[Case Study] Documenting Operations for Cross-Border Transportation Success in Vietnam
- Hieu Do
- 15 hours ago
- 3 min read
Introduction
Client's Company, a foreign direct investment (FDI) cross-border transportation company in Vietnam with fewer than 50 employees, faced challenges following a change in top management. The new management struggled to fully understand the local team’s operations due to language barriers, time constraints, cultural gaps, and limited experience with Customer Service and local practices. These issues hindered effective communication with the local team.
To stay competitive and align with market practices, they sought simple, clear documentation that all employees could understand and follow, enabling strict process adherence and execution tracking.
Their primary goal was to establish a clear foundation of current operations before pursuing further improvements or redesign.
Problem
Client's Company faced operational inefficiencies rooted in legacy practices, including:
Disorganized Order Flow: The order process, managed by Customer Service, Office Admin, and Finance, was chaotic, making it difficult for new management to oversee quality and execution.
Reliance on Key Personnel: Operations depended heavily on one or two long-tenured employees who followed personal practices instead of documented processes. These individuals, with strong partner and stakeholder relationships, handled multiple roles—order booking, third-party coordination, aftersales support, and payment follow-ups—often working weekends and overtime.
Inadequate Training: New employees struggled to learn processes, as training was informal and provided by busy key personnel, forcing newcomers to learn by observation.
Inconsistent Data Entry: Order bookings were recorded inconsistently, sometimes in the system and sometimes in separate Excel sheets, causing errors and inefficiencies.
Operational Impact: These issues led to poor quality control, reduced performance, and hindered the company’s expansion plans.
Action
SOSP Consulting Group partnered with Client's Company to document current operations through a structured four-phase approach, leveraging our unique trilingual expertise (English, Vietnamese, Mandarin) to deliver accessible documentation,
1. Preparation
Defined Objectives: Established goals for process documentation, focusing on clarity, consistency, and trackability, with success measured by accurate representation of current practices.
Identified Key Processes: Targeted the “Order to Delivery” process and sub-processes (Order Booking, Third-Party Booking, Delivery, Invoicing) for documentation.
Stakeholder Roles: Created a RACI matrix to clarify responsibilities for process owners, subject matter experts, and team members.
Audience Specification: Determined that process maps and SOPs should be simple, visual, and trilingual (English, Vietnamese, Mandarin) to accommodate foreign management and local staff.
2. Gathering Information
Data Collection: Analyzed data from existing systems, manual reports, and physical documents to capture current workflows.
Process Observation: Shadowed operations physically and digitally to document real-time practices.
Stakeholder Interviews: Conducted one-on-one interviews with key personnel to clarify their practices and gather feedback.
Input-Output Analysis: Identified resources required for each process and documented expected outcomes.
3. Process Mapping and Visualization
Created Process Maps: Documented the “Order to Delivery” process map, validated with stakeholders to ensure accuracy.
Sub-Process Documentation: Documented existing sub-processes (Order Booking, Third-Party Booking, Delivery, Invoicing) in detailed flowcharts, ensuring alignment with the main process.
Role and Time Mapping: Assigned roles and recorded estimated handling times for each process step to reflect current practices.
Final Validation: Reviewed maps with subject matter experts to confirm they accurately represented existing operations.
4. Reporting
Documented Deliverables: Produced clear, visual process maps and SOPs for all processes, formatted in trilingual (English, Vietnamese, Mandarin) documents for accessibility.
Summary Video: Created a short video summarizing the process maps, enabling management to understand and revisit the documentation whenever needed, independent of a single presentation.
Presented Findings & Recommendations for future improvements.
Results
The engagement with SOSP Consulting Group delivered significant outcomes for Client's Company:
Enhanced Communication: Trilingual documentation bridged language and cultural gaps between foreign management and the local team, ensuring clarity across all levels.
Operational Transparency: Management gained a comprehensive understanding of current operations, establishing a solid foundation for future planning, restructuring, or redesign.
Foundation for Growth: Accurate documentation of existing processes positioned the company to pursue expansion plans with a clear operational baseline.
Struggling with operational inefficiencies?
If unclear processes are holding your organization back, you’re not alone.
Like our Client’s Company, you can build a foundation for growth with clear, documented operations.
Our free consultation helps you identify and address inefficiencies, turning challenges into opportunities for streamlined logistics.
Schedule your free consultation today.
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CONTACT SOSP Consulting Group
🏢 Rep Office: 17th floor, Vincom Center Buildings, 72 Le Thanh Ton Street, Ben Nghe Ward, District 1, HCMC, VN
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