Lean Administration Project Steps

Typical Lean Administration

Project Steps & Tools

Each Lean Administration project is different. The methodology below must be tailored in response to issues like organization size, existence of current or incoming data systems, organization growth or shrinkage and a dozen others. When customization is complete and the project is underway, the Stanton Group facilitators usually carry the bulk of the documentation effort, including flowcharting. This minimizes the amount of time that client staff must invest in the project. Interviewers may be Stanton Group or client people.

Lean Administration project planning typically starts with the following steps:

Data Acquisition (1 to 2 weeks) - In order to begin workflow analysis, we must identify the workflows themselves. To do this we meet with the largest possible cross section of the work group and develop a list of the workflows that constitute most of their workload. This information is captured in one meeting, if possible, to simplify terminology. The results are loaded into a proprietary data base program.
Data Analysis (1 week or less) - We divide up the workflows according to the resources (mostly people) they consume and the time cycles on which they operate. (The time cycles help us to identify flows that compete with each other for resources, and others that can be combined or used to complement each other.) This typically yields several "bundles" of workflows that share resources and time.
Team Selection (1 week or less) - We then solicit volunteer teams to carry out the analysis and reengineering of the flows in their respective bundles. Teams consist of the local experts who are doing the work today, supported by Stanton Group facilitators. Top management and technical support groups may be used as team resources, but are not usually team members.
Team Focus (concurrent with steps 1 - 3) - In the initial meeting, when we capture the flow information from the local experts, we also asked them how much time they devote to each flow. This workload fuels a Pareto analysis that enables the facilitators to provide the teams with a list of the flows on which they will focus as they begin their analysis. The team usually changes this list as the analysis progresses, but it gives us a starting place.
Team Analysis (1 to 12 weeks, depending on volume of work) - The teams develop current flow diagrams and analyze these for improvement opportunities. Long and short term improvements are often developed. Improvements require no new technology or that capitalize on technology that the client company already owns are the team's first choice. Then new technology is considered. Output is described below.
Background Interviews (concurrent with Team Analysis) - At the same time the teams are developing information flow data, a parallel analysis occurs with two sets of scripted interviews. The first set consists of interviews of the local experts who perform the work. The other set consists of interviews of the customers or users of the data and other products produced by the workflows. These interviews provide several types of information that aren't usually developed as part of the Teams' flow analysis. This is discussed more below. The project leaders maintain ongoing communication among the teams and between the teams and the interviewers so that we are all working toward the same objectives with the same data.
Delivery (less than 1 week) - At the end of the analysis, the teams deliver a set of improvement recommendations. These normally include near-term change suggestions that can be enacted quickly and one or more sets of longer-term improvement ideas that will help establish the direction for the Financial Teams' ongoing KAIZEN effort. All improvements are supported by cost/benefit data derived from the hours currently spent on the workflows.

Interviewers pick up other information that helps with both the streamlining of office processes and the Pareto focus of the Team Analysis:

They identify hard, ugly, or redundant work that should be planned out of the new workflows. (Besides being demoralizing to the worker, ugly work is usually indicative of poorly developed, inefficient processes.)
They capture answers to questions like, "What keeps (will keep) your organization from delivering its product as quickly as you feel it should?"
Teams and interviewers also make every effort to identify "low hanging fruit" that can be used to fund the project and further change efforts. These early wins also help the teams build and maintain momentum.

Typical Deliverables
At the end of a typical Lean Administration project, the project team will deliver the following results, designed to support a go/no-to decision by top management:

A set of flow charts for the key workflows in each area, with near-term and longer-term improvement packages developed for each.
Cost/benefit analyses and timetables for implementation of the changes that can be made within six months. Approximate cost/benefit data for the longer-term changes.
An implementation plan, supported by a Critical Path Schedule, for the first six months' improvements.
A presentation package, to be delivered by team members, outlining the work done by the teams and listing the improvements that the teams will pursue after the end of this project phase. This package will be designed to provide the basis for monthly or quarterly reporting of ongoing KAIZEN efforts.

