Target Operating Model (TOM) Methodology

Welcome to the TPC Target Operating Model (TOM) Methodology
The TPC Target Operating Model (TOM) Methodology provides a structured and practical framework for designing the future operating state of your organisation. Whether you are transforming an existing business model or establishing a new one, this methodology guides you step-by-step through defining the key components that together form your TOM.

What Is the TPC TOM Methodology?
A Target Operating Model (TOM) isn’t just a tool for analysts it’s a strategic framework for leaders to shape how their organisation will operate in the future. The TPC Target Operating Model helps leaders drive clarity, alignment, and measurable progress across every function, guiding your transformation from the ground up.

Every transformation programme, whether focused on operations, technology, finance, HR, or customer experience faces the same challenge: defining the future state and ensuring it works for your organisation. The TPC TOM gives you a clear starting point, helping you envision what’s possible, validate your direction, and structure your transformation journey.

The early stages of any transformation have the greatest influence on success. This is when vision, priorities, and direction are set. The TPC TOM empowers business leaders to make informed decisions by breaking the organisation into 12 core components:

1. Tools: Systems, software, equipment, or physical resources that support your operations.
2. Policies: Rules, guidelines, and principles that govern how your organisation operates.
3. Processes: End-to-end workflows that define how work is carried out to achieve outcomes.
4. Procedures: Step-by-step instructions that ensure tasks are performed consistently and correctly.
5. Data & Reporting: Information, metrics, and reporting mechanisms used to monitor and guide performance.
6. Organisation & Governance: Structure, roles, responsibilities, and decision-making frameworks within your organisation.
7. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs): Metrics used to measure success and track progress toward objectives.
8. Financials: Budgeting, cost management, and financial planning that support operational decisions.
9. Customers: The individuals or organisations that receive or interact with your products or services.
10. Suppliers: External partners or vendors that provide goods, services, or resources to your organisation.
11. Products: Tangible or digital items your organisation creates or delivers to customers.
12. Services: Activities or support provided to deliver value to customers or stakeholders.

Each component can be defined and developed through progressive maturity levels, allowing you to build your operating model layer by layer.

Traditional target operating models often focus narrowly on people, process, and technology missing critical aspects such as governance, data, and customer impact. The TPC TOM model expands this view, providing a holistic, integrated framework that captures the full complexity of how your organisation operates and evolves.

Each of the 12 components contains structured guidance and examples, helping you identify potential improvements, assess maturity, and define deliverables. These pre-defined elements act as solution accelerators, allowing you to quickly map your current state, visualise your future state, and understand the cost, benefit, and effort required to get there.

The TPC Target Operating Model doesn’t just help you design the future it helps you build confidence in your transformation, ensuring every improvement contributes to a cohesive, measurable, and achievable end state.

How It Works
Designing your TOM is an iterative and guided process. Using the methodology, you can progressively define, assess, and build each component to align with your organisation’s desired future state.

Maturity Levels
Each component starts from an initial state and progresses through a series of defined maturity stages. By selecting a maturity level, you establish the target state you want that component to reach. This approach creates a clear, structured roadmap for transformation, enabling you to build your TOM step by step, advancing each component through its maturity journey.

By building each component through defined maturity stages, you can plan and deliver transformation in manageable, measurable steps:

Operating Level 1 – Initial: Ad-hoc and unstructured operations.
Operating Level 2 – Developing: Basic structure emerging with limited consistency.
Operating Level 3 – Managed: Well-defined, standardised, and measurable processes.
Operating Level 4 – Optimised: Fully integrated, automated, and continuously improving operations.

This approach enables you to build your TOM progressively, ensuring each stage of maturity adds measurable value and brings your organisation closer to its final, optimised state.

The following steps guide you through each of the twelve TOM components, helping you define maturity levels, build a high-level business case, and visualise a clear roadmap towards operational excellence.

Step 1: Select the TOM component
Choose the first component of your TOM that you wish to design by selecting from the image at the top left of this page. This might relate to a specific business function, service line, or transformation initiative.

Step 2: Add a TOM Deliverable
Click ‘Add a TOM Deliverable’ to open the deliverable setup window. A pop-up will appear with a series of guided questions to help you create and define your new deliverable item as described below:

Deliverable
Use the dropdown menu to choose from the list of suggested deliverables associated with your selected TOM Component. The TOM model provides an initial library of common deliverables to help you get started — for example, standard documents, frameworks, or process changes typically used within that component.
If none of the listed options meet your specific requirements, simply click the ‘+’ button to create your own custom deliverable. This flexibility allows you to tailor the model precisely to your organisation’s needs.

After selecting or creating your deliverable, complete the remaining fields to define it fully:
● Description: Provide a clear overview of the deliverable — what it is, what it aims to achieve, and its relevance to the component.
● Improvement Level : Choose whether this deliverable is a new build or a major, medium, or small improvement to an existing component.
● Maturity Level: Select the maturity level (1–4) that this deliverable supports within the TOM framework.
● Department: Identify which department or team is responsible for delivering this item.
● Cost: Enter an estimated cost to deliver this component or initiative.

High-level business case
To help prioritise deliverables and demonstrate the value of your transformation, you can define a high-level business case for each deliverable. This provides clarity on why the deliverable is important, what benefits it is expected to deliver, and helps guide investment decisions across your TOM transformation.
The TOM model guides you through a set of common benefit categories and qualitative measures to consider when building your business case. For each deliverable, you can select one or more of the following:

● Increase Revenue: Drive new income streams or boost sales from existing operations.
● Cost Savings: Reduce operational or overhead costs.
● Attract New Customers: Expand your customer base.
● Increase Customer Retention: Strengthen loyalty and keep existing customers engaged.
● Increase Repeat Business: Encourage more frequent purchases or interactions.
● Time Saving: Streamline processes to free up resources and reduce cycle times.
● Improve Reputation / Brand Image: Enhance your organisation’s public perception.
● Compliance: Ensure alignment with regulatory, legal, or industry standards.
● Risk Reduction: Minimise operational, financial, or reputational risks.

This high-level business case aggregates across all deliverables, giving you a clear view of the overall value, cost, and prioritisation of your TOM transformation initiatives.

Step 3: Select your next TOM component to define
After defining all deliverables and their corresponding maturity levels for the current TOM component, proceed to the next component and repeat the process.

Step 4: Review your TOM
Once you have completed the definitions for your selected components, click the center of the TOM model to return to the overview. From here, you can view your entire TOM, explore it by individual maturity levels, and review a summary of costs and benefits.

Why Use the TPC TOM Methodology?
● Structured Design: Simplifies complex organisational change into clearly defined components.
● Customisable Framework: Adaptable to any industry, business size, or transformation scope.
● Maturity-Based Approach: Enables phased implementation and continuous improvement.
● Integrated Financial View: Links design decisions directly to investment and benefit outcomes.
● Clear Accountability: Aligns ownership and responsibility across departments.

Start Designing Your Target Operating Model
Begin your TOM journey today. Navigate through each of the twelve components, define your maturity targets, build your business case, and visualise your organisation’s roadmap to operational excellence. The TPC TOM Methodology provides the clarity, structure, and insights you need to transform vision into reality.

For further information and support please contact us, Tel: 01202 280109, Email: info@totalprogrammecontrol.com


	Initial Not performing to defined measures	Managed Starting to perform in some area’s but requires high level of managing to keep on track	Established Performing in all area’s to defined measures. High level of management still required	Predictable Performing in all area’s to defined measures. Self organized no longer requiring high level of management	All Show all maturity levels combined