Business Process Improvement
Notes & Thoughts

Initiating Continuous Improvement

Some of the strongest of the world class corporations got where they are with continuous improvement. This article provides an outline of the fundamental elements of continuous improvement and how to put such a program in place. Once these elements are clearly understood, an organization can initiate a continuous improvement program in as little time as one week and at the end of that week have; the support and decision-making roles of management well understood, one improvement project completed up to implementation and facilitators trained and ready to complete further projects...

Read the paper..

Well-Tested Tools and Techniques Needed for Tight Times

It never hurts to get back to the basics, but in the tight times we are experiencing today it can be especially beneficial. One of those basics is Process Improvement using the tried and proven methods of ‘Work Simplification’. Work Simplification grew out of the outstanding work of Frank and Lillian Gilbreth who were improving work processes a century ago. It is defined as, “The organized application of common sense to eliminate waste and develop more efficient and effective ways of doing work”. Common sense is as relevant today as it has ever been and the tools that we use to organize the facts for applying that common sense have been and continue to be updated...

Read the paper...

Customer Focus in Process Improvement

A process is a series of steps completed to achieve a particular result. It is hard to imagine a process improvement effort that doesn’t look first to that result with a question like “What is the purpose of this process?”… whether the customer is actually engaged or not. Sometimes we have a good sense that our product or service is good. Sometimes we choose to “get our own house in order” before we step outside the organization. Sometimes we base the result on a prescription provided by the customer. Sometimes, our focus may be misdirected to how we do the work without considering why it is done in the first place...particularly where slick new technologies are involved. In any case, without actually engaging the customer, we can’t really know how well the process is working to provide the customer with what the customer needs or wants.

The following three cases show very different ways that customers influenced process design.

Read the paper...

The Ben Graham Corporation has teamed up with Customer Chain Consulting, a manufacturing-focused management and process consulting firm.  Bill Ritchie, the founder of Customer Chain Consulting contributed these thoughts...

Using Process Maps to Shrink the Customer Chain

Many manufacturers have become frustrated with the lack of success of their Continuous Improvement Program.  Even after great expenditures of time and money, they are not seeing the contribution to the bottom line that they have been led to expect.

Graham Process Maps are an outstanding tool that can not only revitalize Continuous Improvement but also provide the best way for a manufacturer to initiate such a program.

Read the paper...

Detail Process Charts – A Common Ground for Business and Development

When the first flowcharts were applied to manufacturing processes, they followed the flow of a single part through its manufacture.  They displayed, in sequence, the steps it took to make the part and they made sense.  They were easy to visualize, easy to follow, easy to work with, and they resulted in millions of dollars worth of productivity gain.

This same concept was applied to information process charting in the 1940’s.  However, rather than following a single flow, multi-flow process charts were used.  They showed all of the records in a business process in order to make clear the exchange of information between records.  Once again the effort generated millions of dollars worth of productivity gain...

Read the paper...

Allan Mogensen and his Legacy

by Dr. Ben S. Graham Jr.

I have been asked if I could provide some insight into the work improvement contributions of Allan Mogensen. I worked with him as did my father, Ben S. Graham Sr.

There have been thousands of major contributions to our nation’s productivity and, in turn, to our standard of living. None, to my knowledge, have exceeded those of Allan H. Mogensen who devoted his life to introducing work simplification skills into as many organizations as he could and pushing those skills down in those organizations to the people who did the work.

Read the paper...

Using Detail Process Maps and the Questioning Method

This paper explores a proven structured method for understanding and analyzing business processes.  While reengineering, ISO Certification, Business Process Improvement, Six Sigma, and Sarbanes-Oxley all specify an organizational focus on business processes, none provides a specific method for understanding the processes.  This leaves many people attempting to figure it out as they go.  Without a solid methodology to support process understanding and improvement, many efforts fail, drag on, or (at best) require more effort than was initially anticipated.  Detail process charts provide a level of understanding that is essential for effective analysis.  Combined with the Questioning Method, they have helped world-class organizations achieve excellent process improvement results for over half a century.

