process documentation & improvement ebook

R a h u l D e o d h a r

RahulDeodharIn a lot of workplaces, particularly offices, the processes involved are not documented.Therefore,bestpracticesaredifficulttoidentifyandfoster.Thisebookprovidesastep‐by‐stepapproachtodocumentandthereafterimprovetheprocessesatworkplace.

Aug09

ProcessDocumentation&Improvement

ProcessDocumentationandImprovementEbook

©RahulDeodhar2009www.rahuldeodhar.com

IntroductionFactory floors of large companies are embodiment of best allocationof peopleandresourcesworkingatoptimumlevelsonaconsistentbasis.Yet,officesoftenlack the same regimen. They aremore people‐centric andwork processes aremoread‐hoc.Someof thepeopleandresourceorganisationtechniquesused infactorieshavebeentailoredforofficeuse.OfficeTPMand5Shavetransformedsome cabins. The work‐processes, however, do not seem to get the sameattention.

InmyworklifeIhaveattemptedtoidentifyanddocumenttheprocesses.EarlyattemptswereadhocandledtodevelopmentofastrategyIoutlinebelow.Iusedthisdocumentedstrategy,modifiedversionsactually, to identifyandthereafterimprove office processes. The processes in questionwere oftenmundane likeemails to interested prospective clients, or ignored like process for selectingdealers. In the three offices I have attempted these two were spectacularlysuccessful.Intheothercasetheprocessesweredocumentedbutnotimproved,apartsuccess.

Withoutfurtherado,letmesharewithyoutheprocessitself.

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ObjectiveThe objective of this process is to assist the team in mapping the processeseffectively.Thisprocesslistsoutwaysandmeanstoexplore,probethecurrentpracticesprevalentintheteam,andeffectivelydocumentthese.

ProcessDetailsItem DetailsProcessName ProcessDocumentationProcessProcessOwner PersondrivingthisactivityProcessApprover TeamleaderordecisionmakerValidationDetails

DateofImplementation DateofExpiry DateofModification

DetailsofModificationItem ModificationDetails



DefinitionsFollowingaresomeoftheimportantdefinitionsusedinthisdocument:

ProcessProcessisdefinedas:

• Humanactivitiesusedtocreate, invent,design, transform,produce,control,maintain,anduseproductsorsystems.

• A systematic sequence of actions that combines resources to produce anoutput.

• Agroupofbusinessactivitiesundertakenbyanorganisationinpursuitofacommongoal.

Typicalbusinessprocesses includereceivingorders,marketingservices,sellingproducts, delivering services, distributing products, invoicing for services,accountingformoneyreceived.

Abusinessprocessusuallydependsuponseveralbusinessfunctionsforsupport,e.g. IT, personnel, accommodation. A business process rarely operates inisolation, i.e. other business processeswill depend on it and itwill depend onotherprocesses

ExecutorExecutor is the person who is actually following the process to achieve theobjectiveof theprocess.Fora typical ‘writerenewal letter’process thepersonwhoiswritingtheletterwillbe“executor”.

PlayersPlayers are people who are involved in the execution but who are not theexecutors of the process. They are not directly achieving the objectives of theprocess.Toachievehisobjective“Executor”takeshelpfrom“Players”.

ResourcesResourcesrefertothoseresourcesthatthe“executor”andthe“players”useforexecutingtheprocess.Thesecouldbedatabases,templates,standarddocumentsetc.Thiswillhelpusarriveat theresources list thatweneed tokeepupdatedanduseeffectivelytoachievethebestresultfortheprocesses.



TriggersTheprocesswillbetriggeredinthefollowinginstances:

1. Whenevertheteamundertakesanewresponsibilityheretonotmappedornotincorporatedwithintheprocessframework.

2. Wheneverabreak‐throughdevelopmenttakesplacewithintheteam.



Procedure

1. Startwiththetemplate.

1.1. Thetemplateisavailablein(locationoncompanyintranet).

2. Define Objective: Define clearly what the objective of that process is. In

other words, please identify what the process will achieve if followed

correctly.

2.1. Pleaseconsulttheteamleaderifyouhaveanyproblemsindefiningthe

objectiveoftheprocess.

2.2. Oncetheobjectiveoftheprocessisclear,pleasenametheprocessusing

anactionstatement.

