However, these processes can become inefficient or redundant for various reasons — new industry regulations, increased market demands, changing customer expectations, etc.

Achieving process efficiency helps your company meet these challenges.

So how can you make your processes more efficient? How can you measure workflow performance and track your progress?

Keep reading to learn more. In this article, we’ll look at what process efficiency is and how using frevvo’s business process automation software can help improve your operations. 

Click the links below to head straight to the section you want to learn more about:

• What Is Process Efficiency?
• How to Measure Process Efficiency
• 6 Ways to Improve Process Efficiency Using frevvo
• Using Custom Dashboards to Measure Workflow Performance

What Is Process Efficiency?

Process efficiency is a measure of how much effort it takes to achieve a specific result, like producing a product or delivering a service. Measuring this metric helps you establish baselines and develop a plan to address weak points. 

Inefficient processes have a direct impact on profitability. If a product has long lead times or is poorly made, customers will search for other alternatives. Likewise, if a product’s manufacturing cost exceeds its sale price, you won’t stay in business for long.

There are also lost opportunity costs.

Tasks that stem from inefficient processes take employees away from high-value work like researching new markets and developing new products.

Achieving process efficiency offers the following benefits:

• Increases productivity: More efficient processes can help you increase output with the same resources. 
• Reduces errors: Efficient processes leverage automation technologies, which can help reduce and even eliminate common errors. 
• Improves customer satisfaction: With leaner processes, your employees can focus on those activities that increase customer satisfaction.
• Lowers operating costs: Reducing lead times and eliminating instances of waste helps your company lower overall operating costs. 
• Improves employee engagement: When processes are optimized, employees can focus on more productive work instead of wasting their time on mundane tasks. 
• Maximizes resource utilization: Understanding how a process works helps you forecast and utilize resources to their full potential. 

Despite these benefits, processes aren’t always as efficient as they should be. 

38% of employees say their companies still rely on manual administration processes. 48% believe they’d be more productive at work if they had better tools.

The data suggests that companies aren’t doing enough to improve their processes. They’re also not doing enough to equip their employees with the tools they need. 

Take a common task like getting forms approved. Employees waste time when they have to chase down their managers. 

With software from frevvo, you can automate everyday processes like invoice approvals or vacation requests and have documents routed to the right approver — no need for employees to manually route forms.

How to Measure Process Efficiency

You’ll struggle to improve a process if you don’t know how it performs. Measuring process performance is a crucial step to maximizing efficiency.

Use the Process Cycle Efficiency (PCE) formula, also known as “Flow Efficiency” or “Value Add Ratio,” to measure process efficiency:

• PCE = (Value-Added Time / Cycle Time) x 100

Let’s break this down.

Value-added time directly impacts the outcome of a process — preparing a sales contract, calculating estimates for quotes, etc. In other words, it’s the work that employees are trained and hired to do.

Then you have non-value-added time. This is time that doesn’t add or contribute any value to a process. Examples include routing documents, waiting for approvals, fixing errors, etc.

Cycle time is the total amount of time it takes to complete a process. It includes value-added time and non-value-added activities.

Let’s use the purchase order process as an example. If its value-added time is five hours and its cycle time is 30 hours, then its PCE is about 17% based on the formula above.

The higher the percentage, the more efficient a process is. The example process above could use some work.

Another formula to calculate process efficiency is to compare the values of outputs and inputs:

• (Value of Outputs / Value of Inputs) x 100

For example, let’s say your company spends $100,000 a month (input) to manufacture a line of jeans, but the factory only produces about $70,000 (output) worth of clothes. In this case, its process efficiency would be 70%, meaning it’s not very efficient.

However, if the factory delivers an output of $200,000 a month, then it has a process efficiency of 200% and is operating at a profitable level (based strictly on outputs and inputs).

Other metrics to measure process efficiency include:

• First pass yield (products made correctly without any rework)
• Scrap rate (percentage of materials that cannot be restored)
• Resource utilization (efficiency rate of available resources)
• Throughput (amount of materials that pass through a machine) 

You should choose a process efficiency metric that works for your business and aligns with organizational goals. 

Now, let’s look at ways you can improve a process.

6 Ways to Improve Process Efficiency Using frevvo

Achieving process efficiency helps your company increase productivity, reduce operating costs, and improve customer satisfaction — all of which can lead to higher profit margins.

