Somrita Chatterjee

Process Mapping Process Mapping is the task of creating workflow of process of process with what exactly a business does, who is responsible and the parties responsible and with standards by which a business process can be judged and understood with concepts. Advantages: Communicating processes to other and making them understand the business alignments with it. Onboarding new processes for new employees to shorten training time Put less strain on other staff members in the project Process Improvement and Re-engineering- Documented process are easily understandable, easily analyzed and can increase efficiency. Basic steps before Process mapping: Identify the process that needs to be documented Gather information from participants via interviews or observations Identify the start and end points, stakeholders, parties involved, decision points Break the process into tasks, activities and decision points. Types of Process mapping: Cross Functional process map or Swim lane based process map Top down flow process map L1-L5 Process mapping flowcharts Cross Functional Process Map- Process Flowchart provides detailed information on who does what, different stakeholders involved with proper symbols and notations. In a swim-lane based map, lanes are shown either horizontal or vertical depending on the flow of the diagram. Each lane is allocated to a role/actor and the process steps which are performed by the role are depicted in that particular lane and arrows connected with them. Top down Mapping generally doesn’t use graphical symbols and is start and end points and don’t have more steps in the process. It is not a detailed map which shows who does what and processing times and decision points. Level1- Process categories Line-Of-Business Level (the Core businesses of company)- Finance, operations, Analytics, Human Resources Level 2: Process groups (Value chains of Line-of-Businesses) - Sales, Marketing, Manufacturing, Shipping Level 3: Processes (Departmental operations and responsibilities) – payment process, transaction process, risk and compliant processes Level 4: Activity level map (in-depth description with competencies, flow) Level 5: Task Level (Further decomposition of activity elements of a L4 map) Note: Preferably, it is a good practice to start with a SIPOC flow before a process starts with a particular type of process mapping. It gives a basic idea of the overall structure of the process which needs to be documented. For Process Map in a DMAIC project: Different people have different ways of approach to document a map but when it comes to a DMAIC project, it is preferable to start with below map approaches where the map shows the foundations of lean methodologies, Kanban methods and graphical methods of Six Sigma. Value Stream Map- Highly efficient in calculating cycle times, takt time of the process or project Business Process mapping- Efficient on providing L3-L5 maps on business alignments SIPOC Ishikawa and Pareto (depends on the goal of the project) Kaizen graphical symbols- For product based innovations in graphical form

Drum-Buffer-Rope Approach Goldratt introduces the concept of Drum-Buffer-Rope (DBR) approach in this book “The Goal”. This is one of the TOC concepts which are used to manage production systems. Widely used in supply-chain teams and manufacturing systems. TOC concepts are very useful with combination of Agile, Lean in production floor and provides huge developments. How it works: For a general example: We have got a line of kids who are up for a cycle ride in the woods. In the middle we have got the kid D who is the slowest or the bottleneck. Everyone else wants to go faster than D, now if that happens all the kids will be lost. Now how do we keep the line from spreading? Suggestions: Tie the rope for the kids so the speed is constant for all the kids Keep kid D at the front of the line. Industry processes: The drum is the slowest process in a system. It can be the limited resource, the bottleneck or any constraint. The first step in a process is to identify the drum in the process. Once identified, the drum tells us the upstream system to identify when to more items to the system and stopping maximum progress at once or unnecessary inventory at the start of the system. The rhythm of the drum also gives the maximum delivery rate because any system can deliver maximum value as its slowest part. Once the drum is identified, the next thing is to make sure the drum is beating faster as fast as possible. This is where the “rope” comes into picture and ensures the drum doesn’t exhaust out or disappear with the velocity of the factory production. Many practitioners also believe in Drum-Rope only. Ideally, the drum will beat at a steady rate, a consistent amount of materials will be delivered to the drum and downstream steps will be receiving the drum’s output and delivering to customer. But in reality input to drum might be disrupted so buffer is needed. Adding a buffer before the drum gives the flexibility to the drum to pace up with the slowness and adding buffer later will add value to the downstream process. Business Approach- In an agile environment of multiple sprint teams been into production system of delivering business models to the Business annually, the bottleneck or the Scrum Sprint Team which is delivering less process models is the drum. Driving the velocity of the sprint teams equally can be identified as the rope. The Buffer is the additional time given at the start of the sprint when the project is in scope and timelines are being set.Limiting work-in-progress is an effective rope as it stops parts of the Sprint Team shooting ahead. 1) Identifying the Scrum Masters and shuffling the Scrum masters and teams for a better pace in delivering models can be a possible solution. 2) Also No Scrum Team should maximize delivering models in any of the sprints at the start of the cycle. Disadvantages: DBR follows a fixed drum approach. If the bottleneck differs in a process which usually happens, then the DBR becomes rigid in the process. The Kanban methodology becomes more effective in this scenario and acts as a better solution.

