Process maturity: is your process ready to hand over?

Key takeaways

A process maturity model rates how well-defined and controlled a process is, from ad hoc to continuously improving. For a small business, five levels are enough: ad hoc, repeatable, defined, measured and improving. A process at level three, defined and written down, is ready to hand over. Below that, outsourcing usually adds questions rather than speed.

• 5 levels: ad hoc, repeatable, defined, measured, improving.
• Level 3 (defined and written) is the minimum to hand over.
• Most small-business processes sit at level 1 or 2.
• A provider can help lift a process from level 3 to 5.

What is a process maturity model?

A process maturity model is a scale that describes how consistently and predictably a process runs. The best-known version is the Capability Maturity Model developed at Carnegie Mellon University's Software Engineering Institute, which uses five levels. The simplified version here keeps the idea and drops the formal assessment.

• How outsourcing can improve business efficiency
• Should you fix a process before you outsource it?

What are the five levels?

Each level builds on the one before. A process moves up when it becomes more consistent, more visible and easier to improve.

• 1. Ad hoc: done differently each time, depends on who is free.
• 2. Repeatable: one person does it the same way, but it is not written.
• 3. Defined: written down, so anyone trained can follow it.
• 4. Measured: turnaround and errors are tracked weekly.
• 5. Improving: changes are tested and the measures move.

• Work instructions vs SOPs: which one does your team need?
• Outsourcing efficiency KPIs: prove the work got faster

How do you place your process?

Ask three questions. Could someone new follow it from a document? If not, it is level 1 or 2. Do you know its turnaround and error rate this month? If not, it is no higher than level 3. Has a change in the last quarter improved those numbers? If yes, it is level 5.

• The cost of undocumented processes
• Control charts for small businesses: spot real change

What does moving up a level look like?

In an illustrative example, a booking process at level 2 depends on one administrator. Writing the steps and exceptions takes it to level 3 in a week. Adding a weekly count of bookings, turnaround and corrections takes it to level 4 a month later. With a managed team running it, one tested change a quarter takes it to level 5. Example path only.

• Outsourced appointment booking and diary management
• Continuous improvement in outsourcing: savings past year one

Why is level 3 the minimum for outsourcing?

Level 3 is the minimum because a provider needs a written method to work from. At level 1 or 2 the knowledge is in someone's head, so every gap becomes a question. Once the process is defined, a provider's daily practice and reporting often moves it to levels 4 and 5 faster than an in-house team can.

• Document your processes before you outsource
• Keeping business knowledge in-house when work is outsourced

When does maturity not matter much?

Maturity matters little for small, low-risk tasks done by one person, where level 2 is fine. It matters most for processes that touch customers, money or personal data, and for any process you want someone else to run.

• When not to outsource

What does this look like in practice?

A pattern we see: an owner rates all their processes as level 3 because they are done consistently. Asking whether someone new could follow them from a document moves most to level 2. That honest rating is the start of a sensible handover plan.

• See client work
• BPO Solutions for UK businesses

Process maturity checklist

Rate each process with these questions.

• Is the method written down?
• Could someone new follow it?
• Is turnaround measured weekly?
• Are errors counted?
• Has a recent change improved the numbers?

• Outsourcing efficiency checklist: 20 checks

Next step

Send us your main processes with a one-line description of how each runs today. We will place them on the scale with you and say which are ready to hand over.