Workflow analysis involves identifying inefficiencies and recommending improvements in a business’s processes. Analysts interact with employees to document current processes and recommend modifications, automation, or leaving processes in place. Companies undertake workflow analysis to improve processes and expose legacy processes. External consultants can conduct the analysis, beginning with interviews with senior managers to determine desired outcomes. Analysts then interview employees and supervisors to document all aspects of the business. Results are presented to lower-level managers for adjustment and then to top managers with recommendations for improvements.
Workflow analysis involves reviewing all processes in a business in order to identify inefficiencies and recommend improvements. The job begins with determining the desired outcomes of the analysis with senior managers of a company. Analysts then interact with company employees to document the current state of business processes within the company. The final stage is the recommendation of processes that need to be modified, automated, or left in place in line with stated goals.
A typical company is continually looking to improve its processes, and two main factors lead companies to undertake a workflow analysis. First, ongoing technological advances can offer more efficient and less expensive ways of doing business, and companies often choose to overhaul processes in order to automate them or incorporate the latest technology. Secondly, it is typical for so-called legacy processes to be firmly entrenched in a company, which means that a certain task has long been performed in a certain way and can be overlooked as a process that needs improvement. One goal of this process is to expose those legacy processes.
External consultants can actually do a workflow analysis as they are experts and have no loyalty to any particular way of doing business. In the initial interaction with senior managers, workflow analysts typically begin with interviews to determine how top managers currently view the company, including what’s working and what’s not. Next the analysts determine the desired end state that the managers hope to achieve with the workflow analysis project.
Most workflow analysis work takes place with trained analysts interviewing employees and supervisors to document how tasks are being performed. This includes all aspects of a business such as paper processing for sales, collections, compliance and human resources. It may also cover manufacturing processes such as receiving raw materials or parts, processing or assembling them, and shipping finished goods.
Analysts will also review the time spent and effort spent interacting with customers, including sales and customer service. Workflow analytics looks at everything every employee in the company does with a view to documenting how each activity begins and moves through the organization.
After the initial documentation, workflow analysts typically present results to lower-level managers to ensure that the analysis results match the reality of the business. Adjusting the analysis as necessary, the analysts then examine the workflow to identify areas where processes could be streamlined, automated, or both. This information is then typically presented to top managers along with recommendations for improvements.
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