Read the paper...

Capturing Reality:Preparing for Successful Process Improvement

An integral and often overlooked step in improvement work is the preparation work: defining the project and gathering the facts that are essential to gaining a good understanding of the existing process. Too often this initial phase of a project is given cursory attention or ignored altogether.

This is the first in a series of papers dealing with the up-front work in process improvement projects.

Read the paper...

How much up-front work?

Once a process has been identified for study, setting up a project as outlined in the paper above should be quick, completed within a few hours. We don't address costs, potential savings, time frame...yet...because it is premature. We'll prepare a detailed process map over the course of a few hours (or a few days with a large project), then let the process map help us prepare informed accurate estimates of time, costs and savings, that, if done earlier, would have been guesswork.

Capturing Reality:Getting Everyone on Board

In the previous paper, "Preparing for Successful Process Improvement", we outlined the elements involved in setting up a process improvement project. With a project well-defined and management support secured, it is time to spread the word. We want to ensure that everyone involved in the process to be studied is aware of what is going on. We do that with a public announcement...

This is the second in a series of papers dealing with the up-front work in process improvement projects.

Read the paper...

Capturing Reality: Collecting the Facts

In two previous papers, we outlined the elements involved in setting up a process improvement project and getting the word out with a public announcement. With everyone on board, it's time to get into the trenches.

Fact gathering is an integral part of understanding reality and preparing a good process map. Yet, it is often dismissed or given cursory attention as superficial process maps are created by an individual or group of people some distance away from the work...and thereby some distance away from reality. If you want your process maps to reflect reality, you must go to the work and see it happen...

This is the third in a series of papers dealing with the up-front work in process improvement projects.

Read the paper...

Capturing Reality - Preparing a Process Map

Previously, we discussed collecting the data that is needed to prepare a process map.  In review, we capture data at the workplace, we interview experienced employees and we capture facts by identifying the documents (manual and electronic) – the items on which the information is captured, used and stored.  We follow the flow of these items and capture what happens to them and how they relate to each other. The documents are the foundation of a good, readable process map.  Mapping the documents and their relationships is what makes the map easy to understand.  So, with this information in hand, we are ready to prepare a reality-based, detailed process map; a map that anybody in our organization can understand and that our process team (made up of experienced employees who are directly involved in the process) can relate to - a map they can use it to make informed improvement decisions.

Read the paper...

Are Box and Arrow Flowcharts all we Need?

You've undoubtedly seen them. Boxes, arrows and diamonds winding there way around a page in an effort to describe a business process.  Do they really help you understand the process?  When describing the flow of a computer system or program (which is what they were designed to do), these flowcharts can be useful.  After all, we know that the flowchart is always referring to the program or system.  But business processes are not the same as computer systems.

When programming flowcharts are used to describe and improve business processes, they simply don't provide the information needed.  With business processes, instead of one computer program or system, we have numerous documents, forms, emails, spreadsheets, reports, web pages - even multiple systems and applications. It leaves out too much when they are all simply rolled into ambiguous activity boxes.  The high-level nature of these charts makes processes LOOK simple when they aren't.

The less you know about something, the easier it seems. And, when using programming flowcharts to describe business processes, that less is a critical less.

Is It Necessary to Chart a Process in Order to Improve It?

When doing process improvement, should we carefully document the current method and study it to find opportunities for improvement? Or, should we distance ourselves from the current process and develop a wholly new process? There are rationales supporting both approaches.

Those who favor documenting the current methods tend to be concerned that they not lose the advantages that have been built into their processes previously. They also wish to avoid repeating some of the failures of the past. They accept a logic that is based on learning from the past and reaching new heights by modifying what they have learned with each effort taking them a little farther. Their focus is on continuous improvement. Continuity (from one method to the next) is a fundamental part of continuous improvement.

