Process Management and Improvement Training Course

Participants can select a process improvement opportunity and define a workable project scope.

• Improvement charters state problem, goal, scope, sponsor and expected benefits
• Scope boundaries identify triggering events, completion points and excluded activities
• Stakeholder analysis identifies decision-makers, users, suppliers, opponents and subject experts
• Prioritisation matrices compare customer impact, risk, cost, urgency and feasibility
• Problem statements separate observable performance gaps from proposed solutions
• SMART targets establish measurable improvement goals and review dates

Participants can translate customer needs into measurable process requirements and service standards.

• Voice-of-customer data captures needs from complaints, surveys, interviews and observations
• Customer journey stages reveal expectations, pain points and moments of truth
• Critical-to-quality trees convert broad needs into measurable service requirements
• Service level agreements specify response times, accuracy thresholds and responsibilities
• Operational definitions establish consistent rules for counting defects and delays
• Requirements traceability connects customer needs to process measures and controls

Participants can create a SIPOC model to establish the high-level structure of a process.

• SIPOC identifies suppliers, inputs, process stages, outputs and customers
• High-level process steps remain limited to major value-creating activities
• Input specifications distinguish usable information, materials, approvals and system records
• Output definitions identify products, decisions, documents, services and completed transactions
• Supplier obligations clarify quality, timing, completeness and escalation requirements
• SIPOC assumptions test process boundaries before detailed mapping begins

Participants can map roles, activities, decisions and hand-offs using swimlane diagrams.

• Swimlane diagrams assign each activity to accountable roles or functions
• Start and end events define the process boundary clearly
• Decision diamonds show alternative routes, approvals, exceptions and rework loops
• Hand-off points identify delays between teams, systems and external parties
• Current-state maps record actual work rather than written procedure assumptions
• Validation workshops confirm sequence, ownership, exceptions and local workarounds

Participants can model detailed workflows using core BPMN 2.0 conventions.

• BPMN pools distinguish separate participants, organisations or external entities
• Lanes represent accountable roles within a defined process participant
• Events model triggers, messages, timers, errors and completion conditions
• Tasks and subprocesses show work granularity appropriate for analysis
• Gateways represent exclusive, parallel and inclusive decision logic
• Sequence flows and message flows distinguish internal work from communications

Participants can expose waiting, queues and non-value-adding work through value stream mapping.

• Value stream maps distinguish processing time from total elapsed lead time
• Customer demand establishes takt time and expected process output rates
• Information flows reveal scheduling signals, approvals and work release decisions
• Work-in-progress queues indicate imbalance, batch sizes and constrained capacity
• Value-added analysis classifies customer value, business necessity and waste
• Future-state maps reduce delays through flow, pull and simpler hand-offs

Participants can build a practical measurement plan for process performance and improvement.

• Process measures cover quality, speed, cost, productivity, compliance and experience
• Cycle time measures elapsed duration from initiation through completed output
• First-pass yield measures transactions completed correctly without rework
• Defect definitions specify measurable departures from agreed requirements
• Baseline data establishes current performance before redesign or intervention
• Data collection plans define sources, frequency, owners and validation checks

Participants can assess how demand, capacity and variation affect process performance.

• Demand profiles identify predictable peaks, seasonal patterns and volatile workloads
• Capacity calculations compare available labour hours with required processing effort
• Utilisation rates reveal overloading risks and underused resource capacity
• Little's Law links work-in-progress, throughput and cycle time
• Bottleneck analysis identifies the constraint limiting end-to-end output
• Queue behaviour explains why high utilisation increases waiting times

Participants can identify and prioritise waste within service and operational processes.

• TIMWOODS categorises transport, inventory, motion, waiting and processing waste
• Defects create correction work, complaints, delays and additional control effort
• Overproduction occurs when work starts before downstream demand requires it
• Process walking observes actual activity, interruptions, searches and workarounds
• Spaghetti diagrams reveal excessive movement of people, files and materials
• Waste logs capture frequency, impact, ownership and possible removal actions

Participants can distinguish symptoms from root causes using structured diagnostic methods.

