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02/14/2012 10:50 AM
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Hi! In my company we have for 2012 a big focus on creating a VSM per department, incluiding support areas like HR, does anyone have good examples of such VSM's?
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02/19/2012 07:55 PM
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VSM stands for Value Stream Mapping. A department is not necessarily a value stream and in most cases; it is not.
It sounds like someone has found a hammer and now everything looks like a nail...
Visualization of a process is important to improvement. A department such as HR would probably be better visualized using process flow mapping or a swim lane map than VSM to identify opportunities for improvement and standardization.
If HR is part of a value stream, it is one that looks at how the right people are at the right job at the right time. A hire-to-retire value stream that includes process steps of hire, train, retain, motivate, promote, and retire. HR plays key parts in that value stream but so does every manager and executive (the primary trainers, mentors, and motivators).
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02/19/2012 07:55 PM
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The main thing to grasp is that a "department" like HR is not a value stream.
It has many value streams.
You have to start from the viewpoint of their customer - what do they produce?
For HR, they have a "payroll" value stream; they have a "hiring" value stream; etc.
Each of those would have a separate map.
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02/21/2012 03:43 PM
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I have to agree with Mark, the HR function in any business has many Value Streams, all of which would benefit from some form of mapping. Without the mapping aspect, how do you identify where you can improve ?
In reference to the OP, perhaps look at the Recruitment process, the Appraisial process and for me, very importantly, the training process.
As a question, whats is the difference between Swim Lane and VSM, in my understanding these have always been the same thing....I do however look to larn !
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02/21/2012 03:43 PM
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Hi Robert_Simonis & Mark Rosenthal
Thanks for your comments! Robert I have to agree with you, it does look like "everything looks like a nail" but I also agree with Mark that it might be a good aproach to work on HR as several value streams.
But let me ask you this, how is it different a VSM for Material Planning or Customer Support vs HR?
We have done VSM for this 2 departments and they worked out decent excersises
Thanks for your comments as I'm learning from them
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02/21/2012 03:43 PM
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Often times our past causes us to not see obvious distinctions. An eventual break through aha for me was to one day realize that value stream is not a department or a work stream such as the one in my world--maintenance work stream. Once I realized what Lean principles were saying to me I was off and running. A VS is actually the steps for a distinctive matter. For example, within payroll there will likely be multiple distinctive families of hiring cases with a distinctive outcome value to the firm. Make that shift in your thought process and see what emerges.
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02/21/2012 03:43 PM
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The first question I'd ask is why every department needs to have a VSM. If the only reason to have one is to meet some corporate dictate, you're wasting your time. If - as others have said - the goal is to make waste visible, then you may be onto something. I've seen far too may VSM exercises turn into just that - mapping exercises. Everybody got to put fancy looking maps with jargon that few people understood up on the wall - where few people looked at them and even fewer took any action on them. That's a great way to kill off any enthusiasm right at the beginning of an otherwise good project.
Tom
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02/21/2012 03:43 PM
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Hi,
Have to agree with Mark and Robert here.
A VSM is definately possible in a business process, however the first thing to do is to define the value stream/s. I am currently developing a VSM in local govt. but rather than looking at a departmental view we are mapping a particular process or value stream. This looks similar to a manufacturing VSM with the interaction of different departments rather than manufacturing cells.
The problem is a manager hears about VSM and without understanding it decides to go and do it within a department. A little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing.
Jason.
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02/21/2012 03:43 PM
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Hi
I have to agree with Robert Simonis, it my company it does look now that "everything looks like a nail"; but also I agree with Mark Rosenthal why not having a VSM for "payroll" process or hiring and recruitment?
I also have a question, we have developed sucessfuly a VSM for Customer Support and Material planning, why should HR be any different?
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02/23/2012 01:36 PM
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I see customer support and material planning as processes rather than departments. True these functions can be contained in a department of the same name however they are still a process.
Can you define the HR process? HR is a department that performs many different processes e.g. payroll, recruitment, learning & deveopment, performance management etc,etc. A VSM can be developed for the processes in HR but not for the department HR.
A systems view or systems map will define the suppliers, inputs, processes, outputs, customers and assets of the department and can be a useful tool.
Jason.
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02/24/2012 01:39 PM
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Hi Oscar
I have facilitated many Value Stream Mapping events in the office and administrative areas. I think a good definition of a Value Stream is all of the steps that are required to bring a product, service or document from customer request through delivery of the product, service or document back to the customer. In HR, one of the value streams is the hiring process. The customer is the department manager making the request for a new hire. So the value stream map would show all of the high level steps that are required to bring that new hire through the process and all the way through to the end of their probationary period. Another value stream in HR is the payroll process. The customer is the employee. And the map would show all of the steps required to bring a pay check through the payroll process and to the employee. Hope this helps.
