Organisational Diagnostic and Tech-Enabled Transformation

What is an organisational and performance diagnostic?

It is a field measurement of how the company turns its objectives into results: who decides, through which processes, with what information, and where time, material and quality are lost. It ends with prioritised findings and a roadmap, not with one more report on a shelf.

The diagnostic looks at the organisation from seven angles. Each one rests on evidence, not impressions.

A diagnostic is not a conformity audit: it does not check a standard clause by clause, it looks for the causes of underperformance. Nor is it a comparison against sector ratios borrowed from elsewhere. We do not quote “industry averages” we cannot source: the reference is your own situation, measured at the start and measured again at the end. Our consultants observe before they ask, and they talk to operators as much as to managers: the gap between the procedure, what people say and what the workstation shows is often the most useful finding.

Diagnostic, audit, ISO project or outsourcing: which approach for which need?

Each approach answers a different question. The right starting point depends on what management wants to know or achieve. The table points to the right page.

These approaches are often combined. A diagnostic may show that the certified system’s process map no longer matches reality: the next step is to update the system. It may show that the QHSE function has no time to follow up the actions decided: outsourcing becomes an option. Or that frontline managers were never trained to lead a team: the answer then starts with training.

How do you map and improve your processes?

By starting from what really happens, not from the procedure. A useful process map describes flows as they are, measures waiting and breaks, then designs the target state with the people who will do the work.

We work in four steps:

1. Define the boundaries. For each process: its trigger, its end point, its internal or external customer, its owner. A SIPOC (suppliers, inputs, process, outputs, customers) is often enough to agree on scope.
2. Observe. Follow a file, an order or a batch from end to end. Measure lead times, count re-keying, spot approvals that add nothing.
3. Analyse. Separate what creates value for the customer from what does not: waiting, work in progress, movement, rework, redundant checks. Value stream mapping makes these losses visible.
4. Design the target. Simplify, standardise, clarify interfaces, set the process indicators and the owner. The target is tested on a limited scope before it is rolled out.

Take a packaging converter near Kénitra whose lead time from order to shipment keeps growing. The map often shows that the problem is not in production: it sits in artwork approval, back-and-forth with the customer and scheduling. In a fish cannery in Safi preparing for the season, the issue is rather the hand-offs between receiving, preparation, seaming and dispatch once seasonal staff join the teams. The same logic applies to a cold store serving European retailers or to a European group’s plant in North Africa that must align with headquarters’ reporting.

The process approach sits at the heart of ISO management system standards, starting with ISO 9001. ISO 9001:2026 was published on 16 September 2026, and sites certified to the 2015 edition have until 30 September 2029 to transition, according to the Global ACI transition document. A transition is a good moment to bring the process map back in line with the shop floor: see our ISO 9001 certification page.

Which indicators and dashboards should you steer with?

Few indicators, reliable ones, each linked to a decision. An indicator nobody uses to decide costs collection time and brings nothing. We build an indicator tree that links management’s objectives to process indicators, then to shop-floor indicators.

Each indicator gets a definition sheet: definition, formula, data source, frequency, owner, alert threshold and the decision expected when the threshold is crossed. This step often reveals indicators calculated in several different ways from one department to the next.

The dashboard comes next. It fits on one page per level, shows the trend rather than an isolated figure and flags the deviations that need a decision. Discipline matters more than the tool: a well-kept spreadsheet beats software fed with doubtful data. To train your teams in Power BI and dashboard design, see our digital, applied AI and cybersecurity training domain.

How do you run a management system on a platform?

By linking requirements, evidence, actions and reporting in tools the whole team can open, instead of scattered binders and spreadsheets. At ACG, this digital management system runs on two platforms built by Solvitas, the firm’s start-up studio: Normativa for compliance, Inspirra for engagements and reporting.

Normativa is a SaaS compliance management platform on a self-service subscription. It covers the GFSI-recognised food safety standards, with an ONSSA regulatory module for sites in Morocco, and the ISO management system standards (ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 45001 and ISO 22000), alone or combined in a QHSE system. Inspirra is the platform ACG runs its consulting and training engagements on; its client space is reserved for ACG clients.

Two rules guide this digital steering. First, only a clarified process is digitised: a confused circuit simply becomes faster. Second, the platform does not decide: it makes deadlines, gaps and evidence visible, and management arbitrates. When the system needs to be held over time by external competence, it combines with outsourced QHSE: the part-time QHSE manager posts the monthly report in Inspirra.

Lean Six Sigma: how do you run an improvement project that lasts?

By choosing a real, quantified problem, following a structured approach and installing a control plan at the end. Lean removes losses and speeds up flows; Six Sigma reduces variability with data. The two combine in DMAIC, a five-phase approach that also structures the Black Belt Body of Knowledge published by IASSC.

ACG’s founder, Dr Ismail Idrissi, is a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt. Our consultants run projects themselves or coach those of your staff in Green Belt or Black Belt training: the project then serves both as the course’s common thread and as a result for the company.

