Designing operational efficiencies through process mapping

Identifying bottlenecks in business processes while maintaining good internal controls is an ongoing issue in every utility  What do internal controls have to do with efficiencies you ask? Internal controls are nothing more than business processes. The definition of internal controls, i.e. “effectively allocating resources and protecting against fraud” is the definition of business processes. In other words, how do we get things done effectively in our organization while protecting our assets?

Identifying inefficient business processes

Inefficient business processes can sap resources in your utility. However, identifying bottlenecks and inefficiencies does not always have a clear path. Your organization may have decades of embedded processes in place and a culture resistant to change. The staff members, who regularly implement these processes, may know there are more efficient ways to do certain processes and can often provide the details on what needs changing. The act of change may be another matter due to institutional thought processes or obstacles.

Identifying inefficient processes and changing them are two separately activities. This article focuses on identification of inefficient processes. A subsequent article will discuss implementing change to increase process efficiencies.

Tools for changing business processes

There are two main approaches to changing business processes – Detailing the processes through a narrative or business process mapping. Each approach can be effective and both follow the same systematic work approach:

1. Interview process owners for the process under review
2. Document the detailed steps in the process through narrative or process mapping
3. Test the process from beginning to end to determine process owners do what they said they do in the interview
4. Analyze the process for inefficiencies or improvements
5. Make recommendations for change
6. Train process owners the new process
7. Perform follow-up testing to determine the process works as designed