Those who favor discarding the current methods and starting with a clean slate tend to see current methods as constantly deteriorating. From time to time processes become so inadequate that there is hardly anything worth preserving. As processes become cumbersome and outdated it seems appropriate to simply set them aside and start over, with another clean simple process.

Read the paper...

Employee Participation and Work Simplification

Knowledge of the work itself is crucial to improving the work. The people who do the work are the best source of that knowledge. So we recommend that employees participate in work improvement.

In addition to knowledge of the work, it is necessary to approach work improvement with fresh perspectives. Therefore, knowledge of the work alone is not sufficient. The two ingredients that combine to produce outstanding improvements are:

1. Knowledge of the work.
2. Fresh perspectives for accomplishing the work.

Read the paper...

Chances are you haven't heard of it. But from the 1930s into the 1980s, 'work simplification' was what many excellent organizations were calling their process-focused improvement work.  IBM, Ford, TI, Maytag, Standard Register, John Deere, Remington Rand, US Air Force, Republic Steel and Caterpillar were just a few of the organizations with work simplification programs.  Work Simplification is defined as 'the organized application of common sense' or, more completely, 'the organized application of common sense by everyone to eliminate waste of any kind - wasted time, energy, space, material, equipment, etc.'  Work simplification includes a number of tools, but the most powerful is the process chart.

Allan Mogensen, the Father of Work Simplification, points out in his autobiography, Mogy, "In order to achieve measurement, tools are needed and the most important of these is the process chart. Once a process chart has been drawn up, common sense is all that is needed to improve efficiency and better the process being examined. The process chart then, is the lifeblood of work simplification. It is an irreplaceable tool. It is a guide and stimulant. It takes time to properly utilize but there is absolutely no doubt that it works."

Today, you are more likely to hear of reengineering, BPI, Six Sigma and Lean, all of which have roots in work simplification.  All contribute new thinking to process improvement.  But, somewhere along the line, the valuable process chart was either discarded or replaced with high-level program flowcharts.  Hopefully, more folks will rediscover that 'irreplaceable tool' and take advantage of the value it can add to any process improvement methodology.

Getting Back to the Basics

As complexity grows you often hear this phrase. It’s time for us to get back to the basics. This month we are offering you a unique opportunity to do just that. During the early fifties, the US labor force was primarily composed of machine operators and skilled craftsmen producing products in factories. Today that labor force is dominated by Clerks and professionals working with information in offices.

There were people working with information back in the fifties as well. They were a relatively small group. Of the nine labor force categories the clerks were number four and the professionals were number six. But, these two groups were growing at roughly 2 ½ times the rate that the labor force was growing and today they dominate the labor force.

Back in the fifties, the focus of productivity efforts was on the factory and there were many different approaches to achieving it, each claiming huge benefits. Meanwhile, things were relatively quiet on the office (information processing) side of the business. That is no longer the case today. With most of the labor force working with information, that side of the business has become a multi-billion dollar battle ground of competing solutions.

What we are offering you today is a chance to return briefly to a quieter time and read the words of Ben S. Graham, Sr. (1900 – 1960) as he outlined the basics of what was needed to manage the information of his time. As you read it, if you will mentally think the words “information processing” each time you read the word “paperwork” you will find it thoroughly appropriate for today. And, I hope you will find truly important meaning in his focus on the use to which information is put. What follows is my father’s writing, unedited. -- Dr. Ben S. Graham, Jr.

Read the paper...

Be Objective About This...

The more complex the issues, the harder it is to be objective. Today in the world of information processing there is so much happening with so many conflicting solutions competing for adoption it is very easy to lose objectivity. Too often, managers are tempted to close their eyes to viable options as they buy into expensive but ineffective ones that have been presented convincingly - solutions that use expensive software and equipment to do work that could be done better in less time with less effort and cost. Occasionally the expensive buy-in simply speeds up unnecessary work. Common sense has given way to impressive but inappropriate answers.

We avoid this by keeping our focus on our own operations, making sure that the solutions we buy into will truly fit our needs. And, as we study our operations, questions such as, “What is the value we want to get out of this process?” keep us honest and objective.

