Process Improvement

Project Guide
Process Improvement: Project Guide

Introduction
Background page 3
Process Improvement and Company Strategy page 3

Starting a Project
Selecting the Processes to Be Improved page 5
Project Teams page 5

Process Definition
Means of Documenting Processes page 7
Sources of Information page 9
What Information Should be Collected? page 9

Process Analysis & Improvement

Measuring Process Performance page 11
Value Mapping page 11
Simulation page 12
Analyzing and Improving a Process page 12

Process Improvement Phases in Detail page 14

Ensuring a Successful Project

Ensuring Success page 15
A Few Last Words page 18

Appendix 1: Meeting and Conference Call Tracker page 19

©Copyright ProcessModel, Inc. 2002. All rights reserved.

Background
In his newest book, management guru Michael Hammer urges us to “become ETDBW” (easy to
1
do business with) and to “put processes first”. In recent years, many organizations have begun
this journey. Process improvement programs and techniques abound and have many names;
business process reengineering (BPR), lean thinking, and six sigma all leap readily to mind. But
no matter what you call them, programs to improve efficiency which were once a sourc e of
competitive advantage, are now becoming requirements for mere survival in the marketplace.

Improvement programs of the past concentrated on optimizing individual tasks and activities. A
‘task’ is a single unit of work often performed by a single person. A ‘process’ is a grouping of
tasks that, when performed correctly, provide value to the customer. No matter how proficient a
company is, performing a single task does not provide value to the customer. Only when all of
the tasks required to produce a product or provide a service are performed correctly is an output
of maximum value to the customer. Almost all processes involve work being performed by
resources from a number of functional departments in an
enterprise. Unfortunately, it is rare for all workers to
know and understand the entire process they are
involved in, and how the work they perform fits into it.

Companies need to change their focus from improving

the way individual tasks are performed, to improving how
the tasks all fit together to provide value to the customer:
in other words, companies need to improve their
processes. This does not mean that companies stop
trying to optimize the performance of individual tasks.
But, in many companies there are greater opportunities
for benefits to be achieved by looking at the overall
process. Indeed, Hammer has stated:

“Streamlining cross-company processes is the next great frontier for reducing costs, enhancing
quality, and speeding operations. It’s where this decade’s productivity wars will be fought. The
victors will be those companies that are able to take a new approach to business, working closely
with partners to design and manage processes that extend across traditional corporate
2
boundaries. They will be the ones that make the leap from efficiency to superefficiency.”

Process Improvement and Company Strategy

Process improvement is a tool that companies use to meet their goals and objectives. The
customer has much greater power in the market than ever before. Companies can no longer
judge their performance based solely upon criteria important to the company. Companies must
now look at their performance from the customer’s viewpoint. This is what James Shaw refers to
3
as ‘looking backward through the telescope’, and it is critical for competitiveness. An example of
this change in mindset is the way companies view the time to deliver a product or service:

Acme Manufacturing builds widgets. When questioned about their performance,

management will state Acme can produce a widget in 16 hours. What they are really
saying is that it takes 16 man-hours to produce a widget. The important measure is how
long the customer has to wait to receive the widget. Acme Manufacturing operates 40
hours per week (five eight-hour workdays). If an order is placed with Acme on Thursday
afternoon, an employee can only spend four hours that day working on it. Eight hours

1
Hammer, Michael The Agenda. New York: Crown Publishing, 2001
2
Hammer, Michael “The Superefficent Company” Harvard Business Review September 2001
3
Shaw, James G. Customer Inspired Quality: Looking Backward Through the Telescope. San Francisco:
Jossey-Bass, 1996
3

©Copyright ProcessModel, Inc. 2002. All rights reserved.

 more of work would be performed on Friday, and the last four hours of work would be
completed Monday morning. Even though the company has invested only 16 man-hours
in producing the widget, the customer has had to wait 96 hours to receive his part
(Thursday noon to Monday noon). Even if the order was placed at 8:00 AM Monday
morning, the customer could not receive their widget until 4:00 PM Tuesday – 32 hours
after the order was placed. This disparity only becomes apparent when a company
begins to look at their performance from the customer’s perspective.

