What is process analysis and when does it pay off?
Process analysis describes how a recurring piece of office work really runs – who does which step, where the case waits, where it changes hands – and adds volumes, times and cost rates. From that you can calculate lead time, cost per case and the workload of each role, and see where a change would help most. It pays off whenever you are about to change something: new software, a reorganization, a team that cannot keep up, or a process that customers complain about.
Process analysis in one paragraph
A process is a sequence of steps that turns a trigger into a result: an incoming invoice into a payment, a customer request into a quotation, a vacancy into a signed employment contract. Process analysis looks at one such process from end to end, across department boundaries, and asks three questions: what happens, how long does it take, and what does it cost.
The difference to simply drawing a flowchart is the numbers. A diagram shows the order of steps; an analysis adds how often the process runs, how long each step takes, how long the case lies untouched in between, and who is busy with it. Only then can you say whether the process is slow because people work slowly or because the case waits – which in office processes is almost always the larger share.
When does a process analysis pay off?
A process analysis costs time from the people who do the work, so it should have a reason. Typical reasons are:
- Before an ERP or other software rollout: the requirements and the volume figures for the specification come from the current process. See mapping processes before an ERP project.
- Before a reorganization: who takes over which step, and how many people are needed for it.
- When a team is permanently overloaded and you need to justify additional staff – or show where workload can be removed. See staffing calculation.
- When lead times grow, customers chase their cases or queries keep coming back.
- When a process has to be documented anyway, for example for a quality management system, and you want more than a picture.
The five steps
In practice, most process analyses follow the same sequence:
- Scope the process: what triggers it, what is the result, who receives the result, how many cases per month. See scoping a process with SIPOC.
- Map the current process with the people who do the work, step by step, with one lane per role. See mapping the current process.
- Add volumes and times: processing time and waiting time per step, shares at decisions, query rates. Estimated ranges are enough.
- Evaluate: lead time, cost per case, utilization per role, handoffs and media breaks. Mark the problems at the steps where they occur.
- Improve: define measures with an owner and a date, and compare the future process with the current process using the same metrics.
The key metrics
Each metric answers a question that someone in the organization is asking:
| Metric | Question it answers |
|---|---|
| Processing time | How much actual work does one case need? |
| Waiting time | How long does the case lie in an inbox, wait for an approval or for an answer? |
| Lead time | How long from trigger to result? Processing plus waiting along the path. |
| Cost per case | What does one case cost in working time, valued at the cost rate of each role? |
| Utilization per role | How much of the available time does the process need? The role with the highest utilization is the bottleneck if it reaches at least 85%; below that the app only names it as the highest utilization. |
| Handoffs and media breaks | How often does the case change lanes (handoffs), and how often does the medium change between two tasks, for example from the ERP system to paper (media breaks)? Media breaks also occur within a lane, so there can be more of them than handoffs. |
A short example
Take an invoice check with 1,000 invoices a month. Accounts payable enters the invoice (6 minutes), checks it (4 minutes) and posts it (5 minutes). One invoice in five is incomplete and goes back to the supplier; three in ten are above €5,000 and need an approval from division management.
Correctly calculated, one invoice needs 17.5 minutes of processing time and costs €17.04. It takes 1,229.5 minutes of working time from receipt to posting – about 2.6 working days – of which only 1.4% is actual work. Accounts payable needs 266.7 hours a month but has only 264 hours available: a utilization of 101%, so a backlog of about 10 invoices builds up every month. How these figures come about is shown in branches and loops.
The direction follows from the figures: working faster helps little, because the time is lost while the invoice waits – above all for the supplier’s answer to a query. A measure that cuts incomplete invoices from 20% to 10% shortens the lead time by about 334 minutes and brings accounts payable below 100% utilization. How to evaluate measures like this is described in future process and measures.
Notation: a swimlane diagram in BPMN style
The usual picture is a swimlane diagram: each role, department or IT system gets a horizontal lane, and each step sits in the lane of whoever does it. A handoff is then visible as a change of lane. BPMN (Business Process Model and Notation) is the widely used standard for such diagrams; for an analysis a small part of it is enough. See BPMN basics.
Common mistakes
- Mapping how the process should run instead of how it runs. The current process comes first; otherwise the analysis measures a wish.
- Only looking at the standard case. Exceptions may be rare but often bind a large share of the working time. See case types and exceptions.
- Recording processing times but no waiting times. In office work the waiting is usually far longer than the work.
- Adding up all boxes in the diagram. Steps behind a decision or inside a loop are not run once per case.
- Starting too detailed. Map the whole path roughly first, then refine the steps that matter.
- Mapping without the people who do the work. They know the queries, detours and workarounds.
Step by step: from an empty canvas to the metrics
The “Incoming invoice processing” template in four stages, the way a process takes shape in the editor. Drawn with the app’s export from the model it calculates with.
1. Empty: just the lanes, i.e. who takes part in the process. 2. Steps: tasks, decisions and connections in the order of the flow, still without times. 3. Times: processing and waiting time per step. From these the app already calculates the lead time; without case volume and headcount there is no utilization yet. 4. Metrics: with case volume (1,200 / month), headcount and cost rates, cost, staffing and utilization are added: lead time 7.3 working days, cost per case €29.41, staffing 4.2 FTE, bottleneck Accounts payable at 98%.
Try it in the editor
Incoming invoice processing · 1,200 / month
The template shows incoming invoices from the mailroom to payment, with a query loop to the supplier, an approval above €5,000, problems and measures already attached to the steps.
Open the example in the editorFrequently asked questions
What is the difference between process analysis and process mapping?
Process mapping describes the sequence of steps as a diagram. Process analysis goes further: it adds volumes, times and costs, and evaluates where the process loses time and where a change is worthwhile.
Do I need measured times?
No. Estimates from the people involved are enough to start, ideally as a range: best, typical and worst case. It matters more that processing time and waiting time are recorded separately than that they are precise to the minute.
How long does a process analysis take?
That depends on the size of the process and how many roles are involved. A process with a handful of roles can often be mapped in one workshop and completed with a few follow-up questions; the evaluation is immediate if a tool calculates the metrics.
Do I have to know BPMN?
No. A few symbols are enough: start, end, task, decision and wait. People who know BPMN read the diagram immediately; everyone else sees a diagram with lanes.
Who should take part?
At least one person per role who does the steps personally, plus the process owner. Someone who moderates keeps the session on the current process and makes sure numbers are asked for.
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