Capturing Reality in a Process Map

The value of a process map is determined by how well it helps the reader understand the process. Process maps serve three general purposes:

1. to help someone do their job better (this could be an employee, supervisor, manager, auditor…),
2. to help people improve a process,
3. to satisfy a requirement (audit, Regulatory, Certification…)

Most process maps would not help a person unfamiliar with a job to do that job. Most process maps provide limited value to improvement teams. Most process maps prepared solely for satisfying a requirement would provide little value as a training or improvement tool.

So why are we mapping?

Why Capture the "Reality" of a Bad Process

When a process isn't working, it's easy to suggest that we should just throw it out and start over. But does that really make sense? When a process isn't working, it doesn't mean that all of the documents that flow through the process are broken and doesn't mean that the people doing the work haven't figured out ways around some problems. A fair amount of discussion has been given to the "clean slate" approach to improvement. While the idea of completely overhauling a process may be appropriate in some cases, the thought of ignoring what we have done and the accumulated wisdom in the heads of the people who do the work is not. When you understand the problems, you will be less likely to repeat them. There is probably a wealth of useful information in that broken process and in the heads of the people that work through it -- so tap into it.

Project Authority

Getting the decision-maker involved in an improvement project at the onset is critical. This person's role is not time-consuming but integral to the success of the project.

Read the paper...

Top-Down or Bottom-Up?

There are often arguments as to who should be involved in improvement work, whether improvement efforts should be top-down or bottom-up. The work simplification approach suggests that these are NOT mutually exclusive options.

A successful improvement program NEEDS top-down and bottom-up participation! The vision must come from the top. Executives must state clearly what they expect to achieve. They must provide direction and commitment. Direction is offered as an expectation of the working people to apply their best judgment in performing and improving the work that they do -- to solidly place the responsibility for the completion and improvement of the work with the people who do it. Commitment comes two ways -- with an assurance that there will be no loss of employment as a result of process improvement and with a promise to support the recommendations made by the improvement teams. This doesn't necessarily mean 100% acceptance (although upfront approval is a great goal to shoot for), but it does mean approval of all recommendations that management is not strongly (and validly) opposed to. It is the person in the role of the Project Authority that makes sure this happens.

Improvements come from the people closest to the work, the ones who live it and breathe it day in and day out - the people who do the work. This approach taps into the process-specific experiences of the people who do the work and also calls upon external resources for technology-specific expertise and alternative perspectives. When the operating people are given the opportunity to participate in an improvement process, their ingenuity is transformed. Benefits will include reduced resistance, improved morale and better solutions! Instead of using creativity to thwart changes that are thrust upon them, they develop creative solutions that they are pleased with and proud to live with.

What do you think?

The Key to Good Process Mapping

There are three essentials that must be handled well to assure good process mapping.

1. The operating people whose work is being mapped must supply information for the map and must understand and support the reasons for the mapping.
2. The map itself must be organized in a way that enables everyone involved to clearly understand the process.
3. The information that is assembled in the map must be valid.

...The real test of a process map is not that it makes sense to people who have never done the work but rather that it makes sense to and is vouched for by those who do the work.

Read The Key to Good Process Mapping...

But Do We Really Need the Detail?

If you do a Google image search on 'process map', you might think that people are NOT particularly concerned with understanding the details of the processes they map. The fact that there are so many one-page process maps is cause enough for concern. I think people who are studying business processes want to understand what's going on...but many just don't know how. They find an available tool (usually a general diagramming package), then make a best effort guess at creating a flowchart - usually with a few boxes, diamonds and arrows (After all, how hard can it be?). This is the level of understanding we are giving to the life blood of our businesses. What would you think of the doctor who gave the same level of attention to understanding YOUR ailment. Or the attorney who attempted the same level of understanding to YOUR case.