The move to a company that is focused on process improvement and not task improvement
requires a change in the mindset of the workers as well. No longer can workers focus solely on
the particular task that they perform. Workers must now consider the entire process and what
they can do to make it better. In the past, workers may not have known or understood the entire
process or the role that they played in it. In the company of the future, everyone needs to be
aware of the primary processes performed by the company, understand them, understand where
4
they fit into them, and understand their importance to the company. This results in more
responsibility and power being given to the worker.

4
Hammer, Michael. Beyond Reengineering: How the Process-Centered Organization is Changing Our
Work and Our Lives. New York: HarperCollins, 1996.

©Copyright ProcessModel, Inc. 2002. All rights reserved.

Starting a Project

Selecting the Processes to Be Improved

All companies have a finite amount of time, money and resources to allocate to any aspect of
their business. Because of these limitations, companies cannot work on improving all of their
processes at once. In order to determine where the greatest benefits from a process
improvement project will be realized the core or primary processes performed by the company
need to be identified.

The exact number of core processes will be different for each company. There are however
some processes every company will perform at least some of:
? Customer Acquisition
? Order Administration
? Order Fulfillment
? Customer Service or Support
? New Product/Service Development
? Invoicing and Collections

All other functions (Human Resources, Budgeting, Facilities, Information Technology, etc.)
support these core processes and would not be a part of this first wave of process improvement.
The primary or core processes are made up of a number of smaller sub-processes.

With a list of the core processes, the improvement team must now decide which processes will be
selected for a project. Because of limited resources, the team must decide which process would
have the greatest benefit for customers. In addition to customer needs, the team needs to
evaluate which project most closely ties in with the company’s goals and objectives, and provides
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real financial benefit.

Even though a team might like to tackle all of the problems

faced by a company, reality forces some hard decisions.
The team must decide if the resources are available to
tackle a project. A worker with a required skill set might
not be available. Some processes are too complex or
large in scale to solve in a single project and should be
broken into multiple smaller projects. Due to
dependencies, another project may have to be fixed before
another primary process can be improved. If there is little
chance of success or support from key groups in the
organization, the team should also reconsider its
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priorities.

Project Teams
The creation of the project team is where the foundation of a successful project is laid. The
makeup of the team is a reflection of the process to be improved. Because many processes
cross functional boundaries, project teams should involve workers from all affected areas of the
company. The size of the team will be a reflection of the scope of the project, but should be kept
to a manageable size. Members of the team should be given authority, and the responsibility that

5
Pande, Peter S., Robert P. Neuman, and Roland R. Cavenagh. The Six Sigma Way: How GE, Motorola,
and Other Top Companies are Honing Their Performance. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2000.
6
Ibid.
5

©Copyright ProcessModel, Inc. 2002. All rights reserved.

comes along with it, to fully execute the project. From the beginning of a project, all members
need to be made aware of what is expected of them.

Because the project team will have members from throughout the company representing a variety
of job functions and skill sets, the project manager needs to ensure that all members have the
tools that they require to be successful. If an individual has not been a member of an
improvement team in the past, the manager will have to assess what additional training needs to
be provided to ensure he has the skills and confidence necessary to be a valuable contributor to
the process. From the beginning of a project, clear ground rules need to be established about the
type of environment that is to be fostered: ALL team members are important, ALL ideas are to be
heard, and ALL opinions are to be valued. Honest discussions of activities and processes will be
a part of any improvement project, but negative comments towards another team member rarely
advance the projects progress. Only if all members of the team are comfortable voicing their
opinions and ideas will the team be able to maximize benefits from the program.

