Documenting and Evaluating 'As Is' Business Processes

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Process analysis and process improvement are never complete until they are documented and evaluated systematically. The first step is an "as is" analysis, which presents the current levels of service. The next is the "to be" analysis, which defines the process as it should be. Documentation must set forth the competitive priorities, operations strategy, process choices and other major process decisions that include deviations from norms and standards. Inputs, outputs and customers of the process all must be identified. Quality, customer satisfaction, throughput time, cost, errors, safety, environmental measures, on time delivery, and flexibility all should be included in tabulating the performance metrics.

Documentation and Evaluation of Process Design Lifecycle

All of these process design documentation issues resolve into six major questions that the process documentation manager must ask:

1. What is being done?
2. When is it being done?
3. Who is doing it?
4. Where is it being done?
5. How is it being done?
6. How well it is being done?

Once the answers to these questions are in place, to the next question becomes the "why" for all the answers. Why is the process being done? Why is it being done where it is being done? And so on, until the process documentation manager has documented all of the creative breakthroughs in the process design. Documentation and evaluation of processes typically follow a four-stage life cycle:

1. The documentation of the process design (i.e., the "as is" and the "to be")
2. The review process
3. The editing process
4. The production evaluation process.

Process Design Documentation and Evaluation Techniques

Flow charts, process charts and simulation techniques are used in the initial stages of process documentation.

Flow Charts

The flow chart (or diagram) traces the flow of information, customers, employees, equipment or materials through a process. The form is typically a series of boxes, lines and arrows setting forth normal flows and alternatives or deviations from norms. A flow chart can look like the picture below:

Process Charts

A process chart systematically records the activities performed by a person, customer, machine or workstation. Process charts typically record operations that change, add or create some value. Examples include transportation information on the movement of human and equipment resources; inspection details or verification checks of a process; and delay or storage information. The different actions performed are characterized from the perspective of the activity being charted. Existing processes can be charted and recorded accurately on all the previously mentioned parameters. New processes must be designed and charted at a very high-level template and then fine tuned and benchmarked when the process is actually implemented on the shop floor.

Simulation Models

Simulation models reproduce the behavior of a process in a synthetically created environment. These models are used to explore the impact of performance measures on a process and can include response or waiting time or resource utilization measures. The goal of these models is to improve process performance and pinpoint bottlenecks that can lead to poor performance of a process model.

Using Documentation to Evaluate Processes

Specific tasks that require flow charting, process charting or simulation involve the creation of work breakdown structures (WBS). In WBSs, major work components are identified with the help of teams implementing an existing process or with the team designing the process. Each task must be categorized into hierarchies of activities that are then defined as the smallest unit of work related to a task or activity owner. The document then treats each of these activities as interrelatable and represents them in a network diagram.

The network diagram is a series of nodes (circles), arcs (arrows) displaying the relationships between the various activities. PERT (Program Evaluation and Review Technique) and CPM (Critical Path Method) are two methods developed for recording, analyzing and studying the relationships between activities; the time frame for completion of projects; the activities that are crucial for the completion of the process; and the cost implications of the process. These methods also help the process documentation manager clearly define the precedence relationships in processes and project schedules for the processes. Risk analysis can then be implemented to measure the probability -- and consequence -- of not reaching the defined process goal. The risk management plan documentation emerges from this exercise.

Conclusion

Documentation and evaluation of processes covers the gamut of activities ranging from creation of a process design to the evaluation and reporting on the performance of the design. The role of the process documentation manager is closely allied with that of the quality control manager and is an extremely important one. He or she is the knowledge repository of the organization and the source of information for the day-to-day working of processes, providing vital statistics required for process evaluation to process owners and process teams on the shop floor. Lack of documentation implies performance and quality loss, not to mention insufficient information for process improvement. In the long run, failing to document and evaluate processes carefully and thoroughly will result in decreased customer satisfaction, less productivity, and ultimately loss of business.