Transforming Regulatory and Operational Processes with IBM Blueworks Live
A major government heritage organization sought to modernize and streamline its complex regulatory, permitting, and architectural review workflows. Legacy manual processes were slowing approvals, increasing operational overhead, and creating data inconsistencies that impacted delivery timelines.
By partnering with Nexright and deploying IBM Blueworks Live, the organization captured end-to-end process knowledge, standardized workflows, and established a transparent digital operating model. This resulted in faster approvals, improved accountability, and a scalable foundation for future automation initiatives.
Business challenge
The organization’s operational processes were fragmented across departments—construction approvals, architectural reviews, regulatory compliance checks, and contractor coordination. Most workflows relied on email, spreadsheets, or informal knowledge held by individual staff.
This created major inefficiencies:
Key Challenges:
- Siloed and inconsistent processes that varied by team, region, and project lead.
- Limited visibility into project milestones, delays, and accountability.
- Manual documentation and handoffs, increasing errors and slowing approvals.
- Difficulty adapting processes during COVID-19 due to remote working constraints.
- Inability to scale operations to support multiple simultaneous heritage renovation projects.
The organization needed a structured, cloud-based platform to map, standardize, and optimize all business processes—while enabling rapid onboarding of new teams.
Solution
Nexright implemented IBM Blueworks Live as the central process discovery and documentation platform. Working across technical, regulatory, and field teams, Nexright facilitated collaborative workshops to uncover undocumented processes, map variations, and consolidate best-practice workflows.
Solution Highlights:
- End-to-End Process Mapping
Captured detailed workflows for planning, structural assessments, contractor onboarding, procurement, and approvals. - Standardized Operating Model
Consolidated fragmented procedures into unified, repeatable processes usable across departments. - Rapid Process Redesign
Used Blueworks Live process playbacks to remove bottlenecks, streamline handoffs, and automate manual tasks. - Cross-Team Collaboration
Enabled real-time participation among engineering, compliance, finance, and construction-management teams. - Cloud-Based Process Repository
Provided a single source of truth for all workflows—accessible remotely during COVID-19 disruptions.
Solution components
- IBM Blueworks Live
- IBM Cloud® (Secure hosting and enterprise governance)
- Nexright Process Modernization Framework
Unified Process Repository
Centralized documentation of all operational, regulatory, and construction workflows—ensuring visibility, version control, and process ownership.
Collaborative Process Discovery
Live workshops with SMEs captured tacit knowledge and eliminated inconsistent, undocumented steps.
Rapid Process Simulation & Optimization
Teams could run “what-if” scenarios, identify delays, and optimize workflows before implementation.
Result
- Significantly accelerated workflow approvals, reducing project review cycles and administrative delays.
- Improved cross-team coordination with a shared understanding of responsibilities and timelines.
- Reduced operational errors and rework through standardized process mapping and documentation.
- Maintained uninterrupted operations despite COVID-19 disruptions, thanks to cloud-based collaboration.
- Strengthened compliance oversight across heritage and structural regulatory workflows.
Blueworks Live helped us uncover inconsistent legacy processes and rebuild them into a unified operating model. This clarity transformed our ability to manage complex construction and regulatory workflows. Even through COVID-19 disruptions, the team was able to stay aligned and productive thanks to the platform’s flexibility.
— Program Director, Government Heritage Agency