Process Analysis
Business Dictionary defines Process Analysis as "a step-by-step breakdown of the phases of a process, used to convey the inputs, outputs, and operations that take place during each phase." A process analysis can be used to improve understanding of how the process operates, and to determine potential targets for process improvement through removing waste and increasing efficiency.[1]
Process analysis is a form of technical writing and expository writing "designed to convey to the reader how a change takes place through a series of stages". While the traditional process analysis and a set of instructions are both organized chronologically, the reader of a process analysis is typically interested in understanding the chronological components of a system that operates largely without the reader's direct actions (such as how the body digests an apple), while the reader of a set of instructions intends to use the instructions in order to accomplish a specific, limited task (such as how to bake an apple pie). By contrast, the reader of a mechanism description is more interested in an object in space (such as the form and nutritional value of a particular kind of apple).[2]
Process Analysis Tools[3]
When you want to understand a work process or some part of a process, these tools can help:
- Flowchart: A picture of the separate steps of a process in sequential order, including materials or services entering or leaving the process (inputs and outputs), decisions that must be made, people who become involved, time involved at each step, and/or process measurements.
- Failure Mode Effects Analysis (FMEA): A step-by-step approach for identifying all possible failures in a design, a manufacturing or assembly process, or a product or service; studying the consequences, or effects, of those failures; and eliminating or reducing failures, starting with the highest-priority ones.
- MistakePproofing: The use of any automatic device or method that either makes it impossible for an error to occur or makes the error immediately obvious once it has occurred.
- Spaghetti Diagram: A spaghetti diagram is a visual representation using a continuous flow line tracing the path of an item or activity through a process. The continuous flow line enables process teams to identify redundancies in the workflow and opportunities to expedite process flow.