York Information Management and
Systems
Process Mapping Workshop
Agenda
2.00 Introduction
Why are you here?
What is a business process?
Why adopt a process view?
Methodology
Mapping Tools
2.45 Break
3.00 Group exercise
3.45 Feedback
4.15 Summary
4.30 Finish
What is a business process?
“The unique way in which an
organisation co-ordinates and
organises its work activities,
information and knowledge to produce
a valuable product or service”
(Laudon and Laudon, 1998)
What is a business process?
Primary processes
Add
Recruit students
Teach students
Assess students
Graduate students
Support processes
Provide infrastructure
and other support
Personnel
Finance
IT
Payroll
Manage processes
Co-ordinate and
control
Set direction
Make strategy
Primary Processes
Postgraduate Postgraduate
Undergraduate
Education
Education
Education
- Taught
- Research
Develop
Courses
Get
Students
Develop
Courses
Get
Students
Research
Applied
Research &
Consultancy
Get
Student
Develop
Proposal
Get Order
Develop
Proposal
Get
Funding
Carry Out
Research
Teach
Students
Teach
Students
Get
Funding
Assess
Students
Assess
Students
Supervise
Research
Disseminate
Findings
Assess
Report to
Sponsor
Graduate
Graduate
Fulfil
Order
Support
Traditional functional view
of an organisation
SALES AND
MARKETING
PLANNING
PRODUCTION
FINANCE
OTHER
Recording exam results
MARKER
SECRETARY
REGISTRY
•leaves room for error
•encourages duplication
•encourages waste
DEPARTMENT
EXAM BOARD
DEGREE
CERTIFICATE
SIGNATORY
The process view ...
?
ACADEMIC
DEPARTMENT
PLANNING
PERSONNEL
FINANCE
.... provides a complete uninterrupted view of
how things are actually done.
OTHER
Why Adopt A Process View?
• it encourages a customer focus
• it allows flexibility needed to meet
changing environment
• it makes duplication and waste more
visible
• it encourages innovation and creativity
• it facilitates cost reduction
• it facilitates team ownership
• it helps address quality issues
Process review in other Universities
Staffordshire Nottingham Trent
Northumbria at Newcastle
The Open University
Aberdeen
Napier
Glasgow-Caledonian
Loughborough
Surrey
Sheffield Hallam
London Guildhall
Essex
Queens University of Belfast
Abertay
Hull
Liverpool John Moores
Aston
De Montford
Keele
Herriot-Watt
Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Glasgow
UWE
Cranfield
Leeds
Ulster
Leicester
Bath
Thames Valley
Drivers for Change
• Financial pressures
• Growth
• Desire
for
transparency
and
quality
of
information
• Concern over increasing administration costs
• Information systems review and implementation
of new systems
Success Factors
• Readiness for Change
• Change Agent
• Ownership
• Support from Senior Management
• Communication
• Team’s ability to listen
• Non-threatening approach
Problems/Barriers
• Structures set in stone
• Lack of leadership and drive
• Politics
• Bureaucracy
• People defend their own interests
• Lack of performance measures
• “Just another initiative” syndrome
BPR in UK Universities Methodology
(Dr J MacBryde, Strathclyde University)
• Phase 1:
• Phase 2:
•
•
•
•
Phase
Phase
Phase
Phase
3:
4:
5:
6:
Planning & Preparation
Understand Existing
Processes
Redesign
Plan Implementation
Implementation
Continuous Process
Improvement &
Measurement
Phase 1: Planning & Preparation
•
•
•
•
•
identify opportunity/need for review
develop and sell business case
communicate
build and train the team
produce a detailed plan including
responsibilities
Phase 2: Understand Existing Processes
• Identify customer/stakeholder
requirements
• model processes
• identify value adding activities
Phase 3: Redesign
•
•
•
•
•
•
identify duplication and waste
simplify processes
identify where technology can be used
gain consensus and support
identify training requirements
define new working procedures
• specify job changes and team roles
Phase 4: Plan Implementation
• design change management programme
• plan implementation
Phase 5: Implementation
• train staff
• pilot redesigned processes and seek
feedback
• full scale implementation
Phase 6 : Continuous Process Improvement and Measurement
• measure improvements and
communicate benefits
• set up periodic reviews to ensure
processes are still effective
• encourage continuous analytical
thinking “why am I doing this? Do I
need to? Is there a better way to do
this?”
Why map current processes?
• it shows exactly where existing processes
fall down
• it gives you a benchmark
• which allows you to measure
improvements
• and savings made following redesign
Requirements for a mapping tool
• easy to learn
• guidelines to ensure everyone uses a
common language
• show why an activity is carried out
• show who does the activity
• highlight bottlenecks and waste
What are you looking for?
• what are the key steps/activities/tasks
that are performed?
• how long does the whole process take ?
• how long does each task take ?
• what are the delays, waiting times etc..
• where do bottlenecks build up
• question whether each step is necessary
How do we map processes?
• Structured Systems Analysis & Design
Method (SSADM)
• Soft systems methods
• IDEF diagrams
• Flow charts
• Role activity diagrams
IDEF Diagram
Flowchart
Flow Chart
• The starting point of a process is depicted
by a circle
• Each processing step is indicated by a
rectangle
• the process ends with an oval
• a decision point is shown by a diamond
• a parallelogram contains useful
information but is not a processing step
• arrows show flow (material or information)
Flow Chart
• good because it has a common language
• good because it’s quite simple
• an established method used in work study
and quality programmes
• drawback is that it doesn’t show why an
activity takes place
• doesn’t explicitly show who carried out
each activity
Role Activity Diagram (RAD)
Role Activity Diagram (RAD)
• Similar to a flow chart, but it also shows:
• how activities are divided amongst roles
• interactions between individual roles
• how many roles are involved
Role Activity Diagram (RAD)
• In a workshop setting:
• Easy to produce using Post-Its
• Don’t worry about circles, diamonds etc
• Don’t be afraid to get it wrong
- easy to move things around
• Don’t write on anything else!
Process improvement
• we look for waste:
– waiting
– transport (e.g. internal mail)
– inappropriate processing
– unnecessary transport
– duplication
– correction of mistakes
– unnecessary controls
Process improvement
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
number of staff involved in steps in the process
time spent by staff on steps in the process
delay time associated with each step
quality measurements such as error rates, customer
complaints etc.
why errors or quality problems arise
what are the value adding steps in the eyes of the
customer
where (location) is each step performed
the number of controls and approvals required - and
reasons why these are needed
any seasonal or cyclical changes to the volume of
transactions
Some problems with mapping
• teams can get bogged down in
existing
(“as is”) processes
• which in turn encourages the team to
stick with what they know and only
look for incremental improvements
rather than radical change
Example Role Activity Diagrams
•
•
•
•
Recruitment
Course Transfers
Tuition fees
Accommodation applications
Exercise
Mapping York’s Processes
• STEP 1
Role Activity Diagram for
what
happens now
• STEP 2
Look for improvements
Summary
• Did you find it easy or difficult?
• Were the start & end of the process clear?
• Did mapping the process help in
identifying improvements?
• Next steps?