Page 110 - DCAP103_Principle of operating system

Unit 3: Process Management-II

His first example was from the permit and inspection department for the city of San Jose, Notes
California. Before the redesign, it had taken more than a month to get their permits approved.
There was no money available from the city for process improvement. Madison helped the
city develop a new permit form and process using four “lenses,” or pictures of how the
processes were done and how the results were judged. These were:
Frustration (as experienced by the people in the process)

Quality
Time
Cost

Frustration level is very important because Madison says that it has a high correlation to
quality and there is usually immediate buy-in from people within the process.

After finding out the frustration level, it is important to find out why. In the permit process,
the main problem was incomplete information on the permit forms, so the process was
amended to ensure that all the information that was needed was in place from the beginning.
The developers needed to have a single point of contact with the city, in order to find out the
information they needed. The city also began to cluster the permits so that similar projects
had their own process. This meant that a developer who wanted to build a high rise had a
different process and form than a homeowner who wanted to put in a swimming pool. It was
found by studying the processes that the no-permit-needed people and the simple permits
were found to take half the permit load for the city. With minor changes and adjustment, these
customers were able to get what they needed from the city in just a few hours. Previously
they had waited days and weeks.
In designing the new processes around the design principles, the first thing needed was to
make sure all the required information was there. There were 14 different permits. One of
the first things to work out was who reviewed the applications to see what was needed. The
city hired and trained from within five generalist engineers to do the reviews. Each engineer
had his own team, and each team was self-sufficient.

The most important Design Principles are:
Initially, design work flow around value adding activities, not functions or departments.
Work is performed where it makes the most sense.
Provide a single point of contact for customers and suppliers whenever possible.
Consider every hand off as an opportunity for error. Have as few people as possible involved
in the performance of a process.
If things coming into the process naturally cluster, create a separate process for each cluster.
Redesign the process first, then automate it.
Bring downstream information needs upstream. Capture information once at the source and
share it widely. Ensure 100% quality at the beginning of the process.
Ensure a continuous flow of the “main sequence” (those activities that directly add value to
the customer-nothing should slow the value-added steps)

Look for places to use or create a “generalist” instead of multiple specialists. Push decision-
making down to the lowest levels that make sense. Use simulation, practice, or role play
to test new process designs risk free. If your process deals with complexity, then consider
using teams. Co-locate the teams. If you can’t do this, then network them.
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