View
1.674
Download
1
Category
Preview:
DESCRIPTION
In a lot of workplaces, particularly offices, the processes involved are not documented. Therefore, best practices are difficult to identify and foster. This ebook provides a step-by-step approach to document and thereafter improve the processes at workplace.
Citation preview
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.
License
The work can be shared for noncommercial use through proper attribution asexplained in Creative Commons AttributionNoncommercialShare Alike 3.0UnportedLicense
ProcessDocumentationandImprovementEbook
©RahulDeodhar2009www.rahuldeodhar.com
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
ProcessDocumentationandImprovementEbook
©RahulDeodhar2009www.rahuldeodhar.com
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.
ProcessDocumentationandImprovementEbook
©RahulDeodhar2009www.rahuldeodhar.com
TriggersTheprocesswillbetriggeredinthefollowinginstances:
1. Whenevertheteamundertakesanewresponsibilityheretonotmappedornotincorporatedwithintheprocessframework.
2. Wheneverabreak‐throughdevelopmenttakesplacewithintheteam.
ProcessDocumentationandImprovementEbook
©RahulDeodhar2009www.rahuldeodhar.com
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.
ProcessDocumentationandImprovementEbook
©RahulDeodhar2009www.rahuldeodhar.com
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.
ProcessDocumentationandImprovementEbook
©RahulDeodhar2009www.rahuldeodhar.com
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.
ProcessDocumentationandImprovementEbook
©RahulDeodhar2009www.rahuldeodhar.com
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.
ProcessDocumentationandImprovementEbook
©RahulDeodhar2009www.rahuldeodhar.com
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.
ProcessDocumentationandImprovementEbook
©RahulDeodhar2009www.rahuldeodhar.com
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
ProcessDocumentationandImprovementEbook
©RahulDeodhar2009www.rahuldeodhar.com
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.
ProcessDocumentationandImprovementEbook
©RahulDeodhar2009www.rahuldeodhar.com
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
Recommended