3. ProcessDetails:EntertheProcessDetailsasrequired.

3.1. ValidationDetailswillbefilledinoncethedocumentationiscomplete.

3.2. TheProcessImplementationDatewillbefilledinlast.

3.3. TheProcessValidityneedstobedecidedbytheGroupwhentheProcess

mapispresented.

4. ListGeneralSteps:Writeoutthebroadstepsweusuallytakeintheprocess.

4.1. Pleasenotethatwedocumentthe“followed”processandnotthe“ideal”

process.

5. PreliminaryResearch:

5.1. Takeinputsfromotherteamsacrossthecompanyifrequired.

5.2. Uselibraryresources.

5.3. Interactionswithteammembers.

6. AsIsProcessMapping:Understandingwhatprocessisfollowed

6.1. Basedon thebroad stepsdesignaquestionnaire tobeadministered to

theteammembers.Thequestionnaireshould:

6.1.1. Identifythestepsthatotherteammembersfollow.

6.1.2. Probefor“sub‐steps”ineachstepandidentifyhowtoexecuteeach

sub‐step.



6.1.3. Identify challenging “sub‐steps”. Challenging “sub‐steps” typically

are:

6.1.3.1. Bottleneckresources.

6.1.3.2. Criticalsub‐stepwithoutwhichtheprocessfailstoachieve

itsobjective.

6.1.3.3. Identifyhowtoovercomethesechallenges.

6.1.4. Askhowteammemberstaketheprocessforwardinabsenceofthe

executor.Thequestionnaireshouldseekwaysandmeanstomake

theprocessworkintheabsenceoftheexecutor.

6.2. Administerthequestionnairetotheteam.

6.2.1. Pleasenotethatthequestionnaire/interviewshouldnotbiasthe

intervieweeaboutthelearningfromotherteamsandfrombooks.

6.2.1.1. Ifthereissomeglaringimprovementyouhavelearntfrom

othersourcesaskthesameatthelast.

6.2.1.2. Theobjectiveisfirsttounderstandwhatwedothentofind

outwhywedonotusethose“improvements”.

6.2.2. Administertoalltheteammembersifrequired.

6.2.3. Administertoatleasttwopeoplefromsub‐teamsifany.

6.3. Getallthetemplatesusedbyteammembers

6.4. Identifyalltheplayersintheprocess.

6.5. Identifyalltheresourcesintheprocess

6.6. Compiletheresponsesfromtheteam.

7. Finalizetheprocess

7.1. Pleasedocumenttheprocessascurrentlyfollowed.

7.1.1. Firstmaketheprocessflowchart.Usetheconnectorstoconnect

7.1.2. Thenwritethedetails.

7.1.3. Show both to the approver before you present the same to the

group.



7.1.4. Numbereachbox intheflowdiagramanddevelopthetextbased

on this sequence. Subprocess shouldbenumbered as1.1, 1.2 or

1.11,1.1.1,1.2.1andsoon.

7.2. Pleasedocumentthesuggestedimprovementsseparately.

8. DesignMetrics

8.1. Metricsareusedtomeasurehowwellwecanadheretotheprocess.

8.2. Pleasenotefirsttheprocessisdocumentedthenmetricsaredesigned.

8.3. The philosophy behind designing a metric is that it is meant for self‐

improvementandnotfor“policing”.

8.4. Asmentionedthemetricsareoffourtypes:

8.4.1. QualityMetrics

8.4.2. EfficiencyMetrics

8.4.3. ControlMetrics

8.4.4. ResultMetrics.

8.5. Identifywhatweneedtomeasure

8.6. Consult the team members and brainstorm to arrive at means to

measuretheitemslistedbyearlierstep.

8.7. ApplytheSMARTtestoneachofthemetric.

8.8. SharethemetricsandtheSMARTtestfindingswithafewteammembers.

(Preferablythosewhomyouhaveinterviewedearlier)

8.9. Developallthemetricsyoucanthinkof.

8.10. Mapallthemetricsontheprocessflowchart.

9. DesignReviewMechanism

9.1. Thereviewmechanismwillbeacrossprocessitselfandmetrics.

9.2. Identifyparametersthatwillneedreviewbasedonyourunderstanding.

Theseparametersshouldaddress:

9.2.1. RoleClarificationforrolesofalltheplayersintheprocess.



9.2.2. Resourceusage.

9.3. Identify timerequired to review theprocess. Set trigger toalertbefore

processexpiry.

