INIT-2026-04 Onboarding cycle-time reduction

7 min

⚠️ Problem statement

The median intermediary onboarding cycle time is 14 working days against a 10-day target; the P90 is 31 days.

ℹ️ Operational context

This charter reflects a live improvement scenario reviewed through the monthly operational governance forum and linked to formal onboarding performance controls.

🧭 Improvement workflow

Review onboarding performance trend data.

Validate root causes through file analysis.

Implement agreed operational countermeasures.

Update onboarding SOPs and control checkpoints.

Re-measure cycle-time performance and confirm sustainment.

📊 Background and evidence

Three consecutive scorecard months amber. The KPI definition (see KPI definition: Intermediary onboarding cycle time) excludes applicant wait time, confirming the gap is internal operational processing.

🎯 Baseline and target

	Measure	Value	As at
Baseline	Median cycle time	14 wd	2026-06
Target	Median cycle time	≤ 10 wd	2026-10

🔎 Root cause analysis

5-why analysis conducted on the 10 slowest June files.

flowchart TD
  A[14 wd median] --> B[Files wait 4-6 wd at compliance verification]
  B --> C[Screening tool batch runs twice weekly]
  C --> D[Licence bought per-seat, batch mode saves seats]
  A --> E[Second reviewer assigned ad hoc]
  E --> F[No reviewer rota]

Verified causes: screening batch cadence (4.2 wd average wait) and missing four-eyes rota (1.8 wd average wait).

🛠️ Countermeasures

Countermeasure	Addresses cause	Owner	Date
Daily screening batch window	Batch cadence	Compliance Ops	2026-09-01
Weekly second-reviewer rota in team calendar	Missing rota	Distribution Ops Manager	2026-08-25

🧾 Standardisation plan

Update SOP: Reviewing intermediary applications step 4 (screening turnaround expectation) and the Onboarding checklist stage 2 notes.

✅ Verification

Re-read median for the 2026-10 cohort at the November operational governance review.

Charter owner: Distribution Operations Manager · Sponsor: Head of Distribution · Forum approval: 2026-07-14