
Processes, organisation and roles, governance and decision rights, systems and data, locations and sourcing, measures and the transition plan from current to target, each with named owners. If it does not say who does what on which system, it is a vision statement.
Detailed enough that a programme workstream can point to the part it delivers and a tester can check it was built. That usually means a few pages of tables like these plus process maps in appendices, not eighty slides of principles.
The executive accountable for the outcomes it serves, with a design authority to keep workstreams aligned to it. Not the programme office, and not the vendor.
If you are designing a target operating model for a transformation and want someone who has built them for programmes from £1m to £13bn, a short confidential conversation is a good first step.