It’s easier said than done, of course. But with process management software like frevvo, you can reduce and even eliminate the tasks that are slowing your team down.

Here’s how frevvo can help improve your processes.

1. Auto-Populate Digital Forms to Reduce Data Entry

Whether it’s entering information into a form or copying and pasting data between apps, manual data entry is time-consuming and prone to errors.

Common mistakes include typos, such as inputting a “9” instead of a “0,” or entering data in the wrong fields. Fixing these mistakes (if someone catches them) can lead to unnecessary delays and increase processing costs.

With frevvo’s connectors, you can connect your forms to your business systems and have the fields auto-populate to reduce manual data entry.

Here’s an example of how that looks using the Database Connector to integrate with a SQL database:

What’s more, you can also use the Visual Rule Builder to set up business rules to pre-fill fields based on the logged-in user or based on actions they take while using the form.

Auto-populating digital forms and implementing rules helps reduce manual data entry and prevent costly errors.

2. Validate Form Submission Data to Eliminate Errors

Managers waste time when they have to send forms back for corrections. Examples include errors like missing data or incorrect formats.

To prevent these types of errors, you can set up your forms to automatically validate submission data. It’s an effective way to prevent simple errors.

For example, if a new hire enters their Social Security number in the wrong format on an onboarding form, the system will prevent the user from submitting it.

Here’s an example of how the system validates form submission data:

Descriptive errors on the form tell users the exact format they need to follow. 

You can also make certain fields required, which can help enforce compliance with internal policies. For example, you can set up your expense approval process to automatically flag out-of-policy items and reject claims that aren’t submitted with the proper receipts.

3. Dynamically Route Documents to Avoid Delays

Chasing down managers is an example of a non-value-added activity. It only adds to the total cycle time of a process.

With frevvo, you can set up automatic routing so that forms are sent to the right approver — employees won’t have to chase down their managers or physically mail a form. It’s easy to configure the system so it dynamically determines the right manager based on corporate policies and forward to that person. 

You can even set up conditional routing. For example, your company may have an internal policy that requires a senior executive to approve invoices above a certain value.

In this workflow example, invoices above $10,000 route to a senior executive. Anything below that amount gets routed to Finance for payment.

Instead of chasing down managers for signatures or mailing paper forms, frevvo enables you to automate document routing and avoid delays.

4. Send Reminders to Approvers to Take Action

When a task moves to the next step, you want the person in charge to take action. However, people are busy with their own work, so you want to make it easy for them to approve a form.

With frevvo, you can configure your workflows to automatically notify approvers that a form requires their approval. Approvers can simply click the link in the email to review a form and add their signature.

You can also set up escalations and send periodic reminders if a task is not completed in time or even route forms to a secondary approver to ensure approvals are completed before the deadline.

5. Collect Electronic Signatures to Speed Up Approvals

Most forms require signatures before they can be processed. However, approvals can take days or even weeks when you’re printing and mailing documents to get them signed.

With frevvo’s form builder, you can digitize your forms and add signature controls. Users can add their signature by using their mouse on a desktop or finger on a mobile device.

frevvo also supports digital signatures — a highly secure method of signing documents. It uses a certificate-based digital ID to validate and authenticate a signer’s identity.

Logged-in users can simply click a button to digitally sign a form and lock down the section to prevent any tampering.

All forms are mobile-friendly out of the box, enabling users to add their signature from any device.

Click here to learn how to create a digital signature workflow.

6. Integrate With External Systems to Access Data in Real-Time

Poor data quality costs companies an average $12.9 million per year. Data inaccuracies can hurt productivity, lead to missed opportunities, and affect decision making.

To ensure that employees always have access to the latest business data, you can integrate your workflows to external systems and access data in real-time.

Here’s an example of an order form that pulls product information from a SQL database:

When filling out an order form, employees can simply select a product from the picklist, and information like descriptions and unit prices will automatically populate.

Integrations work both ways.

For example, you can have form submissions update the data in your Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system. This ensures connected systems have access to the latest information and keeps decision-makers from using out-of-date information.

Click here to learn how to create an automated workflow.

Using Custom Dashboards to Measure Workflow Performance

Measuring key performance indicators (KPIs) will help your company achieve process efficiency. 

frevvo includes a drag-and-drop dashboard designer that lets you add various data visualization elements onto a canvas, so you can visualize the metrics that matter most.