Creating and maintaining a team that is productive and successful is not always easy. It takes
work by everyone involved; not just the team leader. When a team does come together, the
company can receive geometrically increased productivity and the team members experience
growth and learning opportunities beyond what they could ever experience on their own. To
ensure success, Stephen Covey suggests a number of items that team members need to keep in
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mind :
? Understanding the individual – seek to understand and get to know the other
members of the team.
? Attending to the little things – small acts of kindness DO mean a lot. Small
discourtesies, little unkindnesses, and little forms of disrespect all make a difference.
In relationships, the little things are the big things.
? Keeping commitments – it is imperative that all team members do everything possible
to keep their commitments to the rest of the team.
? Clarifying expectations – because process improvement will be new to many
members of the team, it is imperative to get all of the expectations out on the table.
Many negative situations are created simply by one member of the team assuming
expectations are self-evident and that they are clearly understood and shared by
other members. Time spent at the beginning of a project to ensure expectations are
clear and explicit will be richly rewarded.
? Showing personal integrity – personal integrity generates trust. Integrity includes but
goes beyond honesty. One of the most important ways to manifest integrity is to be
loyal to those who are not present. In doing so, a team member builds the trust of
those who are present. When an individual defends those who are absent, he will
retain the trust of those present.
? Apologizing sincerely when you are wrong – when an individual makes a mistake or
does something wrong, he needs to apologize and do it sincerely. On the flip side,
the team member that was wronged needs to accept the apology and move on.
Constantly bringing up a past harm will only make the team less productive.

7
Covey, Stephen R. The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People: Restoring the Character Ethic. New
York: Fireside, 1989.

©Copyright ProcessModel, Inc. 2002. All rights reserved.

Process Definition

Means of Documenting
Gathering, collating, and analyzing data is often the most time-consuming portion of a project.
The amount and type of data that is required is a function of the type of process being analyzed,
and the goals of the project. Creation of a high level (“50,000 foot view”) document of a core
process will have very different data requirements than a project that will involve the creation of a
detailed document of a sub-process.
The types of data associated with a process improvement project include:
? Customers of the process (internal and/or external to the company)
? Suppliers to the process
? Key deliverables (Output) of the process
? Key receivables (Inputs) of the process
? Timing information for the activities that make up the process
? Cost information
? Resource information (personnel and equipment used to perform a process)
? Fallout/reject/rework information

There are a number of different ways to capture, document, and present process information. A
popular (but a little outdated) method was in a text document. A document is created detailing
each step of the process. This technique is usually very slow and tedious. In addition, process
documentation in this format is not “user friendly” – most workers it is created for rarely refer to it.
Maintaining process documentation of this type is also time intensive.

The use of a spreadsheet to document a process is a slight improvement over a text document.
The information can be organized so that people referring to the document can more easily find
the information they need such as required personnel, equipment, timing information, etc.
Spreadsheets are still not the preferred method of documenting a process, but many
organizational theorists believe that an organization cannot reengineer its processes using only a
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spreadsheet; it is the wrong medium.

Flow diagrams, also called flow

charts or process maps, are the
best method for documenting a
process. In their book
Reengineering the Corporation,
Michael Hammer and James
Champy observed when
companies were performing
process improvement projects, the
creation of process maps often
represented the first time the
organization could see how its
work processes really flowed.
The actual creation of the process
maps often provides some of the
most useful information for the
team. Flow charts allow an
individual to see the inputs into a

8
Schrage, Michael. Serious Play: How the World’s Best Companies Simulate to Innovate. Boston:
Harvard Business School Press, 2000.

©Copyright ProcessModel, Inc. 2002. All rights reserved.

process, see what activities are performed on the inputs to transform them into something of
greater value to the customer, and to see the outputs of the process. Flow charts are not
organizational charts which only show how a company is segregated by function. Instead, flow
charts show how work flows through a company. With a small amount of experience, flow charts
can be generated very quickly. Flow charts are able to convey vast amounts of data quickly and
efficiently. Most importantly, they are easily understood by a wide variety of audiences, and are
easier to maintain then other documents.

