Roles

It is best to start with people who are experienced in program management, project management, and training: folks who have been part of other successful change initiatives. It is also important for them to have some context for the service and support business.

While there are numerous roles described in the KCS Center of Excellence, each role is not necessarily an individual.  That is: one person may take on multiple roles.

Key roles include:

• Global KCS Program Manager:  KCS champion or evangelist, chief marketing officer for KCS.
• Project Manager: Someone to look after the details of scheduling and tracking the status of dependencies, open issues, and key milestones. Depending on the size and diversity of the organization, there may be multiple Project Managers.
• KCS Trainer(s):  An experienced trainer, ideally who has been certified as a KCS Trainer, who can deliver KCS training to the line managers, support analysts, and KCS coaches.
• Lead KCS Coach: A person to coach and coordinate the KCS Coaches. Ideally this person is KCS v6 Practices Certified. They conduct training, coach the coaches, and coordinate ongoing coaching activities. This person needs to have a deep understanding of KCS and coaching techniques, and act as leader and advocate for the KCS Coaches within the organization.
• KCS Architect/Auditor(s): The KCS Architect/Auditor needs to have a deep understanding of KCS and the support processes and tools being used in the support organization. Ideally this person is KCS v6 Practices Certified. They will facilitate KCS assessments and design sessions as organizations begin the KCS journey.  As the organizations mature, the KCS Architect/Auditor will conduct KCS audits to assess and provide feedback on compliance to the KCS program as well as analyze results achieved. They require both analytic and influence skills.  
• Business Analyst: The Business Analyst provides data to support KCS adoption planning, in particular helping to identify high value/high impact areas of the business whose adoption of KCS would create the greatest benefit. They assist in defining the measurements framework during the design session(s) and they are responsible for implementing the data capture and reporting capabilities. The Business Analyst works closely with IT and must have an understanding of the intent of KCS metrics, data extracts, data warehousing, and reporting tools. Operations research and data analytic skills and experience are very helpful in this role.