Some problems suit a DMAIC project well: drifting scrap rates on a printing line, variable fill weights in a cannery, picking errors in a cold store near Tanger Med, slow handling of customer complaints. What they share: a measurable indicator, a scope the team can influence and a sponsor who follows progress.

We do not promise a figure before the Measure phase: the gain is established by comparing the baseline and the final indicator, on data you control. Yellow, Green and Black Belt levels are described in our management and operational performance training domain.

How do you run the transformation as a project?

With a sponsor, a project lead, a steering committee and milestones, like any investment project. A transformation without governance stops at the first peak in activity.

The project management we apply comes down to a few rules:

• A sponsor in management, who arbitrates priorities and resources.
• An internal project lead, trained and with protected time; the consultant supports the lead and does not replace them.
• A project charter: objectives, scope, success indicators, risks, schedule.
• A steering committee on a fixed rhythm, with a decision log.
• Benefits tracking: every roadmap project is linked to an indicator in the tree.
• Change management: informing teams, training frontline managers, addressing resistance.

Continuous improvement takes over once projects close. It relies on simple routines: a short start-of-shift meeting at the indicator board, deviations handled the same day, a monthly action review, regular checks of standards. The PDCA cycle (plan, do, check, act) provides the frame, the same one used by ISO management system standards, so these routines attach to the existing system instead of creating a parallel one.

Before launching a transformation project

• The problem or goal is written down, with the indicator that measures it.
  
• A management sponsor is named and available for the steering committee.
  
• An internal project lead has protected time.
  
• Baseline data exists or can be collected quickly.
  
• Existing tools are listed before a new one is added.
  
• The schedule allows for activity peaks and planned audits.
  

What does GIAC fund in a strategic diagnostic and training engineering?

For sites in Morocco, GIAC can fund part of the work that comes before training: the strategic diagnostic that identifies skills needs, training engineering and the training plan. It does not fund the transformation engagement as a whole.

Moroccan Law No. 60-17 on continuing training treats as continuing training the studies and advice needed to define a company’s training strategy and identify its skills needs, as well as training engineering studies and the drafting of training plans (art. 7). Article 20 gives this work to associations set up by employers’ professional organisations, the GIACs, which act under funding agreements with OFPPT (art. 22). The French text is published on the Adala portal of the Ministry of Justice.

The reference rule comes from the GIAC procedures manual of March 2003 and its amendment No. 1 of 2 June 2014 (in French): 70% of the cost excluding VAT of the strategic study and of training engineering, 80% when the engineering follows a strategic study validated by the GIAC, 100% for sector-wide engineering, up to 100,000 DH per year per company. A training-needs diagnosis linked to a certification project is eligible. For the food industry, the competent GIAC is the food industry GIAC (GIAC Agro). A rate is not an amount: ACG never promises a sum, and the funding is only known once the file has been reviewed. The rules and the simulator are on our CSF and GIAC funding page. The exact scope of your study, the documents required and the deadlines are confirmed with your sector’s GIAC before committing the spend.

Training in the plan may qualify for OFPPT special training contracts (CSF): 70% for planned training delivered by an external provider, 40% for unplanned training, within a ceiling set by the company’s declared vocational training tax. ACG is CSF-eligible and prepares the files; only OFPPT sets the amount reimbursed. Outside Morocco, these schemes do not apply, and the diagnostic is budgeted as a consulting engagement.

What does “The Tech-Enabled Consulting Firm” mean in a transformation engagement?

That every engagement runs on platforms designed for it, without the tool taking the expert’s place. Digital consulting is not automated consulting: the diagnostic, the root-cause analysis and the recommendation remain the work of consultants; the platform keeps track of evidence, deadlines and decisions between two visits.

Every Solvitas product served ACG’s own engagements before it was opened to clients. Normativa keeps the system audit-ready, Inspirra runs the engagement and produces training evidence. OmniLearn and CourseTwin keep the methods taught during the transformation available after the session, with a digital twin and a post-training AI tutor. Anir provides supervised AI agents for drafting, follow-up and reporting. The method does not disappear when the engagement ends.

This approach draws on a firm that has completed 502 projects, trained more than 120,000 people and brings together 32 consultants and experts. ACG is itself ISO 9001 certified for its consulting and training activities. Its founder, Dr Ismail Idrissi, holds a PhD in quality management from Ibn Tofail University and is an IRCA-certified QHSE Lead Auditor and a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt.

How do you prepare for the diagnostic?

By gathering what already exists, without producing anything new. The diagnostic works on your reality: imperfect documents are worth more than a file prepared for the occasion.

• Management’s objectives for the year and the two or three problems seen as priorities.
  
• The organisation chart and job descriptions, even incomplete.
  
• The process map and management system procedures, if they exist.
  
• The dashboards and indicators tracked today, with their sources.
  
• The latest audit reports, the last management review and the list of open actions.
  
• The list of software and spreadsheets in use, and who feeds them.
  
• The current training plan and the skills needs already identified.
  
• The people available for interviews and site visits.
  

To scope a diagnostic for your site or group, describe your project.