Here are some visualization types you can use to measure workflow performance.

Radial Gauge Charts

Radial gauge charts help you measure and track the progress of a single KPI. The needle shows how a process is performing, and the shaded areas represent how good (or bad) the current metric value is.

Pie Chart

Pie charts let you view data as a fractional part of a whole. For example, you can use this visualization to get a full spending breakdown across each department. However, pie charts are generally not useful for showing changes over time.

Line Chart

Line charts are useful for tracking changes over a period of time. One way you can use them to improve workflow efficiency is to plot and track cycle times for processes like procuring goods or approving sales contracts.

These are just a few of the data visualizations you can add to your dashboard in frevvo. Others include: 

• Column charts
• Scatter charts
• Radar charts
• Data tables

Choosing the right data visualizations can reveal valuable insights and help inform decision-making. 

Start Improving Your Processes

Businesses rely on countless processes to run their operations. But any inefficiencies in those processes can lead to lengthy delays, higher costs, and dissatisfied customers. 

Letting these inefficiencies go unchecked can also take a heavy toll on your employees and have a direct impact on your bottom line.

frevvo is a powerful workflow automation tool that facilitates process improvement. With its intuitive interface, even non-technical users can create fully automated workflows. There’s no coding required, and you don’t need to hire a team of developers.

Click here to start your free 30-day trial to see how you can use frevvo to achieve process efficiency.

The post 6 Ways to Improve Process Efficiency With Automation appeared first on frevvo Blog.

When processes are efficient, they run smoothly and create predictable outcomes. But when they aren’t, they lead to inconsistent results and missed deadlines.

This is why streamlining processes is so important. 

Improving how work gets done helps your company increase operational efficiency, reduce errors, and deliver more value to your customers.

So how can you streamline your business processes?

Read on to learn more. In this article, we’ll look at how streamlining processes can help your company achieve its goals. We’ll also cover the steps you can follow to improve overall efficiency.

Click the links below to head straight to the section you want to learn more about:

• What Does Streamlining Processes Mean?
• Why Is Streamlining Processes Important?
• 6 Steps to Streamline Your Business Processes
• Streamlining a Business Process Using frevvo

What Does Streamlining Processes Mean?

Streamlining processes is the practice of taking an existing process and making it more efficient. It allows you to increase output, eliminate waste, and lower costs.

Business processes are made up of a series of steps.

For example, the invoice approval process involves: 

• Filling out paperwork 
• Routing forms to the right managers 
• Checking for any irregularities 
• Releasing payments 
• Updating accounts

Each activity in this process constitutes a task. Any inefficiencies in how those tasks are performed can slow down approvals and increase processing costs.

Companies that rely on manual data entry and document routing take 45 days on average to process invoices. In contrast, companies with streamlined and fully automated processes take just five days — an improvement of almost 90%. 

These figures illustrate the impact that efficient processes have on productivity. Streamlining other aspects of your company can lead to similar improvements.

Ways to improve a process typically include:

• Redesigning a process
• Removing unnecessary steps
• Adding additional resources
• Creating documentation
• Adopting process methodologies

Adopting technology like workflow automation software is another way to streamline a process since it replaces manual, labor-intensive processes with fully electronic, labor-saving ones. That’s exactly what Initial Saudi Group did.

Initial Saudi Group was manually processing new contracts. Physical documents had to pass through multiple departments before a senior executive approved them. However, this led to lengthy approval times and misplaced documents.

By setting up digital signatures and dynamic routing, Initial Saudi Group was able to automate contract approvals. What initially took seven to ten days now takes just a couple of days.

Learn how Initial Saudi Group used frevvo to streamline its processes.

Why Is Streamlining Processes Important?

Inefficient processes manifest themselves in different ways — long wait times, continuous errors, increased costs, stressed employees, and unhappy customers are just a few.

Streamlining business processes can help you get to the root cause of these issues and work toward resolving them. Doing so requires an ongoing effort from everyone, but it offers the following benefits.

Increase Productivity 

94% of employees say they perform mechanical, time-consuming tasks in their roles. 

When you use automation software to improve business operations, employees can spend less time on repetitive tasks like manual data entry and more time on strategic initiatives.

