ISACA COBIT 5 – Measure (BOK V) Part 2

3. Process Analysis Tools – Part 1 (BOK V.A.2)

In measurement phase of the project. When we want to measure the performance of processes, we need to understand processes, what all is happening and for that we use process analysis tools. So here I have listed some of the tools which we could use when you are analyzing your process. So these are flowchart, process maps, value stream maps, work instructions, spaghetti diagrams, circle diagrams and gamba walk. Let’s look at these one by one starting with flowcharts and process maps. Probably all of you would have seen flowchart in one form or other somewhere in your work experience. This is the most commonly used tool when you want to draw a flow chart.

And let’s say you have three processes, process number one, process number two, process number three and you do one after another. And how would you draw a flow chart would be okay, here I have my process number one, p one. Once it is completed then it goes to p two. And then once the job is completed then it goes to p three. That’s a flow chart. And then what I do is at the beginning I put a start. So this is the start of the process. And here I end the process. So that’s the simplest flowchart, these are the common symbol here. Start could be represented by something like this, rounded at the end or you might even use the oval shape for start and end. Process is shown by a rectangle which we have done here and number of times you need to make decisions and that is shown by a diamond.

So here if I do process one and now if there are two cases, let’s say if it is a good piece or if it’s a bad piece, then depending on that I need to do process number two or process number three. So what I can do is I can put a diamond shape here and here I can say good or bad. So good or bad. So if it is good then go to process three and if it is bad then you do process two and after process two take it to process three and once the process three is done, then you can end this process.

So let me put an overshap here. End. So this is how you can show when there’s a decision to be made. So these are the most commonly used symbols when you make a flow chart. So when we talk about flow charts, there are various types of flow charts. The one which was the basic flowchart we saw earlier, where we had a process one, two, three and then there was a decision to be made and based on that decision, activity number two and three was done. So that was the basic flow chart. Now coming to a second commonly used flowchart which is a swim lane flowchart which is here. We will talk about this on this slide. And then the third type is value stream maps.

So this is another special type of flowchart. We will talk about this on a separate slide later on let’s talk about swim lane. So, swim lane flowchart is used when there are number of parties involved. So this flow chart not only shows how things work out, what’s the progress? In addition, this also shows out who is responsible for that. Let’s take a simple example, a company gets an order and that’s where things get started. So this becomes the start point. The first thing to be done is by salespeople. So this order goes to salespeople. So here you can put number of swim lanes. Let’s put it here. So this is sales department and this is let’s say I’m skipping engineering here, let’s say this is fabrication here, fabrication and let’s put it quality. Just to make things simple, let’s put a minimum number of responsible parties here.

So once the order is received by the company, sales will do something, let’s say they do some process, process one which probably could be instructions to manufacturing or fabrication, whatever it is. So they do something which is let’s say process one. Then once they do process one then it goes to fabrication. So fabrication will do process two. Process two could be let’s say planning for the fabrication and then they do process three which is the actual fabrication of this and then once this is done then it goes to quality. Quality does the inspection which is let’s say process number four. And here you might have a diamond box here that depending on good or bad pass or fail, this might go back to fabrication or if it is good this could go for next inspection or something, let’s say process number five. So this is how you make swim lane flowchart where you not only show the process but you also show who is the responsible for that specific step. So this can be a very helpful tool when you have a complex process which involves multiple parties in process analysis tools.

Coming to the second item which is process mapping, process mapping and flow charts. These are two words which are used interchangeably. So either you say flowchart or you say process mapping. Process mapping is the process of creating a flow chart, process of creating a diagram and that diagram is the flowchart. So when you look at the process what all is happening on that process? What you are doing is you are doing process mapping and the output of that process mapping will be the flowchart. So generally there is no big difference between these two items which is flowchart or the process map. You can use that interchangeably coming to the third item in process analysis tools which is value stream maps. And as you remember when we talked about flowcharts, we said that value stream maps is one type of flowchart but there is a difference between the purpose of this.

Let’s talk about that when you make a flow chart, the purpose of that is to bring consistency in the process that everyone performs the process in the same way the flowchart helps in training a new hire. If you get a new employee, you can train that new employee with the help of that flowchart, so that this new person also performs just like any other person in the organization. So that was the purpose of a flow chart when it comes to value stream mapping. The purpose of this is to look at the process at a very high level, at the organization level and the purpose of that is to find out waste, where are the wastes, where are the delays, where are the non value-added activities? This is a complex process. So what I will do here is I will give you the overview of value stream mapping. So in value stream mapping we show two types of flows, the flow of material as well as the flow of information. How does value stream map looks like? Let’s have a look at that first and then we will talk further about value stream mapping. So here I have a very simple value stream map. So in value stream map you will see processes. Just like the flow diagram you have a process one, process two, process three. So material flows from process one to process two to process three.