Creating a flow chart involves determining the inputs and outputs of a process, and determining
the activities in a process. If decisions are made during a process, this information is captured.

To create a flow chart, place the inputs to the process on the chart. In the order that they are
performed, place an activity/task shape (a rectangle) on the flow chart with arrows showing the
order that they are performed. Because individuals are used to thinking left to right, top to
bottom, the process should be drawn following this orientation. Decisions will have more than
one arrow (flow path) exiting them to show the different possible outcomes. To help the audience
understand what personnel or equipment is required to perform a task, shapes representing them
can be placed on the flow chart near the activities they are involved in. A shape representing the
final output(s) of the process can also be placed on the flow chart for informational purposes.

Worker A

Determine Take New

Answer Phone
Routing Order
Phone Call Order

Send Brochure Letter

Operator

Worker B

Figure 3. Process Flowchart example

Flow charts can be built of a high level process, with shapes representing activities that involve a
number of individual sub-steps. Detailed flow charts of these sub-processes may have to be
created by the team when they begin analyzing a process to find ways it can be improved. Foe
example, in the flow chart above, the activity “Take New Order” would probably involve a number
of sub-steps: entering the customer’s name, address, telephone number, and credit card
information into the customer data base, checking credit, and checking product availablity. If the

©Copyright ProcessModel, Inc. 2002. All rights reserved.

customer’s payment method is approved then the actual order would have to be released for
filling. All of these steps could be captured in a detailed sub-process flow chart.

Sources of Information
When performing a process improvement project, the team will require large amounts of
information. The information can come from a variety of sources. Team members pulled from
throughout the company will bring with them large amounts of process knowledge and
experience. When this is not enough, team members can interview individuals more
knowledgeable on specific functions and activities. The IT department of companies can also be
used to help collect and organize large amount of data into reports that are useful to the team. In
some cases, reports are already being generated that contain the information the team needs. If
the root cause of a poorly performing process is narrowed down to a specific activity, time and
motion studies can be performed for an in-depth analysis of just that activity.

What Information Should be Collected?

Team members need to keep in mind that collecting and analyzing data is the most time
consuming portion of any project. Teams need to ensure they collect enough information to
make good decisions, but not gather so much data that it overwhelms them, or collect information
that they will never use. If the project is designed to look at decreasing rejects from a process,
then the team would not only have to track the number of rejects, but also the reason for the
rejection. Without this information, the team will never discover the root problem of the errors. All
improvement teams need to spend time planning how they will gather and analyze data for a
project. This is not a simple task and is too often not performed, resulting in lost time and ‘project
rework’ later. Once the team has gathered their data, they need to keep it organized. When
improvement teams are large, it can quickly become difficult for different team members to find
specific pieces of data, or to ensure that the information they are looking at is the most current.
Project managers need to take the lead in ensuring the integrity and access to project data.

Improvement teams should not let the fact that they are missing one or two pieces of data stop
their progress. Educated guesses should be used, and plans developed for how the missing data
will be gathered.

When members of the improvement team are not experts in a process, extra care needs to be
taken to ensure that a complete data gathering job is performed. When looking at the activities
that are performed, teams need to be sure to capture all of the suppliers to an activity, what items
are actually received by the activity, details of what is actually performed, how long it takes to
perform the activity, what are the resources (personnel and equipment) required to perform the
activity, the output of the activity, and the customers of the activity. In summary, what comes into
the activity, what is done to the items, and what is the result of completing the activity.

©Copyright ProcessModel, Inc. 2002. All rights reserved.

Process Analysis and Improvement

Measuring Process Performance

When a company creates a process improvement project, it needs a means of knowing not only
its current performance levels, but also a way to measure its improvement. Typically, critical
metrics are defined to measure process performance. The metrics that a team selects to judge
process performance must be measurable, unambiguous, and understood by everyone involved.
Often, metrics are determined based on what the customer (internal or external) considers
important.