Eliminate Redundancies

Employees spend six hours a week duplicating work that someone else has already done. 

Redundancies are more likely to occur when processes aren’t clearly defined. Streamlining processes increases transparency and keeps everyone on the same page.

Reduce Errors

Errors are more likely to occur when tasks are performed manually — employees fill out the wrong data, make a calculation mistake, or forget to enter data entirely. These errors can lead to poor outcomes and even compliance issues.

Streamlining business processes can help reduce errors. Examples include integrating forms with a database to pre-populate data and implementing rules to perform calculations automatically.

Improve Compliance

Companies in practically every industry are subject to regulations. 

If employees don’t follow the right procedures, they could put the company at risk of non-compliance. Using software can enforce compliance, so processes can’t move forward without all the necessary information.

Lower Operating Costs

When employees manually process paperwork and update internal systems, administration costs increase. By using automation to streamline processes, companies can reduce time spent on repetitive tasks and lower overall costs.

Examples include digitizing paper-based processes and automatically routing forms to the right department. It’s no surprise that 70% of organizations are doing process work to reduce costs.

6 Steps to Streamline Your Business Processes

Every organization relies on numerous processes. While some are efficient, there’s a good chance that others aren’t.

Streamlining operations may take some time and require multiple iterations. But it’ll allow you to speed up approvals, reduce labor costs, and deliver more value to your customers.

Follow these steps to get started.

1. Determine Your Goals

Start by defining your goals before you start streamlining your processes. This will help set expectations and establish priorities for your team. 

Some goals you can set include:

• Shortening cycle times (how long it takes to complete a task)
• Reducing processing errors
• Eliminating or reducing redundancies
• Automating repetitive tasks
• Integrating two or more systems
• Increasing employee engagement
• Improving customer experiences

Setting goals will help you keep tabs on how your efforts are progressing.

For example, if your purchase order process is causing procurement delays, you might set a goal to speed up approvals from two weeks to five days. As you implement new changes, you can track cycle times and make further refinements.

2. Map an Existing Process

62% of organizations have modeled less than a quarter of their processes. This means most companies are operating with processes that aren’t even documented.

Before you can streamline a process, you need to understand exactly how it works. Create a process flow diagram — a flowchart that breaks down and visualizes each step of a process.

Here’s an example of a process flow diagram for a purchase order:

These diagrams give you a top-level view of a process, making it easier to identify any inefficiencies and areas of improvement.

The easiest way to create a process flow diagram is to draw it on a piece of paper. But that’s not a resource that you can easily share with others.

Then, while you can use flowchart software to map a process, these tools frequently lack automation features. They’re useful for creating flowcharts, but not much else.

Instead, using a tool like frevvo will allow you to create process flow diagrams and leverage automation technologies to streamline their efficiency.

Select a process that you want to focus on. 

Look for signs of any discontent to help with this step. For example, if the expense approval process makes it difficult for employees to submit an expense claim, then streamlining this process is a good place to start.

With your tool of choice, map a process in its current state (not how you’d like it to be). The idea is to get a clear picture of how a process operates before you make any changes.

Get feedback from your team and even observe it in action. Then benchmark its current performance so that you can measure your efforts.

3. Analyze the Process

Unless the process you’re focusing on has obvious flaws, you’ll need to dig deep to get to the root cause of an issue before you can address it.

Common process analysis tools include:

• 5 Whys: 5 Whys is a method that involves asking “why” five times to get to the root cause of a problem. Digging into an issue can often reveal unexpected causes.
• Fishbone diagram: A fishbone diagram attempts to explain the possible causes of a problem by analyzing the Six Ms of manufacturing: Manpower, Machine, Measurement, Method, Material, Mother Nature. If an issue stems from staffing issues (Manpower), a solution could be to hire more people.
• Mistake Proofing: Mistake Proofing (also called Poka-Yoke or Error Proofing) involves identifying steps where mistakes are likely to occur due to human error and replacing them with error-proof ones. 

Be sure to seek input from your own team. Those who are directly involved in a process often have more insight into its inner workings and can offer suggestions.

4. Update the Process

Once you’ve uncovered the root cause of a problem, you can get to work on implementing a solution. Let’s say you want to streamline purchase order approvals. 

Your analysis has revealed that purchase orders are frequently delayed because employees are manually routing documents and managers are sending forms back to correct mistakes.

