5 proven ways to drive continuous improvement

1Automating processes and gaining greater insights with Quick Base

5 Proven Ways to DriveContinuous ImprovementA practical guide to lowering operating costs, increasing efficiency, and improving customer satisfaction through process improvement


Introduction 3

It doesn’t have to be this way 3

Process Improvement: Maximizing Performance 4

Quick Win #1: OSF HealthCare 5

Process Improvement: Increasing Efficiency 6

Quick Win #2: Sun Paper Company 7

Process Improvement: Rapidly Adapting to Change 8

Quick Win # 3: Henry Ford Allegiance Health 9

Process Improvement: Centralizing Control 10

Quick Win #4: Lighthouse Electric Company, Inc. 11

Process Improvement: Non-stop Production 12

Quick Win #5 PSG 13

Your Own Quick Win: How to Get Started 14

About Quick Base 15

Contents


Introduction

Process is the lifeblood of every business, and yet too many organizations suffer from processes that

are inefficient and unsustainable. Whether your organization is stuck navigating a snarl of unwieldy

spreadsheets and emails or painstakingly customizing large, complex systems with part-time support

from overworked technical teams, the result is the same: a bogged-down business with frustrated

employees, customers, and shareholders.

It doesn’t have to be this way

Creating and sustaining efficient business processes requires expert planning and design, but also

supporting technologies to keep work moving across the entire process. In this eBook, we’ll show you

how five different organizations transformed previously disparate tasks and workflows into a seamless

process with all the benefits—at a fraction of the cost or time commitment—of customizing legacy

business applications.

Each organization featured in this eBook used Quick Base, an online platform that empowers process

professionals to build and deploy their own technology solutions, to not only solve immediate

problems but also foster a culture of continuous improvement.

Read on to see what these companies have accomplished and get their tips and advice to help you and your team get better every day.

40% of process professionals say their top challenge is “Linking process improvement with top level business strategy.” The second-highest percentage response (30%) was “Sustaining change.”

*Source: The PEX Report 2018

8% of process professionals rate the success of their process excellence program as a 9 or 10 out of 10.

*Source: The PEX Report 2018

4

Process Improvement: Maximizing Performance


“We make decisions based on our mission to serve with the greatest care and love, and Quick Base helps us do that.”

- Tim Gullett, PMO Program Manager, OSF HealthCare (SixSigma, Change Management, Project Management, and Lean methodology expert)

“Our roots date back to the late 1800s when The Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis [OSF] began

their ministry of service within the Peoria, Illinois community. We’ve since become a major healthcare

system serving nearly three million people across Illinois and Michigan. We’re supported by nearly

21,000 Mission Partners in 124 locations. That includes 13 hospitals, 18 urgent care locations, 11 centers

for health, and two colleges of nursing.

To improve efficiency, lower costs, and deliver the highest quality care possible, we needed more

visibility into all our performance improvement initiatives—across systems and at local and regional

levels. Our ministry leaders are accountable for executing on our strategies, so accessing deeper insight

about those initiatives, and the impact each one has on our results, is critical. Spreadsheets were too

limited and point solutions were too inflexible to give us the capabilities we required.”

Business Impact:

• Dramatic reduction in the time required to perform data analysis on programs — from weeks to minutes

• Quick Base applications now enable ministry leaders to track and analyze milestones, deliverables, and outcomes across OSF’s entire portfolio of performance improvement programs.

• Built-in dashboards and reports provide access to everything from time tracking and resource availability to skills alignment and training in real time.

• Better collaboration facilitates faster, more agile decision making which helps drive continuously improved standards of patient care.

Tim’s Advice: “If you’re under a tight deadline like we were, Quick Base is definitely the way to go. We had just 60 days to create a solution to provide transparency and tracking for accountable care organization work efforts, which included improving collaboration across organizational leaders and partners. We met the deadline with room to spare. Without a solution like Quick Base, it would have taken a lot longer or we would have had to resort to a time-consuming manual tracking system.”

Quick Win #1:OSF HealthCare

6Automating processes and gaining greater insights with Quick Base 6

Process Improvement: Increasing Efficiency


“We have a real-time view of “With Quick Base we’re empowered to produce more, ship more, and supply a larger customer base—and that’s great for business.”

- Daniel Salgado, IT Director and Manager of Production Planning, Sun Paper Company

“We’re a family-owned and operated manufacturer producing toilet paper, facial tissue, paper towels,

and napkins for national retailers. We specialize in sustainable, high quality green products.