And here I’m showing the operator. So this process one has one operator, same is the case with the process two and three. Then there is a number of information related to each process which is shown here, which is the cycle time change over time, batch size uptime, first time yield and many other things which you can add here. These are related to this specific process and all these processes are controlled by the production control at the central organizational level which is in fact linked to suppliers as well. Depending upon the production you will be placing order to supplier. So this shows flow of information here and then supplier supplies the inputs so that is shown here. Once the process three is completed, the material is sent to customer and customer request or the customer orders are shown by this arrow. So orders are here. So this gives you the overall picture of the production process or the organizational processes.

At the bottom we show that how much is the waiting time and how much is the actual cycle time. So let’s say in case of process one I have a 10 minutes of cycle time, five minute cycle time for process number two and 7 minutes for process number three. So the total value added time here is 22 minutes. This is shown here, which is the value added time, 22 minutes. And before each process there is a waiting time. Let’s say there’s a one day waiting time before the process one. Before the process one starts for a specific item there’s a two day delay between process one and process two. And this could be because of a lot of inventory stored between process one and process two. And same thing here, two days delay between process number two and three because of let’s say inventory here. And then there is a stock which waits for ten days before it goes out to customer. So there is a total lead time of 15 days here. Ten days plus two days plus two days plus one day.

So this is also shown here. Now just looking at this you can see that an item which takes 22 minutes to produce, there is a waiting time of 15 days. So you might want to look at how do you want to reduce the lead time or how you want to make these processes simpler. So after this introduction, now let’s open SigmaXL and see how you can create value stream map in Sigma XL. And let’s look at some of the symbols related to value stream mapping. Let’s do that. So here I have my Sigma Excel opened. Now I want to draw a value stream map and for that I go to templates. So go to templates, go to Lean and look for value stream mapping. So you can open that. So this opens all the symbols which you can use and create your own value stream map. So you open a new tab and you can copy one by one and paste those symbols here and create your value stream map. So what I’ve done is I have already created one which I have kept in my memory and which I can paste it here, control C and CTRL V. So that pastes here. So you can copy one by one items from this and paste it here. I know this is not a very exciting way to create a value stream map.

The best software for this probably could be Microsoft Visio. So look at that. Visio has a great feature to create a value stream map. But here also you can just copy these symbols and paste and create your own value stream map here. So let’s go back to the symbols. So these are the symbols and here let’s say this is the company, these are the processes, these are the data boxes and this is the arrow which we have shown shipment we have shown from supplier and to customer. So these are the symbols which you can use in your value stream mapping. Another thing which you can do in Sigma Axel is look at the value stream map which is available as a sample. So for that you can go to Help and go to sample data press yes here and look for templates and calculator examples. So here it gives you an example of a value stream map. So you can click on this and this gives you all these samples, cause and Effect, FMEA and value stream map. So here is one value stream map example, which is included as a part of Sigma Excel. So you can look at that to have a better understanding of this.

So, what we have not shown in our sample was this inventory here, the inventory is also shown that what’s the inventory level between one process and the second process, what’s the frequency? And all these things are shown here. So earlier we looked at value stream map. We saw how we draw value stream map using Sigma Excel and we looked at various symbols of that. Now, what do we do with this value stream map? This value stream map represents where you stand today, what’s your current status? So, after making this value stream map, the next thing you want to do is apply lean principles to that and why you want to apply lean principles to this. To reduce waste, to reduce the cycle time, to reduce the setup time, so that you can reduce the batch size, you can make smaller batches, you can make a better quality, you can make your delivery faster, you can reduce your inventory. That’s all you want from your processes. So you look at your current state, see what can be done to achieve these things. Reducing defect, reducing inventory, reducing cycle time, what all needs to be done. And based on that, you create a future state of value stream map or the future state. Let’s look at the simple example which we took here. Here after brainstorming, if the team came to an agreement that these two processes can be combined into a single process, then that is your one action which you want to take. And take this to future state. So, if you look at the future state that instead of three processes, now you have two processes. So you reduced one process, you reduced inventory between those processes. You reduced one extra step. That’s a great thing.

