Value stream mapping for service and admin processes

Key takeaways

Value stream mapping for services is a way of drawing every step an item passes through, with the working time and the waiting time for each. Its main finding is nearly always the same: the work takes minutes and the process takes days. In our example, 38 minutes of work is spread across six working days.

• A value stream map shows every step with work time and wait time.
• 38 minutes of work across 6 working days in our example.
• Most elapsed time in admin processes is waiting, not working.
• One afternoon and a wall of sticky notes is enough to start.

What is value stream mapping?

Value stream mapping is a lean method that charts the flow of work from request to delivery, recording for each step who does it, how long the work takes and how long the item waits before the next step. It makes delay and duplication visible so they can be removed.

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How is it different from a normal process map?

A normal process map shows what happens. A value stream map also shows how long each part takes and how long nothing happens in between. That timing is the point. Two processes with identical steps can differ tenfold in elapsed time, and only the timed map shows why.

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How do you map an admin process?

Map it with the people who do the work, in one session, following a single real item. Use the last completed case, not the ideal one. Write each step on a note with two numbers: touch time, the minutes of real work, and wait time, how long the item sat before the step began.

• 1. Choose a process and define its start and end.
• 2. Gather everyone who touches it.
• 3. Walk one recent case step by step.
• 4. Record touch time and wait time for each step.
• 5. Add up both and calculate the ratio.
• 6. Circle the three longest waits.

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• Cost baseline: measure today's cost before you change it

What does a worked example show?

Take an illustrative supplier invoice. It is opened (2 minutes), waits a day, is matched to an order (8 minutes), waits two days for a manager's approval (3 minutes), waits a day, is entered into the accounts system (10 minutes), waits two days for the payment run, and is paid and filed (15 minutes).

Touch time is 38 minutes. Elapsed time is six working days, or about 2,700 working minutes at 7.5 hours a day. The process efficiency ratio is roughly 1.4%. Nearly all the delay sits in two places: approval and the payment run. Neither is a staffing problem.

• Touch time: 38 minutes.
• Elapsed time: 6 working days.
• Process efficiency: about 1.4%.
• Largest waits: approval and the payment run.

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What do you do with the map?

Use the map to remove waits before you touch the work. Approvals can have thresholds so small items pass without one. Batches can run more often. Steps done by different people can be combined. Only then decide whether the remaining touch time should be automated, kept or moved to a managed team.

• Straight-through processing: cut the touches per task
• Exception handling: the few cases that drive most cost
• The cost lever scorecard: find savings process by process

When is mapping not worth the effort?

Mapping is not worth it for a task one person does from start to finish in one sitting, or for work that happens a few times a year. It pays where several people or systems are involved and customers or suppliers feel the delay. It also fails if the map describes the official process instead of what really happened last week.

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What does this look like in practice?

A pattern we see when teams map a slow process together: each person is surprised by what the others do. A step added years ago to catch one error is still performed on every item. The map gives the group permission to ask whether it is needed, which nobody could do alone.

• See client work
• BPO Solutions for UK businesses

Value stream mapping checklist

Check these before and after the session.

• Start and end points are agreed.
• Everyone who touches the process is present.
• A real recent case is used.
• Touch time and wait time are recorded per step.
• The three longest waits are identified.
• One change is agreed with an owner and a date.
• The process is re-timed after 30 days.

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Next step

Tell us which process your customers or suppliers complain is slow. We will help you map it, find the waits and decide what to change first.