Takt Time Takt time is the maximum amount of time required to produce unit’s specific to the satisfaction of customer demand. “Takt” means pulse. Takt creates the rhythm to carry out the business in a continuous flow and proper utilization of resources. Before implementing Takt time in operational projects, we should make sure the overall capacity in a business in well planned way and utilization of capacities like man and machine and till is maintaining the customer demand. Formula: Takt time = Net time Available for production/ Customer’s Demand Net Production Time= Total production time - break timings- Shift handover- System downtimes- Maintenance activities time For example: Total Time = 8 hours= 8*60= 480 mins Breaks: 60 mins Time available = 420 mins Customer’s demand in 8 hours: 100 transactions Takt time = 420/100= 4.2 minutes= 252 secs Inference: The customer will need only one transaction in 252 secs to be completed by one user. That’s why before calculating takt time in the processes it is important that the processes are dependable and deliver good quality and has good machine capabilities.

Difference between Project and Process There are many ways to look at the differences between project and a process. 1) Project is an initiative which you or Team takes up to complete certain set of deliverables. The deliverables mostly focuses on improvements which can benefit the process and organization in the financial ways or work on Return on Investment strategies. Usually companies focuses on cost reduction in the most efficient ways or streamlining the people/processes in the organization-this usually forms a project perspective initiative with tentative timelines. Process on the other hand can be defined as something which has already been in place. It has its in scope/out of scope matrix, customers, billing models, current services that they provide and people managing the team. 2) Projects have a definite start and end time or a continuous improvement cycle whereas process is ongoing and follows the project management methodology of to operate on the team members, budget, resources and documentation in the process. 3) Business Projects are driven more from the organizational perspective and focuses on long term cost benefits to the organization whereas process in service based industries usually billed from the customers usually can be termed as revenue generation projects ( Insurance , Healthcare, real estate etc) 4) The ideas and improvements in the projects are incorporated in the process.

Stop-Gap Vs Quick-wins Stop-Gap refers to the temporary action taken to fill up the current problem unless a better solution is provided. Quick-wins are the solutions which are identified while going the project analysis or brainstorming sessions with the improvement team. Quick-wins are permanent and not short-fixes as compared to a Stop-gap fix. Quick-wins may not imply much technology or analysis or discussions but they are very useful to the process. For example: Considering Service Industries, The Management is planning to implement automation to a particular invoice processing process for data entry part of the process. A particular stop-gap fix can be in this scenario would be increasing the target for each employee in the process to meet the customer needs but the actual and better solution should come when better techniques and technology is implemented in the process. 2) Management is planning to hire a better product or app for its employment services which is currently in progress. Updating the current portal with designs, patterns, contacts can be a stop gap fix. Coming up with a whole new change is the improvement.