It seems that an entire generation of would-be process mappers has been sent into battle armed with superficial tools. Can a group of good people achieve good results with a high-level process chart? Of course! But they have to dig in to find the details that do no appear on the chart. They could get better results more quickly if those details were laid out in front of them in an organized fashion. Graham Process Maps were designed to do just that.

What do you think?

Productivity Gain Without Downsizing

...Since the Fifties it has become increasingly clear that productivity improvement has generated increased standard of living, not unemployment. When nations that guard the freedoms of their people experience high productivity increases, they do not turn those increases into high unemployment rates. Rather, their unemployment rates remain low because their people find many new things to do. New companies churn out vast arrays of new products and services. As these products and services win acceptance, large numbers of new jobs are created to provide them. The people produce more and they have more. Their standard of living rises.

This accomplishment of a vastly expanded Standard of Living should not be misinterpreted as some sort of national materialistic obsession, simply lining up more cars in the driveway and filling ever larger houses with more and more possessions. It applies regardless of the value systems of the people and in the U.S. has served a very wide range of values. The time freed up as a result of increasing productivity has been channeled into health care, education, art forms, mobility, security, entertainment, research, etc. In short, it goes towards whatever the people value...

Read Productivity Gain Without Downsizing...

When is Downsizing Okay?

The reason for letting employees go tends to fall into one of three general groups: firing, layoff and downsizing...

Firing is done for cause (cheating, lying, non-performance). It is personal and it is in the best interest of all the players in the organization (owners, managers, employees and customers).

Layoffs happen when an organization loses a significant piece of business. They are not personal and are in the best interest of all players. This may be a hard sell to the ones who walk, but the alternative is to work for free. Some organizations' leaders think enough of their people to implement across-the-board pay reductions instead of layoffs, but that is not always an option. Some let attrition play a role and some set up an internal outplacement group to help displaced employees find work.

Downsizing, by my definition, is an across-the-board release of employees with NO specific reason. It is an accounting excuse to improve the short-term bottom line that has employees categorized as expenses rather than resources. It is an act of greed, and there is no excuse for it. It may provide a short-run benefit for owners (particularly those who get out) but it can be disastrous for the organization and employees, not just the ones who leave, but also the ones who are retained and are constantly looking over their shoulders wondering who will be next. Executives and consulting organizations who participate in this game should be ashamed.

What do you think?

Insanity -- Bureaucracy, What's the Difference?

When an individual consistently behaves in a way that is clearly out of touch with reality, we describe that person as being; not of sound mind, mentally deranged, insane. But when an organization consistently establishes work processes that are out of touch with reality, we don’t call the organization insane. We call it bureaucratic and put up with it as if it were a necessary evil of organizational life. It is not.

The principal cause of bureaucracy is that rules of work (which must be followed whether they make sense or not) are developed at a distance from reality. And, the primary reason for this distance is that work processes are interdepartmental. They flow through departmental boundaries with ease. Therefore, to find a person with enough authority to revise a process means moving up in the hierarchy several levels away from the work. The people who are closest to the work and have the best handle on the reality of the work can only make limited fixes to the work. Desk tidying they can do, but anything that would have an impact beyond their work area is outside of their authority...

Read Insanity -- Bureaucracy, What's the Difference?...

But Surely Some Bureaucracy is Justified...

Today, most workers process information - information to help some other worker do their job better (hopefully). A problem is that few people, if any, in the organization knows how the work gets done beyond their own desk -- people don't understand how their work fits into a bigger process and whether their work and even the process as a whole is necessary. How well an organization understands HOW the work is done determines how effectively and efficiently it is run. How well individuals understand their contribution to their organization contributes to their self-worth. Bureaucracies, identified by rules, routine and rigid hierarchical structure, reinforce this "isolation" condition.

A bureaucrat is defined as "an official who works by fixed routine without exercising any intelligent judgment." You decide.

What do you think?

