Then, redesign the process to eliminate the problems you've identified. It's best to complete this step with your team. They will ensure that you understand the above process correctly and that you don't miss anything. Lucidchart, the most popular online alternative to Visio, is used in more than 180 countries by millions of users, from sales managers who map target organizations to IT managers who visualize their network infrastructure.
The visual improvement of processes is based on the use of visual elements (such as cards on a digital Kanban board) to represent the workflow (as opposed to text-based methods, such as to-do lists). Text-based process management methods don't translate well into process improvement because they don't connect the dots between the work being done and the way it's completed. You need to figure out exactly what part of the process causes problems in order to understand how to fix them. For example, having a clearly defined “quality control” step (with criteria for determining if a work item passes quality control) can help reduce defects and errors that might otherwise have gone unnoticed.
At this stage, the high-level process map becomes a much more detailed process map that describes each person, department, action, or procedure that occurs between point A (starting point) and point B (end point). It should be an iterative approach to examining processes to improve them throughout the project life cycle. Whether you're starting with a single workflow or a single process, first identify which areas of your business processes are high-priority and need immediate attention. Taking into account everything we just discussed, here are some ways to put information into action and start improving processes.
Continuous process improvement helps solve process problems by dividing improvements into smaller, more manageable parts that occur continuously, rather than in large sweeps or when they become too big to manage. By committing to taking the right steps to improve processes, companies can save money, drive innovation, improve talent retention and create more value for their customers. Above all, low-code tools provide the flexibility needed to improve and orchestrate any type of process, in any department. Once you've established that the process improvements are working, you can start collecting data to assess the success of any changes.
As with all of these process improvement steps, it is essential to involve the entire team in this analysis phase. To achieve any of the objectives on this list, you must have a plan to measure the progress you've made by implementing these process improvement steps. With TQM, companies will focus on improving processes, products, services and their own culture to focus on the customer. Improving processes is always a good use of time, but without a regular cadence to review the impact of process improvement steps, it's easy to let them fall by the wayside.
