Business Process Improvement Methodology
The Ben Graham Corporation© Copyright 1999-2006, The Ben Graham Corporation. All rights reserved.
Permission is granted to download and print this document in its original PDF format.
The Graham Process Improvement Methodology has a SIXTY year track record helping organizations around the world build better processes and save millions of dollars. Thirty years ago, the Graham Process Charting symbol set was established as the ANSI and ASME Process Charting standard.
The Graham methodology evolved from a manufacturing improvement methodology called work simplification. The work simplification toolset is a collection of industrial engineering tools that can be used by anyone in your organization. The tools enable your people to truly engineer their processes! Work simplification can help you document, improve and develop business processes faster, better and less expensively.
The methodology is based on a fundamental principle:
You can achieve excellent results if you put good tools and methods in the hands of the right people - the people who do the work. The methodology is built around a simple five-step program (Define, Document, Analyze, Improve and Implement).
- Select a job. Define the problem.
- Get the facts. Break the job down.
- Question each detail for possible improvements.
- Develop agreement as to the best way as of right now.
- Apply the improved method and follow through to evaluate the results and make further improvements.
It is used to document and improve existing processes, redesign existing processes, standardize similar processes and develop new processes. The methodology provides an excellent framework for an improvement project. It can also be incorporated into other methodologies. While many methodologies recognize the importance of documenting existing processes with a flowchart - few specify the tool. Many have adopted high-level tools that provide limited value and could be significantly more successful with good tools. Our charting tool has been used to satisfy certification and audit requirements and has been used to enhance improvement projects using TQM, Six Sigma and other improvement methodologies.