• Pareto charts focus investigation on the most frequent defect categories
• Five whys trace repeated failures through successive causal questions
• Fishbone diagrams organise potential causes by people, process, technology and policy
• Stratification separates performance data by product, channel, team or location
• Cause-and-effect testing checks suspected causes against observed process evidence
• Root-cause statements identify controllable conditions rather than blame individuals

Participants can assess process failure modes and define proportionate preventative controls.

• FMEA identifies failure modes, effects, causes and existing controls
• Severity ratings assess consequences for customers, finance, safety and compliance
• Occurrence ratings estimate likelihood using process history and expert judgement
• Detection ratings assess whether controls identify failure before customer impact
• Risk priority analysis ranks actions using severity, occurrence and detection
• Control actions reduce error opportunities through prevention, detection or recovery

Participants can design a future-state process that improves flow, service and control.

• Future-state principles remove unnecessary approvals, loops, queues and duplicate entry
• Standard work defines the best known sequence, timing and required information
• Decision rights place approvals at appropriate risk and authority levels
• Error-proofing prevents predictable mistakes through prompts, checks and constraints
• Exception paths separate unusual cases from normal transaction flow
• Service blueprints align frontstage interactions with backstage operational activities

Participants can identify appropriate digital changes without automating ineffective work.

• Automation suitability assesses rule stability, volume, exceptions and data quality
• Business rules specify decisions suitable for workflow engines or forms
• Process mining uses event logs to identify actual paths and delays
• Digital forms reduce incomplete requests through mandatory fields and validation
• Workflow systems route tasks, approvals, alerts and escalation notifications
• Technology requirements document user needs, controls, integrations and acceptance criteria

Participants can document controlled processes with clear standards, evidence and responsibilities.

• ISO 9001 process approach links inputs, activities, outputs, measures and improvement
• Standard operating procedures define purpose, scope, roles, steps and records
• Control plans specify control points, methods, frequencies and response actions
• RACI matrices clarify responsible, accountable, consulted and informed parties
• Document control manages approval, version history, access and review dates
• Audit trails preserve evidence of decisions, checks, exceptions and corrective actions

Participants can use basic control charts to distinguish common and special-cause variation.

• Common-cause variation reflects routine process conditions and system design
• Special-cause variation signals unusual events requiring targeted investigation
• Run charts display process performance over time before control limits
• Control charts identify statistically unusual patterns, shifts and trends
• Upper and lower control limits differ from customer specification limits
• Reaction plans define actions when process signals breach control rules

Participants can plan process changes, manage impacts and monitor implementation results.

• Implementation roadmaps sequence design, testing, training, deployment and review activities
• Pilot plans test changes with defined scope, success criteria and safeguards
• Change impact assessments identify affected roles, systems, policies and customers
• Communication plans specify messages, audiences, channels, timing and accountable owners
• Training needs analyses identify knowledge, skill and procedure gaps
• Benefits tracking compares realised results against baseline and target measures

Participants can establish review routines that sustain process performance and improvement.

• Process governance defines owners, review forums, escalation routes and decision rights
• Performance dashboards present leading indicators, lagging indicators and target status
• Tiered meetings connect frontline issues with management improvement decisions
• PDCA cycles structure recurring planning, testing, review and standardisation
• Corrective action registers assign actions, due dates, evidence and closure criteria
• Periodic process reviews assess performance, risks, changes and customer requirements

Participants can justify process improvement proposals using quantified benefits, costs and risks.

• Benefit categories include labour capacity, error reduction, revenue protection and risk avoidance
• Cost estimates cover technology, training, redesign, transition and ongoing support
• Baseline calculations quantify current workload, delays, defects and handling effort
• Assumptions registers document data sources, judgement calls and calculation limits
• Implementation risks identify dependencies, resistance, data issues and service disruption
• Recommendation papers present options, preferred action, costs, benefits and decisions required

Participants can build, review and present a complete evidence-based process improvement dossier.

• Process charter defines the selected problem, scope, sponsor and improvement target
• Current-state BPMN map shows activities, decisions, hand-offs, delays and exceptions
• Performance baseline quantifies cycle time, defects, workload and customer impact
• Root-cause analysis supports prioritised improvement actions with process evidence
• Future-state design specifies workflow, roles, controls, measures and technology changes
• Implementation roadmap assigns milestones, owners, risks, communications and benefit measures