{"id":23532,"date":"2018-10-09T16:50:17","date_gmt":"2018-10-09T21:50:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/centricconsulting.com\/?p=23532"},"modified":"2022-09-02T12:28:53","modified_gmt":"2022-09-02T16:28:53","slug":"getting-started-what-is-a-process-assessment-and-why_pex","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/centricconsulting.com\/blog\/getting-started-what-is-a-process-assessment-and-why_pex\/","title":{"rendered":"Getting Started: What is a Process Assessment? Why Do You Need One?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Before you can fix a broken process, you need a process assessment. We define what it is, why you need one, and how to get started.<\/h2>\n
\n

Part one of a series.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

As a PEX consultant, I often receive the following question, \u201cMy [INSERT PROCESS NAME HERE] process is broken. Can you tell me how long it will take for you to fix it and what it\u2019s going to cost?\u201d<\/p>\n

While this seems like a\u00a0relatively simple\u00a0question, it is actually a fairly loaded one\u00a0as improving a process is not a one-size-fits-all approach.<\/p>\n

I would love to give a simple answer, but this generally requires a more complete process assessment as opposed to a single discussion as some key questions have to address<\/strong>:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Where are you starting from? Where do you want to go?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. Why are you doing this? What is the business driver?<\/li>\n
  3. What does \u201cbroken\u201d mean? What does \u201cfixed\u201d mean?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The results of these questions should provide a roadmap\u00a0that aligns with your company\u2019s strategic direction. That consists of all people, process, metrics, and technology enhancements necessary to move the overall process\u00a0from \u201cbroken\u201d to \u201cfixed.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    Let’s explore those three key questions in greater detail below.<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Where are you\u00a0starting from? Where do you want to go?<\/h2>\n

    The ability to individually or collectively self-assess your process maturity is a critical first step in driving toward improvement.<\/strong><\/p>\n

    By conducting this brief self-assessment with process participants and change sponsors, you can identify any upfront inconsistencies to address before you get too far along the path to improvement efforts.<\/p>\n

    This is also a great method to use while\u00a0employing the \u201cThink Big, Start Small, Act Quickly\u201d approach<\/a> to process improvement.<\/p>\n

    Many companies\u00a0will rate themselves a level 1 (low) on process maturity<\/a> but desire to get to a level 5 (high) immediately. This significant of a jump is sometimes possible but often needs to be attained in incremental steps\u00a0with interim business value delivery steps (and to avoid a project being bogged down by not delivering any value for an extended period of time).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    Why are you doing this? What is the business driver?<\/h2>\n

    Answering the \u201cwhy\u201d question is imperative so that you can determine whether or not you have succeeded.<\/strong><\/p>\n

    If you want to \u201cimprove\u201d or \u201cget better\u201d what does this mean for your company? While these can be modified for each organization, there are\u00a0generally six different value drivers<\/a> that a company can choose\u00a0from in order to define their \u201cwhy.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    \"Process<\/a><\/p>\n

    When I use this graphic with companies, the response I most often receive is \u201cI want all of those.\u201d While that is a noble goal, selecting one or two of these (or\u00a0a combination in\u00a0an overall theme) is imperative to ensure that everyone involved in the effort has a common rallying theme.<\/p>\n

    If you are going after all of these, how would you resolve a dispute between sales (customer experience), operations (scalability), finance (financial performance), and audit (reliability)?<\/strong> You need to pick between these upfront so that\u00a0you\u00a0can\u00a0avoid having to make this same decision multiple times throughout the project life-cycle.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    What does \u201cbroken\u201d mean? What does \u201cfixed\u201d mean?<\/h2>\n

    Once you answer these foundational questions, then you can get into the actual assessment itself.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

    We recommend starting by defining\u00a0what \u201cbroken\u201d\u00a0and \u201cfixed\u201d\u00a0actually means in your specific situation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
    \n

    Broken<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h4>\n<\/td>\n

    		\n

    Fixed<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h4>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

    Too long to onboard, losing customer in process<\/em><\/td>\nX% of customer onboarded within Y timeframe<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Decreasing margins despite increasing revenue\u00a0<\/em><\/td>\nMargins improve at the same pace or faster than revenue growth\u00a0<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Not meeting customer demands\/losing customers\u00a0<\/em><\/td>\nNet promoter score of\u00a0X\u00a0<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Too much overtime\u00a0<\/em><\/td>\nOvertime\u00a0reduced and\/or eliminated\u00a0<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Shipping costs out of control\u00a0<\/em><\/td>\nShipping costs managed within budget\u00a0<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    I don\u2019t know where my problems are\u00a0<\/em><\/td>\nProactive notification of potential issues before they occur\u00a0<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Failed\u00a0internal and\/or external\u00a0audit\u00a0<\/em><\/td>\nProcesses\/controls in place to pass audits\u00a0<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

     <\/p>\n

    A process assessment consists of the following:<\/h4>\n
      \n
    1. Defining the assessment parameters and appropriate level of current state.<\/li>\n
    2. Assessing the process (leveraging benchmark data where possible) in order to define a future state.<\/li>\n
    3. Delivering the roadmap, business case, and implementation plan to achieve the desired future state.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Inevitably, there are \u201cfast path\u201d (or \u201cquick hit\u201d) improvement opportunities identified through this process assessment that you can address immediately to begin delivering incremental business value.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

      Final Thoughts on Process Assessment<\/h2>\n

      Once I explain all of the above (again long answer to a short question), the next question I inevitably receive is, \u201cHow long is this going to take me?\u201d As a reflection of someone who worked for a lawyer for a number of years, my typical response is, \u201cIt depends.\u201d<\/p>\n

      We have conducted these process assessments in a few days – assessing a single, low complexity process without much time being spent on current state and all participants were available to participate in a single design session over one-to-two days. Some have taken months – assessing an entire division or company with many complex processes\u00a0and\u00a0individuals spread across multiple geographic locations with more depth on current state.<\/strong><\/p>\n

      Much like your processes and related issues are unique to your organization, so is the path to developing the solution\u00a0needs to be customized to your specific needs.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

      Attempting to answer these somewhat basic questions and conducting the appropriate assessment activity within your organization allows you to take a structured approach to \u201cThink Big, Start Small, and Act Quickly\u201d on your journey to process excellence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Before you can fix a broken process, you need a process assessment. We define what it is, why you need one, and how to get started.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":56,"featured_media":33350,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"_oasis_task_priority":"","_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[19118],"coauthors":[15063],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2024-07-22 09:43:51","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/centricconsulting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23532"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/centricconsulting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/centricconsulting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/centricconsulting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/56"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/centricconsulting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23532"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/centricconsulting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23532\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/centricconsulting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/centricconsulting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/centricconsulting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/centricconsulting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23532"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/centricconsulting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=23532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}