DOCUMENT Magazine - April 2008 - (Page 8)

MS MANAGE & STRATEGY & s Mapping Out Performance Small transaction document producers process millions of mail kits annually. For medium-sized mailers, this number is in the tens of millions. And for large, multi-site transaction mail businesses, total annual output is in the hundreds of millions or more. In this kind of environment — where the number of repetitive, discrete microprocesses is very high — deep process analysis is rewarded with substantial ﬁnancial gain. Thus, the greater the commitment to analysis, the greater the gain. This gain is principally generated by making better decisions about people, equipment and customers. Why Do Process Analysis? Process analysis is comprised of data collection, presentation and analysis of core operations activities. It allows document processing companies to comprehensively answer, at multiple levels of aggregation, the following questions with extensively collected data: >> How do my people perform? >> Which of my customers truly drive my business’s proﬁtability? >> What equipment is right for my business and work mix? How do my people perform? Most managers have an idea of which operators are the best. They recognize who works hard, who arrives on time, who works overtime when asked, etc. Conversely, they also know who is not performing. However, once top performers (the top 10%) and bottom performers (the bottom 10%) are covered, what about the rest? How is the total crew ranked? And, even among top and bottom performers, what kind of data is available to support positive and negative impressions — to separate real performers from good or bad self-promoters? Process analysis enables fact-based performance evaluation. It differentiates performance by operator by type of work and by machine. It also allows the reasonable assignment of operators to work they are good at. It allows operators that are top performers to be compensated for their performance and other operators to be managed and incentivized for improved performance. Who are my truly important customers? As with their staff, most managers know which customers are their bread and butter. They broadly know whose work accounts for what volume and the pricing side of that work in extensive detail. Typically, though, cost and related proﬁtability data is less readily available. Yes, there’s a lot of volume; yes, it runs fast. But does it run at the right time of the week, month or year? More fundamentally, is it priced right for the net dollars it costs to produce? Process analysis examines these questions. It looks to assign costs based on activity and, by doing so, provide management extensive context about which work is really attractive and which is not. Essentially, it makes choices visible to managers. When such decisions (for example, processing loss-making work) need to be made, they are made transparently and with a complete view of related customer volume, productivity and proﬁtability data. m anagers in today’s transactional print and mail environments are under constant pressure to increase efﬁciency and decrease cost. Implementing high-level process analysis will arm these managers with the data to prove the cost-effectiveness of their work. Measuring real process analysis for increased operational efﬁciency | By Seth Surchin 8 document april.08 www.DOCUMENTmedia.com http://www.DOCUMENTmedia.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Document Magazine - April 2008

Document Magazine - April 2008 Contents Editor's View The Research Desk The Response Center BPM: Improving the Way You Process Contributing Writers Mapping Out Performance Build the Context Before You Move into the House of ECM Taking On the Big 3 The Human Connection Addressing Your Addresses Don't Call Us, We'll Call You The Mulitplying Image Recognizing Accuracy New Products Calendar Advertisers

Document Magazine - April 2008

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