So what you do is on your current state, you put Kaizen bust. So, Kaizen bust is this is Kaisen bust number one, which tells you that these two processes have been joined together as a single process. Another Kaizen bust might be that you decide that instead of getting material every week, let’s start getting material every day from the supplier. So, let’s say this becomes your another improvement idea, which is Kaizen bus number two. So here you say that instead of weekly, you go for a daily delivery from supplier. And same thing here. Also let’s say number three, kaizen bus number three, which tells that you will be supplying material daily to your customer. So that is the whole purpose of value stream mapping. Make the current state, apply lean principles to that and create the future improved.

4. Process Analysis Tools – Part 2 (BOK V.A.2)

Another tool for process analysis is work instructions. So, work instructions help you to do job in a step by step way. So this helps in achieving consistency in the organization. So if you have a set work instruction, everyone follows the same work instructions, everyone follows the same steps, so the output also will be consistent. This in fact also helps in orienting new hires. So when you get a new person, this person can go through work instructions and take all the steps which are required what everyone else is doing. So this helps in training or orienting as well. Most of the times you see work instructions in the form of text which tells that step number one is this, step number two is this. However, at number of places you will see work instructions in the form of a flowchart, in the form of illustrations, in the form of photographs which helps the operator or people to do the job in a proper way. Work instructions should be easy to understand. Everyone should understand these work instructions in a single way only, there shouldn’t be any ambiguity. Another process analysis tool is Spaghetti diagrams. This diagram help in reducing the transport and the motion waste.

So, to reduce the transport and the motion waste, the first thing you need to do is study how your things are moving. So, let’s take a simple example of a hospital, it’s a small hospital and we have a reception and a waiting room. So, let’s say this is the door here. So the patient comes to the reception, gets himself or herself registered, then goes to waiting room, waits there, and then once a receptionist calls, then comes back to reception. And then after reception, then receptionist takes this patient to doctor. And once this doctor wants to do some examination, doctor takes this patient to examination room, does the examination, comes back, talk to the patient and if there’s any need for X ray or other test, goes to X ray room, comes back and does the final assessment of the patient. So, this is the current process. Now, if you need to make it streamlined to reduce the waste, that’s a second stage where you can minimize the motion or the transport.

So the patient comes and comes to the reception and from reception, once this patient is registered, goes to the waiting room and once the waiting time is over, receptionist will come, take this patient to doctor, doctor does the examination in the same room. So there’s no motion because the doctor room and examination room has been joined together. And then if there’s any need for the X ray, does the X ray comes back and then goes out. This is a simple example which I’ve taken, but there could be very complicated situation. If you look at your process, even though if you are working in your office, number of times you need to go to printer, go pick the print, come back and then you find out that the pages which you printed out were wrong. So you make number of trips from your workstation to printer even in the office situation also. So if you look at these processes and arrange your layout accordingly, then you can reduce transport and waste motion.

And this becomes a big thing when you come to manufacturing where a piece has to go through a number of workstations and move around and wait at the various place in the form of inventory or work in progress. So spectacular diagram helps in streamlining the process first by analyzing what is the current situation and then helping in streamlining the processes so that the transport or the motion waste is minimized. Another diagram which we want to talk about here is circle diagrams so there could be a number of circle diagrams but what I have taken is two commonly used circle diagrams one is vein diagram and second is pie chart.

So here is an example of a vein diagram. So this is the vein diagram. We have talked about this in probability where we have used vein diagram to find out the combined probability and the second example is a pie chart. Pie chart tells that what percentage is occupied by each of these factors. So here in this simple example I have taken sale of four quarters so just by looking at this you can say that first quarter there was a 60% roughly, let’s say 60% sale. The second quarter was let’s say roughly 25% so that’s how you can use a pie chart to show the percentages. So these were two simple examples of circle diagrams. The next tool to analyze process is Gamba walk.

So gamba means work area or the shop floor. So that’s where the action is happening, it’s a place of action. So when you say go to, gamba means go to the place where actual action is happening. This word came from a Japanese word which was gambutzu and which means the real thing and gamba is the real place or the workplace or the place where the action is happening. So gamba walk is the action of going to the process, of observing there understanding, asking question and learning about the process. So this will help you in understanding how the process is being done currently and then based on that, based on asking questions, based on observation, you can think of how you can improve the existing process. So this was gamba walk.

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