Reader Comment

"Just a couple of thoughts on why bureaucracy is so entrenched in the workplace today. First, we get out of folks what we expect of them. Too often we expect too little. Employees are treated as second class citizens who are incapable of learning new things or understanding the "bigger" picture. Second, the management styles we have too often used over the past 50 years leaves a lot to be desired. It may be that the "greatest generation" learned its management style in the military. Those in charge give orders, those not in charge follow orders. As a result, those closest to the problem have the least input on the solution. And those who follow best, only add to the problem as they are advanced to lead the next wave.

Maybe someday we will learn."

Bill Roach, CRM Enterprise EDMS Coordinator, State of North Dakota

IT - The Inside Track to Better Business Processes

Many IT professionals are in a unique position in that they deal with people and processes throughout their organization. This gives them a business perspective that most employees don’t have; a chance to see much of the work of the organization at a macro level while understanding many of the mechanics in detail. Some have taken advantage of their ubiquitous position in their organization to delve into the realm of business process analysis...

Read IT - The Inside Track to Better Business Processes...

The Gift of Time

Wouldn't it be nice to be able to squeeze another hour or two into our day. Then we could finally get at those projects that have been sitting on the back burner: perhaps we would even get a chance to peruse the stack of magazines that have been piling on the desk, do more writing or, heaven forbid, put our feet up for a few minutes and just think.

By taking a good look at our business processes and eliminating those tasks that aren't adding any value to the process, we can get the work done in less time and free ourselves up to pursue other things -- we reward ourselves with the gift of time. The gift of time enables us to produce more of what we already do and also to pursue new things. The gift of time is at the core of increased productivity and innovation.

It is unfortunate that some folks feel they have to realize 'hard dollar' benefits from an improvement project by cutting staff instead of redirecting organizationally-developed skills to meaningful, productive tasks.

What do you think?

Dealing with Attitudes Professionally

A variety of attitudes plague efforts at process improvement. They include resistance to change, credit and blame, underestimating and overestimating abilities based on status, etc. This paper explains, in understandable terms, how to channel the energy tied up in ineffective attitudes into cooperation.

The strength of this paper is in the explanation of why attitudes get the way they do and how to change the work situation to promote functional attitudes. Specifically, it describes common attitude patterns, dos and don’ts for dealing with attitudes, and strategies for building cooperation...

Read Dealing with Attitudes Professionally...

Widening Horizons

A Presentation at The Ben S. Graham Paperwork Simplification Conference - Seigniory Club, Montebello, Quebec, Canada May, 1958

I thought I’d talk a little today about widening horizons, because that would give me an opportunity to say a little about the history of the beginnings of work in this field. Something about what happened today, and also perhaps, a little bit about some of the problems which are challenging us for the future. The beginnings of work in this field, you know, came about in a very practical way. The pioneers were all, as it happened, engineers, or all mechanical engineers. I sometimes think that was a good thing, because they did speak a common language and it brought them closer together. On the other hand, I sometimes think it was a poor thing, because it gave a good many people the idea that Management and all its divisions really belong in the field of mechanical engineering...

Read Widening Horizons...

Business Process Improvement: The Devil’s in the Detail

Organizations employ a number of formulas to improve their business operations and get more "bang for their buck". Effective programs invariable get down to an examination, analysis and improvement of the business processes. Using a process flowchart to define the existing system is an essential first step to improvement that is often overlooked or addressed superficially. This article takes a look at a couple of more common flowcharting methods being applied today with a focus on the detail process charting methodology that was developed sixty years ago.

Read Business Process Improvement: The Devil’s in the Detail...

The Calf Path

Here is a poem written over a century ago that reflects some of the attitudes that we encounter in process improvement... (i.e. complacency and resistance to change).

What do you think?

The Calf Path was written by Sam Walter Foss in 1896. Could it have been written today?

One day through the primeval wood
a calf walked home as good calves should;
but made a trail all bent askew,
a crooked trail as calves all do...

Read The Calf Path...

Integrity Pays

Using Detail Process Charts for Business Process Transparency
and as a Catalyst for Improvement

When our processes become transparent, it is difficult to not see the problems.