To update this process, you might use workflow automation software to automate document routing and incorporate rules to reduce common errors.

With frevvo, you can implement dynamic routing into your workflows. An employee submits a purchase order, and it automatically routes to their manager for approval — no need to manually route documents.

Here’s an example of a purchase order workflow in frevvo:

You can also use the system to implement business rules into your forms and workflows. 

For example, you can use the visual rule builder to create rules to pre-populate fields, perform calculations, specify custom formats, and more.

By implementing these changes, you can speed up approvals and reduce common errors that occur because of manual data entry.

5. Implement and Communicate New Changes

Streamlining an operational process means making changes to steps or adopting new technology. However, if employees are used to doing things a certain way, it can be difficult for them to adjust.

Roll out any changes slowly before implementing it across the organization. Make sure to provide adequate training to help your employees make the transition.

6. Measure and Refine the Process

20% of organizations don’t know if their process practices and technologies are helping to improve their efficiency.

Monitor key metrics like cycle time to measure your efforts and continue to make improvements to your processes.

frevvo’s analytics dashboards let you track key metrics across all your processes, so you can measure your efforts.

Continuous monitoring will ensure that your processes are working as intended. It’ll also help identify bottlenecks and uncover further areas for improvement. 

Streamlining a Business Process Using frevvo

frevvo makes it easy to streamline and automate your processes. With the drag-and-drop interface, anyone can create custom forms and set up dynamic routing without writing a single line of code.

Follow these steps to streamline a process using frevvo.

1. Install a Template

frevvo offers a library of templates that you can install to start automating your processes right away.

Each template includes a basic form, workflow with dynamic routing, and business logic. Of course, you can also use the visual interface to create workflows from scratch.

2. Customize the Workflow

Even if your processes have specific requirements, you can easily customize the forms and workflows to fit your needs.

With the visual form designer, you can add text fields, picklists, checkboxes, signature fields, and more. You can also use the visual rule builder to add business logic to your forms and workflows. 

For example, you can create a rule that routes invoices to a senior executive above a certain amount for further review.

Here’s an example of a workflow with conditional routing:

Using conditional routing in this manner can help make your processes more efficient.

3. Integrate Your Systems

frevvo enables you to extend the functionality of your forms and workflows even further with integrations.

For example, you can pre-populate fields like vendor information with data from your database or Google Sheets. This helps to reduce manual data entry and errors.

Once you finish customizing your forms and workflows, make sure to test them to ensure everything works.

Start Streamlining Your Business Processes

Processes become outdated over time. What may have been the best way to complete a task before may not be the most efficient today.

This is why streamlining processes is so important. It helps you get to the root cause of an issue and implement solutions to address those problems.

Performing process work may sound intimidating. But the good news is that it doesn’t have to be that complicated when you use software like frevvo.

The software features a fully visual interface, so there’s no coding required. You don’t need to hire a team of IT developers or spend months on development time to start improving your processes.

You also get access to other features like hardened security, built-in mobility, audit trails, ADA and WCAG compliance, multi-language support, and more.

Ready to start streamlining your processes? Get started with a free 30-day trial today to improve your processes.

The post 6 Easy Steps to Streamlining Processes to Improve Efficiency appeared first on frevvo Blog.

Companies grow in complexity as they expand their product line, hire more employees, and adopt new technologies. These changes can cause certain processes to become inefficient over time.

Continuous process improvement is the ongoing effort to ensure processes run effectively in the face of constantly changing business conditions. Companies must have a system to identify and address inefficiencies without disrupting operations.

This is where a process improvement plan comes in — a set of guidelines that help you increase operational efficiency.

In this article, we’ll take a look at what a process improvement plan is, the benefits it offers, and how to create one. We’ll also cover the different methodologies you can follow to implement new changes.

Click the links below to jump straight to the section you want to learn more about:

• What Is a Process Improvement Plan?
• Benefits of a Process Improvement Plan
• How to Create a Process Improvement Plan
• Choosing a Process Improvement Methodology

What Is a Process Improvement Plan?

A process improvement plan is a document that outlines the steps to improve a business process. 

It involves mapping existing processes, identifying bottlenecks, and implementing new changes. 

A process improvement plan provides guidance on how managers can identify waste and improve the quality of work output. These efforts enable teams to work more productively.

