This task is intended to help you use leadership skills to gather project members from cross-functional departments and skill sets and lead them in the fulfillment and implementation of a mock project.
Discover the various responsibilities of a project manager by organizing a project. See Chapter 19, sections 19.9 and Cases.
Apply project management tools and a PM outline type of your choice to structure and plan the project by defining, planning, and controlling. The project will be a continuation of how to improve the process you chose in Weeks 1 and 2.
Create a 10- to 12-slide PowerPoint presentation (supported by Excel and Word as needed), with detailed speaker notes, that includes the following:

Project description
Project Management Charts (Critical Path, Gant Chart, etc.)
Improved Process Flowchart from Week 1
Meeting cadence/rhythm and timing
Metrics to measure the project’s success
Financial and budgetary considerations
Description of the project reporting structure
OPS/574 v1
Process Improvement Flowchart
As-Is Process Flowchart Evaluation
Select a process from an organization you work for or are familiar with. You will
use this process in your Week 2 and Week 4 Assignments as well.
The selected business process is procurement process in a retail store I worked with.
Create a flowchart of the as-is process using Microsoft® Word, PowerPoint®, Visio®,
or Excel®. Insert your flowchart below this line.
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Process Improvement Flowchart
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Business
needs
analysis
Issue of RFI,
RFQ and
RFP
Making
payments
Creating a
list of
suppliers
Negotiations
with preffered
supplier
Auditing the
order
Production of
tender
documents
Finalizing
purchase
orders
Figure 1, AS-IS business process
Evaluate the efficacy of your process using process improvement techniques.
Write your evaluation below this line.
The procurement process is effective because it evaluates the different suppliers
to determine the best alternative and fit for the organization. The process is effective in
ensuring that the business receives what it has ordered for since the orders are
automated once they get to the organization. The process however takes a long time and
hence there are a few improvements that should be made to the process.
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Process Improvement Flowchart
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Process Improvement Flowchart
Determine how the process can be improved based on the results of your
evaluation.
The process can be improved through automation of the process to make it shorter and
more efficient. Also, there needs to be evaluation and monitoring of the contract
performance to ensure that the organization benefits from the contract and the objectives
of the engagement are met.
Define metrics and measure the current process. Insert the metrics and measures
below this line.
1) Efficiency- measure of the amount of waste in the process. There is less wastage
in the process. Efficiency can be improved by automation which will cut on the
overall cost of the process.
2) Cycle time- the amount of time used in completion of the entire process (Satyal et
al., 2019). The current process takes 45 days to complete. The length can be
made shorter through automation.
3) Throughput- a measure of the output in a given time.
4) Error rate- a measure of the number of errors made in the process. Errors arise in
the processing of the purchase orders sometimes. However, this is an issue in the
suppliers’ end.
Use process improvement techniques to improve the process. Create a flowchart
of the improved process using Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Visio, or Excel. Use
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your professional judgment to ascertain how the future process will perform
according to your metrics. Insert new flowchart below this line.
Needs
analysis
Automated
auditing
process
Making
payments
Purchase
Requistion
receipt of
orders
Reveiwing
contract
performance
Review of
the requests
Negotiations
and signing
contracts
Finalizing of
orders
Automated
Purchase
orders
Summary
Write a 350-word executive summary that includes the following:
?
A brief description of the process based on the flowchart of processes
current state
?
The results of your process evaluation and how the weak points can be
strengthened. Include a description of the process improvement
technique(s) used.
?
A brief description of process improvements based on the process of the
future state
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?
How you anticipate the future process will perform based on metrics used to
evaluate process current state
?
A description of your process improvement project to achieve the process
future state
Insert your summary below this line.
The current process of procurement is made up of nine steps. The process starts
with a business needs analysis which is essential. The business needs analysis entails
the analysis of the products which are needed by the business, where the products can
be obtained from and at what prices. Once the step is done a list of potential suppliers is
created for the business. The suppliers make requests after which the best fit is selected.
The process is more manual and a lot of time is spent when processing and auditing the
orders. There are various weak points in the process based on a why analysis. The
process improvement technique used is why analysis. Why analysis is a process
improvement technique which helps understand the root cause of problems in a business
process (Mantin & Veldman, 2019). The main weak point is the cycle time; the process
takes 45 days but with automation the cycle time could be reduced to 30 days. Another
weak point is the efficiency of the process; the process is not at optimal, costs are high
and can be reduced by automation. Automation will help reduce the length of the process
which will lower the costs involved as well.
The to-be process incorporates some improvements. One of the improvements is
that the final stage of the process is a review of the contract performance. The step is
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Process Improvement Flowchart
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very important as it will help provide the business with an opportunity to review if the
contracts are beneficial and whether the business KPIs are met. The review of the
performance will give the business an opportunity to make any necessary changes
needed to ensure that the process is effective (Cho & Linderman, 2019). Another change
is automated payments and production & processing of purchase orders. This will reduce
paper work and time taken. I anticipate that the changes will lower the cycle length of the
project and also increase efficiency. The automation of the process will also lower the
errors made in the process and make it more accurate. The process improvement project
is aimed at ensuring the business gets the best out of the procurement process. The
project is a proposal for the automation of the procurement process.
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References
Cho, Y. S., & Linderman, K. (2019). Metacognition-based process improvement
practices. International Journal of Production Economics, 211, 132-144.
Mantin, B., & Veldman, J. (2019). Managing strategic inventories under investment in
process improvement. European Journal of Operational Research, 279(3), 782794.
Satyal, S., Weber, I., Paik, H. Y., Di Ciccio, C., & Mendling, J. (2019). Business process
improvement with the AB-BPM methodology. Information Systems, 84, 283-298.
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