Today, many organizations are taking a hard look at their business processes – for improvement (BPI, BPR, Six Sigma, Lean…), for certification (ISO), and by government mandate (Sarbanes-Oxley). While most methods or prescriptions for understanding and analyzing business processes state the importance of identifying the current process, few specify how to do it. It would be to the advantage of anyone promoting an improvement methodology (or certification requirements) to offer guidelines that will help people accomplish this essential first step successfully. There are many flowcharting tools available. Few provide the detail necessary to really understand a process. We can choose to get by with high-level process maps or we can make things better with detail process charts. If we want transparency, if we want to be able to make informed process decisions, we need to understand the detail – we can do this with detail process charts.

It would be silly to chart our business processes to satisfy an audit, regulatory or certification requirement, and not make the obvious improvements which become apparent. If we are going to document our processes, we should strive to get real value from the task by reviewing them to make them better.

The charting method should be easy to use and easy to understand. There are a lot of tools available that provide symbol sets. But if the symbols are not wrapped in a methodology, then the charter has to invent one. (Collecting the data, stringing the symbols together, handling rework…unusual situations…) Fortunately, the work simplification charting method has made this easy with a small, well thought out symbol set and methodology that provides elegant structure to the ominous task of process charting. The fact that the work simplification symbol set was adopted as the ANSI and ASME standards for Process Charting fifty years ago is testimony to its fundamental simplicity. It has flowed through a half century of new technologies and constantly changing processes with the grace of an alphabet…because it is fundamental. It is basic. It gets to the roots of our processes. It speaks the language of process.

The fact that this symbol set (and many others) are included in a number of diagramming packages with little instruction on how to apply them correctly is unfortunate.

Detail charts may be intimidating at first glance. However, the chart is a reflection of the process. If the chart is complicated, the process is complicated. If it is a challenge to understand complicated detail process charts, imagine the difficulty of understanding the process WITHOUT a chart.

We need to instill into our organizations a discipline to become masters of our processes and not slaves to them. Learning the language of process – detail process charting – will help us get there.

Process Charting (1945)

Here's a looks at a 1945 publication of the Government Printing Office:

"Much has been written about process charting. This bulletin collects in one place what seems to be most significant on the subject, and at the same time summarizes actual experience from private industry and Government. It aims to put process charting into action as a practical working device in attacking management problems.

The material was initially planned for use in a series of administrative planning conferences to be conducted by the bureau of budget. The widespread interest in process charting shown by Federal agencies has led to prior publication, however, as one of the series of Bureau of the Budget Management Bulletins.

The multi-column process chart described here is particularly useful in analyzing procedures involving more than one unit or section of an agency organization."

The multi-column chart may be recognized by some readers as what is more commonly referred to today as a swimlane chart. Also, take a look at the form distribution chart on page 4 - this is a precursor to the current multi-line flowchart.

Read Process Charting: Its use in procedural analysis...

Foley Equipment - Case Smmary by Vince Sheridan

The Fluid Analysis Process for us at Foley Equipment involves interacting with an oil lab that provides interpretations which we then distribute to our customers. We had a feeling that there was room for improvement in the manner in which we managed and distributed these sample results, but we really weren't sure what our process improvement would yield. Using the Graham Work Simplification methodology, we mapped our current process and then analyzed all the steps involved. We identified several steps that we were performing that could be performed by the oil lab. While we didn't reduce a significant number of steps in the overall process, by relocating and reassigning them, we streamlined the process to where we not only reduced the amount of time to execute the process but the costs as well. Mapping such a familiar process showed us that we do many things simply because that's the way we have always done them, regardless of whether they offer the most value. The across the board increase in sample processing efficiency will net higher gross margin for us for many years to come!