There are two major categories of metrics: customer driven, and company driven.
Typical customer driven measures include:
? Accuracy
? Customer satisfaction
? Timeliness
? Product performance
? Product cost
? Service level
? Value or ROI

Typical Company driven measures include:

? Error rates for specific processes
? Resource utilization
? Unit cost
? Profit

Companies will have measures of the entire process (total number of widgets shipped today) as
well as measures of sub-processes (number of widgets painted red in color today). The
measures of sub-processes help an individual worker understand the impact he has on an entire
process (they cannot ship any more widgets in a day then can be placed in a box and the
shipping label applied to, even if all of the other processes doubled their output).

Measuring process performance is not a one-time activity. Companies need to constantly be

listening to customers to detect when their needs change, and to benchmark their performance
against competitors to ensure that they do not fall behind. The channel of communication with
workers must also be maintained so that companies can immediately learn of problems or issues
in a process and take advantage of workers’ ideas. The change to a customer-oriented company
requires emphasizing measures that are customer driven and focused.

Value Mapping
There are a number of techniques and tools that can be used to help analyze and improve a
process. When looking for opportunities for improvement, value mapping can help to show the
team where time and resources are not being used efficiently. Value mapping entails going
through all of the activities in a process and determining if they are value added or non-value
added. One of the best ways to value map a process is to gather the team and as a group
determine if an activity is value added or non-value added. Value added activities are those
activities that the customer is willing to pay for, the first time they are performed. Reworking or
inspecting parts because a piece of equipment is getting old and occasionally makes bad product
are not considered value added activities. Few people want to classify the work they do as non-
value added, so it helps to have individuals not directly associated with the activity help classify
the activity. Although value mapping can be a very beneficial in helping you discover problems in
your process, it is still limited.

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©Copyright ProcessModel, Inc. 2002. All rights reserved.

Simulation
The power and accessibility of simulation tools have grown dramatically over the past few years.
Beyond providing what is often the first complete “picture” of a process, simulation allows a user
to effectively address problems that were beyond the scope of the tools available to them in the
past. Complexity, interdependencies, and variability can be more effectively analyzed using
simulation than with other tools. The conflicting views of how processes are currently being
performed or should be performed, parallel processes occurring simultaneously, and the sheer
volume of processes and activities involved all add complexity to a process improvement project.

The cost of simulating various alternative

processes is often insignificant compared to trail
and error in the real world. In the past,
alternative processes could only be tested by
retraining the workers and actually making the
proposed changes. If the new process was not
superior, the time and money spent training the
workers would be wasted and there would be a
very real possibility of exposing customers to
“bad” products and services. Because of the
power of the new simulation tools, tomorrow’s
innovators will invest more in playing with
prototypes, modeling marketplaces, and
simulating scenarios because that will become
the best way to create new value and profitably deliver it to customers. Simulation can create
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new interactions between people that in turn create new value.

An example of this new generation of simulation tool is ProcessModel. Using ProcessModel,

improvement teams can create flow charts of the processes they are responsible for improving.
Instead of being limited with static flow charts that only provide a graphical representation of the
process, users of the tool can animate the process, allowing users to actually watch the items
being processed travel through the process. By including some basic data on activity times,
costs and resources, improvement teams can accurately determine where in the process the
company has the greatest problems (slow processing times, backlogs of work, excessive rework
cycles and costs, poor resource utilization, etc.) Another benefit of using ProcessModel is that
once the problems have been identified, improvement teams can test proposed solutions (do
“what if” analysis) on the computer simulation. Now, decisions take on new levels of confidence
and predictability. You’re fully aware of the effects of changing processes long before you begin
implementation. Confident in your plan, you’ll implement just one set of changes in the real
world—the right one.

