Case studyOperations Coordinator
Running an operation with indicators — Ceinfes (2017–2018)
Three areas that worked separately turned into a single flow, observable through indicators and run with evidence before the board of directors.
- KPIs
- VBA
- BPMN · Bizagi
- Kanban · Scrum
By the numbers
100+
schools served per year
~40
people across three fronts
~250
answer sheets digitized per shift
Context
Ceinfes delivered mock exams to more than 100 schools a year. Teachers, materials, exams, transport and information had to be at each school at the exact moment: arriving early complicated custody; arriving late put the exam at risk.
The challenge
Making scheduling, digitalization and logistics stop operating as independent units and work as a single system that could be seen, anticipated and run.
How I did it
KPIs as gauges along the flow
I built indicators for scheduling, logistics and digitalization, each with its number of the day: demand to serve, confirmed resources, material delivered, exams received and pending digitization. The intermediate ones were the useful ones: they warned before a school felt the delay.
One shared definition per metric
«Complete delivery» or «validated record» had to mean the same for everyone, and every KPI had to be traceable down to the school, the batch or the date that produced it. Otherwise, the meeting is spent arguing about the number.
Digitalization as a production line
I treated digitalization as a line-balancing problem: two scanning stations, about 250 sheets per shift and close to 10% manual capture. The effective capacity was not the scanners', but the validation station's, and that was the one to protect.
From one person's memory to a rule
Assigning teachers to schools was done by hand in Google Calendar. I designed a VBA macro that optimized it with explicit constraints —availability, competence, location, the school's window— and the knowledge moved from one person to a rule the team could run and discuss.
The board, every Friday
For the first time I presented weekly reports to the board: an executive summary with a traceable base behind it. They led to incentives, better working conditions and the redesign of positions, processes and software. I also led the move to process-based management with BPMN, Kanban and Scrum.
Impact
- Three areas turned into a single flow, with daily KPIs for more than 100 schools a year.
- Scheduling moved from depending on one person's memory to explicit rules in a VBA macro.
- Weekly reports to the board that ended in incentive programs and the redesign of positions, processes and software.
- Process-based management with Kanban and Scrum, and a first governance of access to students' results.
Inglopres taught me to structure an operation; Ceinfes taught me to run it through information.