Our manufacturer, Caterpillar, made a major change in how information is distributed to its dealers. The old process consisted of paper document mailing to many people and the new process was an e-mail notification to just a few. We tried to continue using the old steps of the paper bound process and quickly discovered that we were trying to adopt the very costs that the manufacturer's new process was trying to eliminate. Reproducing that process while accommodating the recent manufacture's changes was not only extremely inefficient but also costly. We created a map of the old process to identify the features, benefits, vulnerability's and pitfalls that it represented. Once we had this 29-step process displayed in front of us, it didn't take long to realize that there was little in it we wanted to re-use. We defined the original intent of the process and then we asked how we could fulfill that objective using the new method of notification. Our new process consists of 6 steps and is far more efficient and effective than the original paper method. We didn't just reduce the process by 23 steps; we replaced them with 6 simpler steps that had far more reach than ever before. Although the objective of this process improvement wasn't to reduce cost, a by-product of this change was a reduction of expense of $6800.00 per year to our company. This was a great example that shows process improvement isn't simply making a map, rearranging some symbols and calling it a success. By using the disciplines of the Graham Work Simplification methodology, we created a process that we never would have envisioned when we first started on this project.

Detail Process Charting - Chapter 1

This feature article is the first chapter from a new manuscript Detail Process Charting - Speaking the Language of Process. It includes a discussion on the history of process improvement and addresses the question "Why should we chart our processes?"

"In business, processes are the things we do, the activities we perform day to day that keep our organizations going. They are all the things we do to make, promote, and deliver our products, the things we do to get paid and pay our debts and the administrative things we do to keep things going, to keep track and to satisfy organizational, regulatory and legal requirements.

Since a process implies motion and pictures don't move, we represent movement (or flow) as a line. You follow the line from one end to the other to represent the flow. Symbols are placed on the line to represents activities (and periods of non-activity) that must be completed in order to move forward toward completion. They are placed on the line in the sequence that they are to be completed."

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Retirement - Why Must Those Oft-Tarnished 'Golden-Years' Begin at 65?

"There is a phenomenon called the self-fulfilling prophesy, which has too long been allowed to muddle our legislative thinking. We don't believe our people can be trusted to handle this type of freedom so we don't give them the chance and they don't handle it. The proper alternative is "treat people as if they were responsible and many (not all) will strive to measure up."

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Detail Process Charting - The Business Process Analyst's Most Powerful Tool

The Glossary of Document Technologies from ANSI/AIIM TR2-1998 defines a Business Process as a logically related set of workflows, worksteps, and tasks that provide a product or service to customers. A business process is comprised of multiple workflows.

This article highlights some of the principal differences between detail process charts that visibly display multiple workflows and their relationships and the more common single-flow, overview process charts...

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Techniques for Lightening the Load of Paperwork

Work simplification is an approach to improving paperwork. Integrated systems properly mechanized should be our objective. In approaching our subject I think it might be wise if we define paperwork, work simplification, and integrated data processing. A great deal of confusion has developed around these terms. Then, I will try to highlight several major problems involved in paperwork, and finally, see if I can suggest an approach that can be adapted to solving some of those problems.

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Ben Graham Corporation History

The Ben Graham Corporation was founded in 1953 by Ben S. Graham, Sr. (1900 - 1960). He was trained in Work Simplification by Allan H. Mogensen and Lillian Gilbreth. He adapted the Gilbreth process charts that were being used to improve factory work for use with more complex business processes. He was working with the Standard Register Company of Dayton, Ohio.

From the Standard Register History - Company Overview...

"...Work Simplification... was transferred from the factory to the office by Ben S. Graham, Sr. in 1944 and used as an organized approach to the improvement of a problem or system. Standard Register called it Paperwork Simplification and the company was recognized as the originator of the Paperwork Simplification program."

Copyright 1995-2002 Standard Register.

Through the forties and fifties, Ben S Graham promoted the value of paperwork simplification. In 1949, The Engineers Club of Dayton hosted a presentation for the National Association of Cost Accountants entitled "Paperwork Simplification -- Principles, Techniques and Its Effect on Costs". The Ben Graham Corporation still conducts several Process Improvement workshops at the Engineers Club each year.