Operating Model
Designing a CAO Operating Model
A CAO operating model clarifies how administrative services are delivered, who owns decisions, and how execution stays on track. This guide lays out a practical model that scales with organizational complexity.
Framework
Core pillars of a CAO operating model
Use these pillars to align administrative services with enterprise strategy.
Shared services
Define which services are centralized and how they support business units.
Decision rights
Clarify who owns approvals, budgets, and service policy decisions.
Governance cadence
Set weekly and monthly operating forums to track service delivery.
Metrics and SLAs
Establish service-level measures, cost transparency, and stakeholder reporting.
Design
Operating model design steps
Follow these steps to build a model that is practical, measurable, and aligned.
Assess and map
- Inventory current services and delivery teams.
- Identify duplication and gaps in accountability.
- Map stakeholder pain points and bottlenecks.
Design and govern
- Publish a service catalog and ownership matrix.
- Create governance forums and decision rights.
- Define service metrics and reporting cadence.
Deliver and improve
- Implement service-level agreements and feedback loops.
- Track performance metrics and cost-to-serve.
- Iterate quarterly based on data and stakeholder input.
Enable digitally
- Modernize systems that support service delivery.
- Automate workflows to reduce cycle times.
- Use dashboards for enterprise-level visibility.
Use the operating model toolkit
Download templates and build a clear administrative structure.
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