Fast growth was putting a lot of pressure on our existing logistics processes—especially after we opened

a new manufacturing facility. We were manually entering shipping orders using Excel sheets and faxing

them to our carriers; and we used Excel to manage our carriers, freight rates, and schedules. To grow

unimpeded, we needed an easier, less time-consuming way to handle shipping and receiving.”

Business Impact:

• With Quick Base, Sun Paper Company can model new processes and automations faster than hard-coding from scratch or adding lines of code to a point solution.

• Mobile-ready applications mean project managers, floor workers, and drivers can easily access and update critical process information at any time.

• Shipping orders automatically include data synched from the company’s ERP system, and pertinent information, alerts, and notifications are all visible on interactive, role-based dashboards for freight management and scheduling that’s fast and easy.

• Automated and improved processes in other areas of the business, such as production, enable users to easily share plans & calendars, track performance, view material requirements, and schedule machine maintenance. In HR, everything from onboarding to evaluations and assigning safety gear are streamlined. A “Guest Log” app effortlessly tracks arrivals and departures.

Daniel’s Advice: “Quick Base is perfect for small to medium-sized businesses who wish to limit

their IT budget, but still implement cutting-edge technology to improve workflow and grow and

adapt quickly. It allows you to replace Excel with a robust, functional database without breaking the

bank. And you don’t have to be a professional coder to quickly create the app a user might need.”

Quick Win #2:Sun PaperCompany


Process Improvement: Rapidly Adapting to Change


“The Clinically Integrated Network is so emergent—it’s evolving every day and has real-life implications as to how our information system is laid out. That’s why it’s such a good use case for an easily modifiable platform like Quick Base.”

- Megan Albertson, Population Impact Project Manager, Henry Ford Allegiance Health

“I was hired by Henry Ford Allegiance Health [HFAH], a 475-bed community hospital in Jackson Michigan, to help it and its newly formed subsidiary, Jackson Health Network, drive industry-led healthcare reform. JHN was created as one of the state’s first Clinically Integrated Networks [CINs], and its mission was to help HFAH and its affiliates transition from fee-for-service payments to value-based reimbursement.

Before Quick Base, there was no way for us to store the three-dimensional data we required about physician membership. We couldn’t calculate provider scores or track which providers were getting paid where. We would literally be at audit with an independent auditor paying out a million dollars, and it would take us hours to find and pull the supplemental data he requested. Those were heady days filled with a lot of stress.”

Business Impact:

• Quick Base provided a platform for Albertson to quickly build a suite of connected applications to support the entire organization’s day-to-day operations and improve overall patient outcomes.

• The ability to analyze physician performance data in one place enables the team to identify and engage patient populations that are not receiving the recommended preventative care.

• Dynamic provider rosters and quarterly scorecards encompassing 60+ metrics for 400 members enable JHN to see the provider data they need at-a-glance.

• Quality-based provider payments are automatically tracked across multiple payor contracts to members’ clinics and offices, reducing processing errors and simplifying auditing.

• Targets for preventative healthcare measures (such as high-risk cardiac patients) can be quickly set up and adjusted per evidence-based research and payer requirements, helping physicians meet criteria for reimbursement.

• Physician performance data is easily collected in the field by JHN staff using mobile devices and then analyzed within the app to ensure care thresholds are met.

Megan’s Advice: “The scale of systems adaptation that is required by healthcare reform necessitates a tool that enables you to freely build, adjust, and modify in step with all the changes taking placing. And when you find a tool like Quick Base—one that helps you meet a need you value for people that you care about—the work becomes very empowering and impactful.”

Quick Win #3:Henry Ford Allegiance Health


Process Improvement: Centralizing Control


“I think the epiphany comes where in three clicks, you can understand the entire health of an organization and job—just digging into how many tools are on site, inventory, and everything else that we offer.”

- Robert Salaj, Director of Operational Excellence, Lighthouse Electric Company, Inc.

Quick Win #4:Lighthouse Electric Company, Inc.

“Lighthouse Electric is one of the largest electrical contract companies in the greater Pittsburgh Pennsylvania region, and we’ve built a solid reputation for handling some of the most challenging electrical and technology design & construction projects in the region.

We have a new prefabrication division that now designs and puts together kits and sub-assemblies that are shipped out to construction sites. To maximize efficiency, we needed to replace spreadsheets, documents, and emails between field, design, and manufacturing teams with a centralized control system. We also needed a better handle on tool inventory to simplify rentals and oversee preventative maintenance.

Instead of going out and buying expensive manufacturing, production control, and asset tracking software that would be hard to adapt to our processes or waiting for IT to create a traditionally coded solution, we opted to build our own custom tools with Quick Base.”