Analyzing and Improving a Process

Once the process to be improved has been selected, documented, and measured, the team can
actually begin to analyze its performance and make improvements. In some cases, managers
and/or workers are aware of the problem and what is required to fix it. Other problems are
complex and the root cause is not readily known. There are a number of things that improvement
10
teams can look for in a process to help them improve it.
? Large amount of information exchanged between workers, data duplication, and
redundant data entry. These characteristics are typical of processes whose natural flow

9
Ibid.
10
Hammer, Michael, and James Champy. Reengineering the Corporation: a Manifesto for Business
Revolution. New York: HarperCollins, 1993.

11

©Copyright ProcessModel, Inc. 2002. All rights reserved.

 has been interrupted by the need to keep artificial boundaries intact at a company. The
goal should be for workers to pass completed work from one area to the next, not just
information. There is usually no reason for the same information to be entered and
stored on more than one system. The data entry process should be optimized so all
information about a customer is captured one time and is easily accessible to all workers
that may need to refer to it.
? Excess inventory, work-in-progress, and buffers. When a company does not have a
handle on customer requirements, good work load scheduling, or an effective supply
system, buffers of excess inventory will often be created and staged at different points in
the process. This is not only a poor use of resources, but it is also very expensive for the
company. To stop this practice, the company has to improve the way it works with
customers to better understand their demands, and improve its relationships with
suppliers so that work can more efficiently flow through a process. Ideally, the demands
of the customers will immediately pass on to suppliers so that everyone is working
together.
? Large amounts of checking and inspection. Some level of quality control will always
be warranted in a process. It is one of the ways companies ensure that the customers’
needs are being met. Some industries such as medical products also require that
specific quality control and verification functions be performed. The issue the team is
looking for is whether or not workers have to perform excessive quality control checks
because work is being performed incorrectly at one or more upstream processes. The
team must be careful here not to concentrate on making the inspection process more
efficient, but instead concentrate on eliminating the actual cause of the problems.
? Rework and multiple iterations of work. Any time a company has to perform work
again because it was not performed correctly costs it money. The project team needs to
determine how incorrect processing can be caught as it happens, not at a downstream
process. The team must be careful here not to concentrate on making the rework
process more efficient, but instead concentrate on eliminating the errors that cause
rework being required in the first place.
? Excess complexity and special procedures in a process. All too often what should
be a simple process is turned into a complex mess because of excessive numbers of
exceptions and special cases to the way an item is processed. If processing of a small
number of items is so different than the majority, then teams should look at keeping the
process followed by the vast majority of items clean and simple, and create a special
process for the exceptions.

Analyzing a process to determine where the real problems are located is not a simple task.
In many cases, teams will detect a problem in one area of a process and concentrate on
solving it, when what they are really detecting is actually just a symptom of the real problem
located in another area of the process. The data gathered can be useful in helping highlight
the fact that there is a problem, but it does not necessarily indicate which area in the process
is not working well. That is the role of the improvement team.

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©Copyright ProcessModel, Inc. 2002. All rights reserved.

Process Improvement Phases in Detail

Phase I – Familiarization and Project Planning

The amount of work involved and the resulting time required to perform a specific phase of a
project will vary with each project and be dependent upon the project scope.
In this first phase:
1)The project team evaluates the operation of interest and reviews process flows. Constraints
and limitations are noted.
2)The team reviews base data and the sources of data that are available, and lists any
assumptions that are made.
3)Any required information found to be missing is identified.
4)A schedule and work plan (detailing resource activi ties) for the next phases of the project are
generated.
If a simulation tool is used:
5)The project team establishes the modeling parameters and determines what aspects of the
system need to be modeled to make valid decisions about what changes are required to
improve the operation.
6)The specific functionality requirements for the completed model (model inputs and outputs)
are determined.

Phase II – Data Collection, Measuring and

Documenting the Current (the “As Is”) Process
In the second phase of a project:
1)Final decisions about the scope of the project are
made.
2)Missing information identified in Phase I is collected,
collated and analyzed. Progress of the team is not
allowed to stop because data is not immediately
available; best estimates are used until any missing
data is gathered.
3)The key deliverable of this phase is a document (such
as a flowchart) of the current process.
If a simulation tool is being used:
4)Final decisions about the scope of the models are
made.
5)The key deliverable of this phase is a functional model
of the "as is" process. The development of this model
is the start of every improvement project.

