High-Yield Methods

When we launched Visual Workflow in 1996, it was the first, formal, Outside-In (OI) process approach. We didn’t know it at the time, especially because the term “outside-in” as pertains to business process wouldn’t be coined until 10 years later. VW was also the first approach designed specifically for office/service (O/S) settings. In fact, OI and O/S process are almost synonymous. A few clients have applied VW to identify manufacturing problems to address with either Six Sigma or Lean, but OI in general offers much less utility in production settings than in the back and front offices and in service settings.

Side-by-side, Office/Service vs. manufacturing environments
Traditional process practitioners have appended, twisted and torque inside-out process design methods including Six Sigma, Lean, TOC and even TQM to work in the O/S, but they’ve faced a daunting task. Please take a moment to compare the two discrete process environments (same chart shown in “O/S Process”)

Office/Service Environments	Manufacturing Environments
Low repetition	High repetition
Decision-based business process	Fixed business process
Adaptability critical	Consistency critical
Hundreds of key workflows	Dozens of key workflows
80 - 90% of defects in hand-offs	Majority of defects in individual work
Majority of work activities interdependent	Most work activities independent
Invisible defects	Visible defects
Empowered staff	Compliant staff
Business process is the work	Business process guides the work
Adaptable to different work styles	Requires uniform behavior
Fully joined workflow & information flow	Largely detached workflow & information flow
High-dependence on application software	Partial dependence on application software
Application data integration critical	Data integration irrelevant
Managed by macro-level metrics	Managed by micro-level metrics
Responsive to customers and other external stakeholders not under the company’s control	Controlled environment, responsive only to internal cues

Now ask yourself a simple question: “Would you use a process approach designed for one environment in the other?

Manufacturing process approaches, wherever applied, focus 90% (or more) of their attention on how work is performed. But the demands of O/S process design go much further than how. The O/S requires a much broader scope, including starting with the customer and working outside-in. Developing a highly functional O/S work environment that adds maximum value to customers requires aligning: strategy to customers; process to strategy; and technology to process. We designed VW to do just that. Visual Workflow addresses:

In addition to these core roles, we’ve added capabilities for Customer Maturity Modeling, Customer Journey Mapping and anticipating the full consequences of changing what work is done by who, changing how it will be done and providing the enabling technology required.

Many first impressions based on VW’s scope are “it will take forever” and “it will be horrendously expensive.” The opposite is true. Being designed for the O/S allows Visual Workflow to uncouple workflow from individual work process to focus on workflow/information flow, where what work should be done by who is determined and the vast majority of O/S process defects occur. VW’s MRI-like workflow scanning approach enables us to assess and redesign tremendous amounts of work in a very compressed time frame, which greatly reduces cost.

Step	Description
Develop a “through customer-eyes” view of the business	Customer-centric business planning is itself a process, and an exacting one at that. For optimal outcomes, customer information has to be considered in the a sequence that builds to a complete customer perspective, minus zig-zagging and backtracking among subjects. For clients wanting to sharpen their customer focus, VW includes an optional front-end module, Hyper-Planning, that not only identifies opportunities to add value to customers but does so in a very compressed time frame.
Assess “as-is” information flow, which reveals workflow	Working with a core, cross-functional team–supplemented by resource team members representing each function as needed–fill up easel pad pages with “marker maps.” Notate all application software used as well as data integration in place (or not in place).
Map “as-is” workflow	Using clip art instead of process symbology, create pictograph maps that everyone involved understands. As one of our clients said, “Even the janitor and our CEO can read these.”
Design “to-be” workflow	With the same core and resource team members, design optimal workflow that will deliver maximum value to customer and company both. Determine what additional automation software and data integration the “to-be” will require.
Map “to-be” workflow	Same technique as for the “as-is.”
Re-engineer individual work process to support “to-be” workflow	In O/S process, individual process (how individuals work) is subordinate to and driven by workflow. That’s why reengineering individual work process come last–as opposed to first, as in Six Sigma. A caution here–you’ll need first rate mapping automation software, not just Visio. Mapping a bank teller’s full range of work, admittedly one of the most complex office function, requires up to 75 pages of individual process maps.
Set metrics	VW uses Balanced Scorecard type KPIs (key performance indicators) to measure and monitor performance. While some measurements should be set at the individual work level, most should measure either entire flows or key handoffs, both cross-functional metrics. Designing the “to-be” state in a cross-functional team and involving line employees lessens the need for financial incentives to gain compliance.
Document recommended changes and present to management	Once you negotiate the final plan with management, you’ll need to develop a comprehensive change management strategy, especially if you’re significantly changing roles and responsibilities. People will make new process work–or not work.

The business-side is the primary client participant in O/S process design, and teaching a significant number of business managers and staff in unfamiliar terminology or symbology wastes valuable time. It’s also unnecessary. VW works in the native language with common vocabulary and uses no process symbology, which greatly increases involvement and participation.