Part 1 (afternoon)
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Comments and review by corporate colleagues
1 hour
Part 1: Complete or review the process map
Coming back refreshed after lunch is a chance to finish the process mapping or review what you have done to spot areas of improvement. It can be a bit overwhelming taking a look at the whole business process and figuring out what questions to ask, what bottlenecks there might be, and strategies to overcome them. The table at the end of this stage will give you an idea of some important questions you might want to ask yourself, e.g. potential bottlenecks and strategies to overcome them. Remember, you all know your processes best - these questions are just here to get you started.
Part 2: Record the activity digitally
Whilst the majority of the group can have a break from process mapping the core team needs to record the activity electronically. We have provided a template to be able to do this on excel (see stage 9) – as you record the activity you can make sure it is in the right order and have consensus on terminology…more often than expected teams are using different language for the same thing which can create confusion.
It works well when you have 1 or 2 people reading out the activity from the post-it notes, 1 person recording it and the rest supporting with language and ordering. This is a real team effort…and you’ll need a break at the end of it!
If you have time (ha, ha) you can make a start on the RACI analysis (included in the mapping template in stage 9) . Producing a RACI is useful as outlines the different roles next to the activity.
RACI stands for:
- Responsible: The person or group who is responsible for completing the task or activity.
Accountable: The person or group who is ultimately accountable for the successful completion of the task or activity.
Consulted: The person or group who should be consulted during the decision-making process.
Informed: The person or group who should be kept informed of the progress or outcome of the task or activity.
As a tip on producing the RACI, there should only be one responsible person and agree on the job titles at the start... here is a starter for 10:
- Procurement administrator
- Procurement officer
- Procurement manager
- Procurement business partner
- Head of procurement
- Service Director
- Corporate Director
- Contract manager
- Service lead
- Commisioner
- Cabinet member
- Portfolio holder
- Chief Executive
- Leader
- Legal services
- Governance
- Finance
- Bidder, who then become the supplier or providers
Here’s a snippet of what a small part of your RACI matrix might look like:
Head of Service
Part 3: Comments and review by corporate colleagues
Whilst it will be brilliant to have corporate colleagues involved in the process mapping, you might be lucky to get them due to their other demands.
If you can squeeze in an hour with them to review the process map this could provide useful feedback. If finance, legal or governance have been identified as causing a bottleneck raise it with them and look at solutions that meet their requirements whilst streamlining the process – they might not have known they were causing a problem. Also, they could use their knowledge and experience to suggest improvements.
You would really want them on site to walk through the process map – it can work on-line but not so well.
Questions to ask
When reviewing your process map here are some key questions and bottlenecks to look out for:
You’re done for Day 1. Get some rest, and we’ll be back for Day 2!