Phase III – Validate Documentation of the Current (“As Is”) Process

In this third phase:
1)A test and validation plan is created and executed to verify the documentation accurately
represents the current process.
2)The validity and accuracy of input data is verified.

If a simulation tool is being used:

3)The output of models is compared to the performance of the current process to ensure they
are in agreement.

Note: The validation of the documentation and model (if used) is critical to the success of the
project. If the managers and staff involved with a process are not confident that the
documentation and model of the present system ("as is" model) accurately reflects what is
currently happening, they are unlikely to support the proposed changes ("to be" model)
resulting from the project.
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©Copyright ProcessModel, Inc. 2002. All rights reserved.

Phase IV – Analyze Current Process (“As Is”), and Develop Alternatives (”To Be”)
In this fourth phase:
1)With a validated model of the current process created, work then begins on analyzing the
process to begin finding the most critical problem areas. The goal is to determine what
changes can be made in the process to result in the greatest benefit.
2)Models are generated of proposed alternatives ("to be") to the current process. These
models will be used to test the ability of the new process to correct the problems found in
the current process. Criteria such as throughput levels, resource utilization, and costs are
considered in a manner agreed to in Phase I.
If a simulation tool is being used:
3)Simulation tool is used to analyze the current process to determine both what is working, and
what needs to be improved.
4)Models of proposed alternatives are created and simulated to test the ability of the new
process to correct the problems found in the current process. Criteria such as throughput
levels, resource utilization, and costs are considered in a manner agreed to in Phase I.

Phase V – Documentation and Presentation of Results

Key deliverables for a project will include:
1)Delivery of the documentation created for the
project ("as is" and "to be").
2)Presentation of the results of the project. The
presentation will show the current process
and the proposed processes. The
presentation will not only inform the workers
and managers directly affected by this
project of its success, but show other groups
how this new technique can be used to
analyze their own processes to improve
them.
3)Documentation will include, but not be limited
to, complete flowcharts, data and resource
files used in the project, and all assumptions
used in creating the documentation.
If a simulation tool is being used:
4)Delivery of the actual simulation models created for the project ("as is" and "to be") with
complete documentation.
5)Presentation of the results of using a simulation tool. The presentation will show the
successful use of simulation software to accurately model the current process and the
proposed processes.
6)Documentation related to the use of a simulation tool will include, but not be limited to,
complete simulation model files (flowcharts, data and resource files) for all models created,
listings of all model data (input and output) in a standard format (Microsoft Excel, Word)
including all assumptions used in creating the models, and complete output reports of
simulation results. Potential areas of improvement will be highlighted. Documentation will
also include information on how other groups can use these models to help with their own
processes.

Phase VI – Implementation of Process Change

Implementing the recommendations of the project will include:
1)Creating the process documentation of the new process. This work performed in Phase V,
Documentation and Presentation of Results, will provide an excellent starting point.
2)Training programs for affected personnel need to be created.

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©Copyright ProcessModel, Inc. 2002. All rights reserved.

3)Actual training of the affected personnel will be carried out. Extra support should be provided
at the beginning to ensure as smooth a transition as possible.

Phase VII – Review Results of Process Change

Reviewing a project involves:
1)Ensuring that workers are performing the process in the correct manner. Workers cannot be
allowed to revert back to the old process.
2)Key metrics need to be continually monitored to determine if the predicted results are being
achieved.
3)Feedback from workers should be solicited to see if there are problems, issues, or additional
benefits that team may have missed.

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©Copyright ProcessModel, Inc. 2002. All rights reserved.

