The Office of Quality Initiatives is available to all administrative and academic departments at Carleton University to assist with the analysis and redesign of existing core administrative processes to achieve effectiveness and efficiency in day-to-day operations.
What’s a process?
It’s a sequence of actions (or procedures) performed in the making of a product or a delivery of a service; where the procedures at each step of the process are interdependent and consume one or more resources (employee time, energy, machines, money, etc) to convert inputs (data, material, parts, etc) into outputs (products or services to be delivered to the customer).
The two approaches to Process Improvement that we facilitate are:
- Process Reviews – this approach to process improvement engages stakeholders in an analysis of the current state of operations, identifying problems, envisioning an improved future state, and documenting steps to achieve that future vision.
- Lean – this approach uses a methodology that understands value from a customer perspective by focusing on improving processes that deliver value. It involves value stream mapping (for both current and future states), and planning implementation events (called Kaizens).
Generally, the Lean methodology is used for broad, or cross-functional process improvement projects as the various Lean tools and more comprehensive approach lends itself to more complex processes.