As an example, consider document-centric processes like contract approvals.

Using paper forms may make sense in the early stages of a business, but it can quickly lead to bottlenecks — employees waste time filling out and sending forms to their manager for approval.

This is the exact problem that the Initial Saudi Group faced.

Processing new contracts took up to 10 days, as it involved scanning and sending each one between offices for approval. The lengthy process meant frequent delays on new projects.

Afzal Jandira, Head of Business Systems, was tasked with improving contract approvals. 

By following a process improvement plan, Jandira got to the root of the problem and turned to frevvo to set up automated workflows to streamline approvals.

Contracts now only take a few days to complete. Replacing paper forms with dynamic forms and using digital signatures means that employees never lose or misplace paperwork.

This is just one process improvement example. A process improvement plan helps you break down existing processes and uncover ways to make them more efficient.

Let’s look at how a process improvement plan benefits your company.

Benefits of a Process Improvement Plan

Markets are constantly evolving as new technology emerges and competitors expand their product lines. Companies must look for ways to improve their processes to stay relevant.

Here are some of the benefits of an effective process improvement plan and how you can use it to deliver more value to your customers.

More Efficient Operations

Optimizing or removing steps that add little to no value increases overall efficiency. Consider the employee onboarding process.

Having new hires fill out stacks of forms on their first day and providing little guidance is unlikely to leave a positive impression. There’s practically no engagement.

By using onboarding software like frevvo to automate and improve this process, you can engage new hires early on and get them up to speed even faster. In fact, 69% of employees say that automation will allow them to focus more on their primary job duties.

Automation allows you to streamline operations and even reduce the number of steps in a process. This increased productivity has a positive impact on your bottom line.

Higher Employee Engagement

Employees today want to realize their full potential at work. In fact, 9 out of 10 workers are willing to earn less if it means working on more meaningful projects.

Yet, employees spend just 27% of their time on skilled work. They spend the rest of their time on “work about work” activities, like communicating about tasks and hunting down documents.

Having employees spend most of their day on mundane tasks can cause them to feel frustrated with how they’re spending their time. Prolonged frustration can lead to burnout and high turnover rates.

Executing a process improvement plan helps cut down on repetitive tasks. For example, with frevvo you can create automated workflows that route documents to the right approvers.

Here’s an example of a contract approval workflow:

Employees can focus on higher-value work instead of chasing down their managers.

Reduced Risk

Certain tasks are more prone to errors than others. Examples include manual data entry and transferring data from one system to another.

The problem with performing tasks manually is the increased risk of error. An employee may enter the wrong data or make a calculation error. Fixing these mistakes (assuming someone catches them) can be time-consuming and costly.

A process improvement plan can help you identify which parts of a process are prone to error and draw up changes to mitigate them.

Increased Agility

Companies need to be agile to quickly respond to market changes and weather unpredictable circumstances. A process improvement plan helps prepare your business for change.

When the global pandemic hit, companies around the world had to close their offices and let their employees work from home. This meant that most companies had to reexamine their processes and implement new changes to stay afloat.

These included adopting various tools and turning to automation. 63% of small businesses say that automation helped their company quickly pivot due to the pandemic.

Now that you know how a process improvement plan benefits your company, let’s look at how to create one.

How to Create a Process Improvement Plan 

Whether you’re a startup or an established company, a process improvement plan ensures your processes are running smoothly. Any flaws in a process, no matter how minor, can turn into bigger issues unless you address them.

Follow these steps to write an effective process improvement plan.

1. Document Existing Processes

For your process improvement plan to work, you need to document existing processes first. This includes mapping a process and writing detailed instructions for each step.

Get feedback from the rest of the team to help with this step. You can also walk through a process yourself to ensure you’re not missing anything. 

While you can certainly use pen and paper here, consider using a tool like frevvo for process mapping. The workflow builder enables you to visually map out each step of a process.

Here’s an example of a process for expense claims:

Breaking down a process like this will make it easier to identify bottlenecks. Then gather data to determine how the process currently performs. This will allow you to establish a baseline that you can compare future results against.

2. Analyze a Process

Now that you’ve mapped out a process, the next step is to analyze it. Take a closer look at each step to identify areas of improvement. 

Tracking down the root cause of an issue is crucial here.

As an example, take churn rates — the rate at which customers stop doing business with you.