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02/24/2012 01:39 PM
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I have successfully used VSI (Value Stream Improvement) within a specific component/stream in HR. The specific stream was onboarding of new employees. The effort was scoped from a new employee's job acceptance through 90 days after their first day of work. We included all of the process steps in creating the VSMs that are required to get the employee onboard such as screening tests and security checks, through orientation, followed by getting them all of the materials, system access and training needed to be successful in their job.
VSI is very effective for this.
Start with a SIPOC to prevent trying the "solve world hunger" approach of fixing everything all at once.
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02/27/2012 08:29 PM
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Hi all!
Thanks for your comments, they have helped me to realize that my approach was incorrect. I should not be looking at HR or Material Planning or Customer Support as departments. I should be looking at them as process, such as "Order delivery to customer" or "Procurement Process in Material Planning" and as most of you stated "payroll process" and so on. Thanks a lot for that.
But still, does anyone have an example that could share with me on this type of VSMs?
Thanks to all!
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03/05/2012 04:26 PM
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Hi!
I'm sorry to post on someone else's post but it is within the same subject.
I'm currently doing a VSM to the processes of the department of Customer Support, mainly about Spare Parts Selling and Technical Assistant.
I already traced all the processes but I am having a hard time finding out how to measure processes times. Almost everything is done by email so it is very hard to measure because it can take one day or five to reply. Depends on the problem of the machine, etc...
Can you help me? Does anyone have an example?
Thank you in advance.
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03/06/2012 01:21 PM
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Sara,
You have a golden opportunity here. I would stop where you are and ask "Why is there such variation in the time it takes to reply to emails?". What you have is the equivilant to "sleeping inventory".
Go after that constraint and when you have reduced, or better yet, eliminated the variation, go back and complete your VSM. Life will be much easier.
Ken
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03/07/2012 10:50 PM
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Oscar would you be willing to share that VSM for customer support as we are attempting to do something similar with our company.
Thanks Jesse
Cotten.jesse@con-way.com
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03/20/2012 04:13 PM
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Hi!
Today I had a first approach to draw a VSM for the Recruitment process, but I have a question. If the standard process is "post internal vacancy" "internal Interviews" and then if necessary "post external vacancy notice" "external Interviews"; do you put in your VSM the "External" part? Or do you keep it with the internal 'cause it covers around 60 to 70% of your vacancies (depending on the job position level)? Or do you create a separate VSM one for internal and one for external?
Thanks for your comments!
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03/21/2012 11:10 AM
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Hi Oscar,
Although these processes are both recruitment, I think there are two distinct processes and should both be mapped seperately. You are likely to have different flows, bottlenecks and waste from each process.
Trying to combine processes will not only get messy but will also 'hide' some of the important points from the analysis.
Jason.
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03/21/2012 11:10 AM
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Oscar,
I've facilitated VSMs for recruiting/staffing processes and discovered a few things.
1. There are lots of interdependencies to understand and if you seperate out subprocesses you miss those opportunities and may "improve" a process without understaning how it impacts upstream or downstream processes. For example asking "How can/should the internal job posting process support the external posting process? Do we start from scratch? Do we manually input same info in two systems?"
2. HR owns this type of value stream but there are other stakeholders to get involved like hiring managers, staffing specialists, recent hires.
3. I like to define the customer as the hiring organization. That is who pays the bill and sets the specs. Since hiring managers and candidate have responsibilities in the process, calling them the customer may cause you to focus on the wrong things and realign work elements away from them that you shouldn't.
4. Start and end with the functions you need each step to perform. This can help minimize the "warm & fuzzy" talk that this type of activity inspires. For example a job posting needs to communicate:
Value of job to attract the right candidates.
Job expectations to potential candidates to ensure fit.
Selection criteria to help candidates self screen.
Minimum qualifications to help the hiring team effeciently screen.
Desired characteristics to help hiring tream and effectively screen.
Legal basis for screeening and selection for OFCCP audits.
Hope that helps.
Jason
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04/13/2012 05:02 PM
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There are many good responses to your topic that I agree with, for sure. Mapping the product families inside of a department will get you a good picture of where improvements (waste elimination) can be made. One thing I feel you MUST do is understand the interactions, i.e. HR and Production Control, Production Control and Purchasing, etc. Identifying these interactions can be the ticket to really streamlining the Administration/Transactional aspects of your business.
I would start by process mapping your administration processes to see flow. Then dig down in each process to determine the product families. From there you can determine product flow through a VS. Usually there is mucho muda once you get started that is very visible. There are also usually many different functions interacting with each other to get the job done. This is where many of the big savings lie.
Please be advised, it is not easy and will take time. Plus, expect some cultural pushback. Most administration processes have been in place a long time and folks think they have been pretty efficient/effective in what they do. You will need to demonstrate how you can make their live's better to gain buy-in.
There is a good book that gives you a road map on administration/transactional Lean. Try picking up the "Lean Administration I - How to make business processes transparent" Workbook, written by Bobo Wiegand and Phillip Franck.
Hope this helps.
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