Ensuring a Successful Project

Ensuring Success
The leader of a project can help to ensure success by keeping the team organized and keeping
everyone aware of what is expected of them and when. A template for tracking Meeting and
Conference Call Minutes is attached at the end of this paper. This form should be updated after
each team meeting. The form is designed to make team members more efficient: all contact
information is available, they can see the action items that they are responsible for and when,
they can see what items have been completed since the last meeting, and they can see the key
items that were discussed in the last meeting. The time of the next meeting is also noted. One of
the best features about the form is that it makes the items that an individual is responsible for
visible to the entire team. Because no one wants to be the cause of the team failing, it provides a
very effective “peer pressure” when members of the team slip in meeting their obligations.

Tracy Thurkow, of CLG, Inc., points out the

need to consider the people side, or
human factor, when undertaking process
improvement in her article, “Manage
Behavioral Changes” in ASQ’s Six Sigma
11
Forum Magazine . Thurkow asserts that
successfully improving work processes
has as much to do with people changes as
it does with process changes. Companies
invest in process improvement to gain
efficiencies, to better to align to customer
requirements, and for many other reasons.
A critical success factor is what people do
- or don't do - to modify their day-to-day
behavior to be consistent with redesigned
process flows. In other words, processes
can't change unless people change what
they do. One way to think about the role of
behavior in an organization is to consider
three interlocked factors for an enterprise's
success: strategy, process and behavior.
Strategy sets the direction for the
enterprise-where it's going and why. Work
processes organize the work toward
strategic objectives. The third piece, behavior, is the enabler of both strategy and process. It is
people's behavior - what they say and do-that is either aligned or misaligned with strategy and
process.
12
Thurkow notes that a successful project requires the team leader to provide three key items :
1. Direction: Do people understand what they need to do to succeed and help the business
succeed? Direction comes from understanding the goals and how to achieve them.
2. Opportunity: Do people have the necessary resources, and have barriers to their success been
removed? Opportunity is high when people have the time, money and authority enabling them to
meet performance expectations.
3. Motivation: Do individuals have sufficient reason to want to do the right thing? Does the
balance of the positive and negative consequences people experience for their behavior promote
doing the right thing? Motivation is a function of the payoffs and drawbacks of performance.-in
11
Thurkow, Tracy. “Manage Behavioral Changes,” Six Sigma Forum Magazine. February, 2002
12
Ibid.
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©Copyright ProcessModel, Inc. 2002. All rights reserved.

other words, the positive and negative consequences. Positive behavior tends to continue when it
is followed by positive consequences. Only by ensuring that the needs of the affected workers
and the various team members are met will a process improvement project reach all of its goals.

A few last words

Undertaking a process improvement project can be a grand adventure for the individuals
involved, and a great source of competitive advantage for the company. These projects can have
their own set of problems and pitfalls, but if they are approached with a structured plan,
enthusiasm, and management support, will often reap great benefits.

The appropriate training, tools, and coaching will be of great value, and it is our hope that this
paper has provided some tips, hints and structure that might prove useful. Whether it’s a single
project or a quest to win the coveted Malcolm Baldridge Quality Award that lies ahead, we wish
you the best of success.

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©Copyright ProcessModel, Inc. 2002. All rights reserved.

Appendix 1:
Meeting and Conference Call Minutes Tracker
Meeting Date and Time:
Location (or conference call):

Participants
? Means in attendance

Name Telephone E-Mail

List all team members along with
contact information

Action Items
Item Description Assigned To Date Date
Number (Name) Assigned Due
1 Keep a record of all action items assigned
to team members. Notes concerning the
status of the items can also be placed
here.
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

Completed Action Items

Item Description Assigned To Date Date
Number Assigned Completed
Keep track of action items completed
since the last meeting

Discussion
? Enter notes from the meeting/conference call here

Next Meeting
Date:
Time: (Be sure to specify time zone if team members are located in multiple time zones!)
Location (or conference call):

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©Copyright ProcessModel, Inc. 2002. All rights reserved.