Process Management FAQ

What does the term "process management" mean?
How does STAT-A-MATRIX’s process management approach differ from other initiatives?
What is the goal of process management?
Who usually participates on process management teams?
What are the components of STAT-A-MATRIX’s Process Management Design phase?
What is the Operate stage?
How do the Design and Operate stages link to process improvement?
What’s the difference between Process Management and Process Improvement?
Is Process Management an integral part of Six Sigma or Lean initiatives?
Does STAT-A-MATRIX offer Process Management consulting and training as a stand-alone discipline?

Process Management refers to the set of tools needed to document, measure, monitor, and control processes. It is focused on strategically managing cross-functional processes to achieve business goals.

STAT-A-MATRIX’s approach to Process Management is an integrated methodology that incorporates Lean Six Sigma. Companies already practicing Six Sigma and Lean approaches to process improvement will be able to achieve greater alignment for their programs with their business by using the STAT-A-MATRIX process management approach. Conversely, those companies who are just in the process of adopting a process improvement program will find that STAT-A-MATRIX’s Process Management methodology is an invaluable framework for focusing their programs. Finally, organizations that do not intend to start a process improvement program but need to manage their work better through processes will find STAT-A-MATRIX’s process management approach useful as well.

The goal of Process Management is to manage process quality in a way that meets the organization’s strategic objectives. Its outcomes must include the provision of consistent service to the customer. Process management must also provide direction for improvement activities and hold the gains created by these initiatives.

Recognizing that products and services for customers are not produced by functions, but by processes that tend to cross functional lines, process management requires the participation of cross functional teams. Such initiatives are usually led by a process owner who is concerned with overall process health and has both the responsibility and the authority to manage and improve a process.

Design is the first stage of the STAT-A-MATRIX Process Management model. This stage determines the elements of that need to work in concert for successful project management to take place. This includes establishing performance requirements, documenting key processes, developing a measurement system, creating organizational roles, and implementing enabling technology.

Operate is the second stage of the STAT-A-MATRIX Process Management model During this stage an organization builds process-monitoring plans using dashboards and process management charts, creates and interprets time plots and control charts of data, distinguishes between common cause and special cause variation in data and takes appropriate action in each case.

The Design and Operate stages enable organizations to identify opportunities for process improvement or redesign. Using Lean and Six Sigma methodologies, these opportunities are then leveraged to realize significant value-added improvements to a company’s bottom line.

Process management is an ongoing system of process surveillance that identifies when changes in process effectiveness or efficiency create the need for improvement or design. When these are complete, the improved or redesigned processes reenter the process management system.

Six Sigma and Lean improvement and design initiatives alone are not enough to achieve excellence. In addition to improving existing processes and designing new processes, products, and services, organizations must also manage existing processes on an ongoing basis. In the STAT-A-MATRIX model, Process Management is the foundation from which Lean and Six Sigma initiatives can be launched.

STAT-A-MATRIX can offer Process Management training and consulting as a standalone discipline, or can integrate it with new or existing Lean and Six Sigma programs.