9.4. Feedbackbasedreviewswilldependuponthekindoffeedbackreceived.

Theywouldbedevisedinconsultationwiththedirectorandtheheads.

10. Makethepresentationtothegroup.

10.1. Presenttheentireprocessindetailalongwiththesub‐step.

10.2. Explaineachsub‐step.

10.3. Highlight the challenging Sub‐steps along with solutions to

overcomeorexecutethose.

10.4. Present all the templates used by the team members in this

process.

10.5. Present some innovative stepsothers followbasedonstep5.Let

thegroupdecidewhichstepstoincorporateintotheprocess.

10.6. Presentallthemetricsletthegroupdecidewhichtokeep.

10.6.1. Metricsneedtobewhettedbyteamleaders,HeadsandDirectors

separately.

10.7. GetthecommitmentontheImplementationDate.

10.7.1. Work based on changes to be made in the document based on

groupinput.

10.7.2. Timerequiredforcirculatingthedocumentation.

10.7.3. Also factor time for queries and general familiarization with the

steps.

10.8. GetgroupsopiniononProcessexpirydate.

11. RevisingtheProcessDocument

11.1. Basedon the suggestionsof thegroupreview thedocumentation

andupdatethesame.

11.2. SharetheupdateddocumentswithApprover.



11.3. Printoutofthefinalizedprocess.

12. ImplementingtheProcess:Thisstepinvolveskeyactivitiestobedoneafter

allthedocumentationiscomplete.

12.1. ProcessBookReference

12.1.1. Thedocumentsmustbeapprovedandsignedbytheapprover.

12.1.2. Oncethesameisdone.ConvertthesameintoPDF.

12.1.3. MakeaseparatePDFfortheprocessflowchart.

12.1.4. Sendthesetoall theteammemberswithinstructionstokeepthe

printoutoftheprocessflowchartasareadyreference.



MetricsItisimportanttomeasuretheprocessdocumentation.Thesearefollowingmetricsareproposedforthecurrentprocess.

QualityMetricsMetric Scale Rating CommentClarityofObjective Yes/No Upgradeability Yes/No Workable Solution V/s IdealSolution

Yes/No

MinimalPaperwork Yes/No DocumentationComplete? Yes/No

EfficiencyMetricsMetric Scale Rating CommentTimeSpent

DeskResearch Low/Ok/Hi DesigningQuestionnaire Low/Ok/Hi Meeting Other teammembers

Low/Ok/Hi

Meetingtheteam Low/Ok/Hi ProcessDocumentation Low/Ok/Hi Presentation Low/Ok/Hi

ControlMetricsMetric Scale Rating CommentQuestionnairecompletiondate Days 4daysInterviewcompletiondate Days 5daysApproverSubmissionDate Date PresentationDate Date

ResultMetricsMetric Scale Rating CommentProcessAcceptedbyApprover Changes

Minor/Major

ProcessAcceptedbyGroup ChangesMinor/Major



ProcessFlowDiagram

GuidelinesformakingProcessflowdiagram:

1) TheProcesswillbeindicatedinabox.

2) Eachboxisnumbered.

a. If the process given to you is numbered x then each box within this

processwillbenumberedx.1,x.2,..x.9,x.10,x.11,etc.

b. Subprocesses(sub‐stepswithinthemainbox)willbenumberedasx.1.1,

x.1.2,etc.

3) Asmentionedfirstmaketheboxandlinechartandeachboxwillbeexplainedin

theproceduresection.

4) Ifexplanationforaboxislengthyandtedious,breakitintosub‐activities.



ProcessflowdiagramforDocumentingProcesses

1.1

Startwiththetemplate

1.2

DefineProcessObjective

1.3

FillinProcessDetails

1.4

ListGeneralSteps

1.5

PreliminaryResearch

1.6

AsisProcessMapping

1.7

FinalizeProcess

1.8

DesignMetrics

1.9

DesignReviewMechanism

1.10

Presenttotheteam

1.11

RevisebasedonFeedback

1.12

ImplementtheProcess

1.6.1

DesignQuestionnaire

1.6.2

AdministerQuestionnaire

1.6.3

GetTemplatesused

1.6.4

IdentifyPlayers

1.6.5

IdentifyResources

1.6.6

Compileteamresponses

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