"Comprehensive study and explanation by the mentor and covering the most complex topics in detail and examples. Looking forward to more workshops ! " - Somrita Chatterjee , Senior Executive - Business Process , Vee technologies

Gemba Study Gemba is a Process Walk, as an informational tour of the area where the work is taking place. Gemba Walk is a series of structured, on-site interviews with representative process participants and SPOCs’ with the goal of gaining a comprehensive understanding of the process. In a service based industry, interviews focus on detail such as process time, wait time, defect rates, root causes and other information that can lead to targeted improvements. It also helps in knowing the process environment and the work culture of the process. Gemba walks should not be confused with (MBWA), a different approach in which leaders simply wander about and get involved in what employees are doing. A Gemba walk should have a defined purpose, often associated with a specific concern related to a KPI or in other words, GEMBA walks are more of process driven. During a Gemba Walk, the concerned person asks very depth about the process being observed. Who is involved? What materials are used? What do you do? How do you know what to do? When does the task take place? What depends on the outcome? MBWA does not involve that degree of depth, nor does it usually have the same focus on asking open ended questions. Considering Service Industries as an example: The various steps involved in a basic Gemba Walk can be: 1) Prepare the Team It is important that the team members get prepared beforehand. Talking about the walk before the walk happens will help everyone feel more comfortable and open to interactions. 2) Have a plan or a strategy It is important that the supervisor has planned his questions before he approaches the people in the team. 3) Trying to follow the Value Stream Flow It is a good idea to ask employees about shift timings, work nature, hand offs between processes, targets, SLA, client meetings and calls. By having a fresh perspective on the old processes, it gives a perspective that it is helpful for them and not to criticize them negatively. 4) Don’t suggest much changes during the Walk or in any meeting It is not much a good idea to suggest changes and advice during the walk is happening. It is always better to go for suggestions later in terms of documented work or visualization tools (photos and video) 5) Document the observations It is always a good idea to jot down the observations about the process, current interventions and then proposed solutions with the study. It will keep everyone on the same page before and after the study has been made. 6) Follow Ups with the Employees It is important that once the proposed solutions are suggested, managers and senior management should involve in the changes and should be supportive to the employees as well. This helps in establishing the workplace connectivity and knowledge enhancement to themselves. Potential Areas of improvement that can be identified as: Work Force Management & Staff Utilization · Resource Utilization – Improving the Efficiency of the process overall · Login Leakage – Not an issue –if there is gap then agent to recover within the same month · Cross-Training – To mitigate the staff short fall and also in case of BCP situation Resourcing (Support & Management Staff) · Cross skill of Resources · Strengthen the QA calibration process · Quality tools and analysis/documentation exposures · Improvement exposures in terms of technology /Human improvements Floor Management · Daily updates and dialogue with the agents · Visual management on floor · Floor support by Team Lead · Noise on the floor needs to be in controlled. Quality · Improvement is main focus area – Not meeting consistently the target (monthly , quarterly) · Attrition rate in the process · Customer satisfaction scores and TAT

SMED (Single Minute Exchange Of Die) SMED is a systematically proven improvement Lean methodology - improvement in terms of time and cost depending on the way it has been implemented. Ideally there are two generic approaches to achieve the goal with this Human ( Achieved through People and organization ) Technical ( Achieved through Technology)- Automation , RPA, AI ( on the broader perspective) The change in SMED comes as many as changeover steps involved as "external" and try to identify them as wastes in the process and ultimately removing these from the system or process. SMED process improvement methodology started in the Industrial manner with Shigeo Shingo, a Japanese Engineer with the effort of removing huge wasteful steps in the manufacturing industry and thus provide lower manufacturing cost and improved deliverables thus an increase in Customer demand which led to more production. The basic steps involved in a SMED structured approach are: 1) Identification of the Plot Area where a particular work is being carried out What work is done, how it is done, applications, products, equipment used People, culture, Duration, environment Risks involved, variation , Opportunities 2) Identification of the elements in the Plot Area Description of the problem identified Technology required ? Cost in time (Estimated) 3) Separate the External Elements from the Internal Elements Elimination of the External element identified Any inspection, retrieval, cleaning , re-structuring 4) Streamline the remaining Internal Elements Cost measured by Technology or Manpower needed to make necessary changes Benefit in time Establishment of the new process and continuing with the enhancement of the change. Please feel free to suggest your thought processes and ideas. Regards, Somrita