TABLE OF CONTENTS This tool provides some simple ways of analyzing business processes by measuring various elements of the process that relate to process time, and value added work. These measures will help direct a team toward improvement opportunities.
This tool should be used whenever a process is being improved. In the process management methodology process analysis measures are used:
In Step 4, "Define / Design the Process," to analyze the process. This analysis will not necessarily be used if the team is just trying to control the process. It will definitely be used when the team is doing the performance improvement phase.
The measures that are commonly used are defined below. This list is not meant to be all-inclusive. A team may come up with added measures that will help to determine performance improvement opportunities. However, these measures make up the core group.
The purpose of collecting some process performance data is to focus attention on those aspects of the process that offer the greatest potential for improvement. It is important to select measures relevant to the issue. Most of the measures are not mutually exclusive; they overlap. If the customer issue is late delivery, important measures should include at least "process time" and "cycle time." Cost is a factor, but is closely related to process speed and is, therefore, less important to measure here. The team must be careful not to get bogged down with extensive new measurement and data...