Business Impact:

• Automatic updates on orders, designs, and manufacturing status are accessible from real-time dashboards; programmed alerts and notifications enable seamless hand-offs for better and faster design and production processes and consistent on-time deliveries.

• A Quick Base tool rental system turns back and forth calls and physically checking on warehouse tools availability into a seamless process. Orders are now filled out in the field and automatically entered into the system. Fulfillment is coordinated much more efficiently with less work now that there is full visibility into the availability, location, and maintenance status of rental tools.

• Quick Base has since fueled the development of over 20 enterprise-wide process improving solutions. They enable users to work together and keep close tabs on projects—from inception to close—for the best possible outcomes.

Bob’s Advice: “I see Quick Base as a tool for the lean department. Instead of having an Excel

spreadsheet being saved multiple times, dealing with SQL, or bringing in a new BI tool, you can

use this technology to prototype exactly what you want without having to get IT involved or know

software engineering. And seeing those process improvement changes happen quicker under your

hand is the best thing.”


Process Improvement: Non-stop Production


“With Quick Base we’re certifying more parts faster, with the same number of people, and nothing falls through the cracks. It plays an important role in helping us manufacture quality pumps delivered on time.”

- Derek Hutchinson, Quality Engineer, PSG, a Dover Company

Quick Win #5:PSG

“PSG (part of Dover Corporation) designs and manufactures pumps, compressors, and accessories that transfer liquid and gas products for commercial, military, and marine markets. About half of our company’s product offerings are produced on site and the rest are sourced through various vendors.

To ensure critical components are always available we executed a ‘dual-sourcing’ program. Within a year the initiative expanded from 20 to 30 dual-sourced parts to several hundred—all from different suppliers—and each had to go through a stringent, multi-step production part approval process. The ability to keep pace just wasn’t happening with spreadsheets and email, and we started seeing inconsistent records. That’s when a colleague introduced us to Quick Base to help us speed up the process and make it more accurate by automating it.”

Business Impact:

• Reduced pre-production approval process from 110 days to 14 days, while supporting a 4X

increase in approvals with no additional headcount.

• Users can easily track the parts approval process, monitor pricing variances, manage the

number of active submissions and shipment dates, and import new data sources, such as

those from the company’s global ERP system.

• Process standardization drives consistency and quality assurance in the way part approvals,

rejections, testing, and validation happen across all involved teams. Automated alerts and

notifications make it easy to collaborate internally and with suppliers.

• Authorizations happen faster with deeper visibility into the parts approval process backed by

tools such as a Quick Base issue log for tracking and resolving open items.

• High level project reviews enable project managers to view the approval status of dozens of

parts associated with a specific project.


Your Own Quick Win:How to Get Started These five case studies illustrate that regardless of industry or methodology, many

companies struggle with process improvement because they lack the right technology

tools to effectively implement their ideas. Personal productivity tools like Microsoft Excel

falter under the complexity of process improvement, while monolithic point solutions are

too difficult to customize without heavy investments of time and resources.

Thousands of organizations have turned to Quick Base to solve this exact problem. Quick

Base gives any organization a powerful tool for consolidating information and insights,

connecting their process improvement programs to high-level business strategy, and

fostering a culture of continuous improvement.

With Quick Base, any organization can:

• Quickly prototype and deploy applications to support their exactprocesses in days

• Adapt instantaneously to change at no additional cost or complexity

• Scale massively to support highly-complex processes

Overall, Quick Base empowers those closest to the work to make small improvements every

day — delivering lower costs, increased productivity, and a better customer experience.

Are you ready to see what Quick Base powered process improvement can do

for your business?

Speak to a Solutions Consultant

https://lp.quickbase.com/SpeakWithaConsultant.html?utm_source=ebook&utm_medium=ebook&utm_campaign=Process-Improvement-2019&utm_term=Process-Improvement-Quick-Wins-2019&cat=BPM

Quick Base provides a cloud-based platform that empowers problem solvers to quickly turn ideas for better ways to work into apps that make their organizations more efficient. For nearly 20 years, people of all technical backgrounds have been using the Quick Base platform to create solutions that streamline processes, capture real-time data, and improve company operations, all while working in concert with existing IT systems. Based in Cambridge, MA and a former division of Intuit, Quick Base has a 6,000+ customer universe of app-enabled businesses that spans all industries and company sizes and includes half of the Fortune 100.

To learn more, visit: www.QuickBase.com

About Quick Base

5 proven ways to drive continuous improvement

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