High churn rates have a direct impact on revenues. Unless you get to the bottom of why customers are leaving, your company’s growth will continue to stagnate. 

Likewise, if a process isn’t performing as well as it should, you need to dig deep to track down the problem to its origin. 

Ask these questions to get to the root cause of a problem:

• Which steps are causing delays? 
• Where do employees and customers get frustrated?
• What steps contribute little to no value?
• What tasks are consuming more resources?

3. Redesign the Process

Work with your team to brainstorm ideas on how to redesign a process. What parts of the process can you trim down or even eliminate? Are there any steps you can automate or tweak to improve output?

Redesign the process based on the insights gathered.

As an example, let’s say that cycle times — the time it takes to complete a process — are unusually long for purchase orders. 

An analysis reveals that employees are spending a lot of time just creating them. In this case, you can use a tool like frevvo to digitize your forms and even pull in data from a database.

Here’s an example of how that looks:

Employees can choose a vendor, and the fields will automatically populate, greatly speeding up the document creation process.

4. Acquire Resources

At this point, you should have a redesigned process with input from your team. The next is to acquire the resources you need to implement those changes.

If a bottleneck in a process stems from a backlog of work, you might consider adding more people to the team. That could mean bringing in people from other departments or hiring new workers.

In addition, if you’re turning to automation to streamline certain tasks, make sure you have the process improvement tools you need before you implement your plan.

5. Draft an Implementation Plan

Drafting an implementation plan is like planning a project. It involves assigning roles and establishing schedules to keep things on the right track. 

Most importantly, prior planning sets expectations and keeps teams aligned before you make any changes. This increased accountability leads to better outcomes. 

Start by assigning tasks to each team member and allocate resources accordingly. Then create a timeline with corresponding start and end dates for each task. Use the process documentation you created earlier to help with this step.

Choosing a Process Improvement Methodology

There are several methodologies that you can adopt to carry out improvements and create a new process. These are Six Sigma, lean manufacturing, kaizen, total quality management (TQM), and plan-do-check-act (PDCA).

Let’s take a closer look at each one.

Six Sigma

Six Sigma is a process improvement methodology that began in Motorola and has since spread to other companies.

DMAIC is the improvement cycle for Six Sigma and stands for the following:

• Define: Define a problem you want to solve.
• Measure: Collect data to measure how the process performs.
• Analyze: Analyze the process and identify areas of improvement
• Improve: Develop and implement new solutions.
• Control: Track process improvements and maintain the changes.

Lean Manufacturing

Lean manufacturing is a process methodology that aims to eliminate as much waste as possible without compromising on quality.

A good example of “waste” is the time that employees spend chasing down their managers for approvals. One way to cut down on this type of waste is to use a tool like frevvo to automate document routing and create a digital signature workflow. 

Kaizen

Kaizen is a Japanese term that translates to “change for the better” or “continuous improvement.” This methodology focuses on small, incremental changes over time rather than breakthroughs.

A good example is the use of andon cords in Toyota factories. Workers would pull on overhead cords if they discovered a problem. This would stop the assembly line and immediately alert a team leader so they can work on a solution.

Total Quality Management (TQM)

Total quality management, or TQM, is a methodology that seeks to build long-term success through customer satisfaction.

TQM takes a continuous improvement approach to improve processes. It involves employees at all levels working together to reduce waste and increase quality.

Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA)

Plan-Do-Check-Act, or PDCA, is an iterative methodology that helps organizations become more efficient. It stands for the following:

• Plan: Analyze a process and plan new changes.
• Do: Implement the changes on a smaller scale.
• Check: Collect data and analyze the results.
• Act: Apply what you learn on a larger scale.

Then you’d simply repeat the PDCA cycle to continue improving business processes.

These process improvement methodologies have their own strengths and weaknesses, so it’s important to carefully consider each one before choosing one.

Start Automating Your Processes

Every organization depends on processes to operate. But any existing process can become inefficient over time and lead to poor performance.

Creating a process improvement plan as laid out here will help you identify bottlenecks and come up with more efficient solutions. 

No matter what process you’re looking to improve, it’s important that you have the right process improvement tools.

Start automating your processes with frevvo’s workflow software. With the simple drag-and-drop tools, you can visualize your processes and create powerful automated workflows.
Get started today with a 30-day free trial to test drive the software for yourself.

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