See also:
Lean Administration

Lean Administration Overview

Lean Manufacturing Overview

Lean Manufacturing Training

The Stanton Group
www.stangroup.com

Typical Lean Administration Project Steps & Tools
Each Lean Administration project is different. The methodology below must be tailored in response to issues like organization size, existence of current or incoming data systems, organization growth or shrinkage and a dozen others. When customization is complete and the project is underway, the Stanton Group facilitators usually carry the bulk of the documentation effort, including flowcharting. This minimizes the amount of time that client staff must invest in the project. Interviewers may be Stanton Group or client people. Lean Administration project planning typically starts with the following steps: Data Acquisition (1 to 2 weeks) - In order to begin workflow analysis, we must identify the workflows themselves. To do this we meet with the largest possible cross section of the work group and develop a list of the workflows that constitute most of their workload. This information is captured in one meeting, if possible, to simplify terminology. The results are loaded into a proprietary data base program. Data Analysis (1 week or less) - We divide up the workflows according to the resources (mostly people) they consume and the time cycles on which they operate. (The time cycles help us to identify flows that compete with each other for resources, and others that can be combined or used to complement each other.) This typically yields several "bundles" of workflows that share resources and time. Team Selection (1 week or less) - We then solicit volunteer teams to carry out the analysis and reengineering of the flows in their respective bundles. Teams consist of the local experts who are doing the work today, supported by Stanton Group facilitators. Top management and technical support groups may be used as team resources, but are not usually team members. Team Focus (concurrent with steps 1 - 3) - In the initial meeting, when we capture the flow information from the local experts, we also asked them how much time they devote to each flow. This workload fuels a Pareto analysis that enables the facilitators to provide the teams with a list of the flows on which they will focus as they begin their analysis. The team usually changes this list as the analysis progresses, but it gives us a starting place. Team Analysis (1 to 12 weeks, depending on volume of work) - The teams develop current flow diagrams and analyze these for improvement opportunities. Long and short term improvements are often developed. Improvements require no new technology or that capitalize on technology that the client company already owns are the team's first choice. Then new technology is considered. Output is described below. Background Interviews (concurrent with Team Analysis) - At the same time the teams are developing information flow data, a parallel analysis occurs with two sets of scripted interviews. The first set consists of interviews of the local experts who perform the work. The other set consists of interviews of the customers or users of the data and other products produced by the workflows. These interviews provide several types of information that aren't usually developed as part of the Teams' flow analysis. This is discussed more below. The project leaders maintain ongoing communication among the teams and between the teams and the interviewers so that we are all working toward the same objectives with the same data. Delivery (less than 1 week) - At the end of the analysis, the teams deliver a set of improvement recommendations. These normally include near-term change suggestions that can be enacted quickly and one or more sets of longer-term improvement ideas that will help establish the direction for the Financial Teams' ongoing KAIZEN effort. All improvements are supported by cost/benefit data derived from the hours currently spent on the workflows. Interviewers pick up other information that helps with both the streamlining of office processes and the Pareto focus of the Team Analysis: They identify hard, ugly, or redundant work that should be planned out of the new workflows. (Besides being demoralizing to the worker, ugly work is usually indicative of poorly developed, inefficient processes.) They capture answers to questions like, "What keeps (will keep) your organization from delivering its product as quickly as you feel it should?" Teams and interviewers also make every effort to identify "low hanging fruit" that can be used to fund the project and further change efforts. These early wins also help the teams build and maintain momentum. Typical Deliverables At the end of a typical Lean Administration project, the project team will deliver the following results, designed to support a go/no-to decision by top management: A set of flow charts for the key workflows in each area, with near-term and longer-term improvement packages developed for each. Cost/benefit analyses and timetables for implementation of the changes that can be made within six months. Approximate cost/benefit data for the longer-term changes. An implementation plan, supported by a Critical Path Schedule, for the first six months' improvements. A presentation package, to be delivered by team members, outlining the work done by the teams and listing the improvements that the teams will pursue after the end of this project phase. This package will be designed to provide the basis for monthly or quarterly reporting of ongoing KAIZEN efforts.
See also: Lean Administration Lean Administration Overview Lean Manufacturing Overview Lean Manufacturing Training
The Stanton Group www.stangroup.com