The before view
Sometimes it’s hard to see the before and after changes in a process. Particularly, when you are looking for key points in automation. The following example shows the before “picture” of International bank transfer process. In this case from a local US bank in Massachusetts. It is pretty obvious from looking at this process, there are many areas for potential improvement, including:
- Customer touch points
- Tasks or activities that don’t add value
- Approval points
- Hand offs to other parties
Each of these tasks and outcomes provide the opportunity provide an efficient service or increase quality. In the case of this process the reverse is also true, where there is too much “interference” in the process with non-value tasks or activities. These have been marked on this map below.
Example of very manual “before” process for Local Wire Bank Transfer
By using this checklist for efficiency a much improved “after” process can be designed. This was used to identify areas within this process for improvement.
- Complex processes
- Redundant Tasks
- Delays in Task or Process timing
- Wait time between Tasks
- Task Duration
- Task Frequency
- Poorly allocated resources
- Opportunities for automation
- Search for Print, telephone
- Throughput
