Looking into your business's individual processes is a big part of mapping out your overall strategy. How is your business combining necessary tasks and activities to produce tangible value, in the form of a product, service, or feature? Beyond this, how can these processes be further improved? At Fluxus, we like to adopt a perspective of continual improvement, throughout all corners of your activities and practices. To accomplish this, we use an As-is – To-be process model.

So how does this model work?

Our main goal in process management is eliminating your problems by improving them step-by-step. To do this, we first need to figure out how your process functions right now: your "As-is" state. We then need to figure out where you want to be in the future; how would you like this process to optimally run? This is your "To-be" state.

Basically, what are you doing now, and how can you do it better?

Improving your As-is processes and transforming them into their ideal To-be state is all about identifying gaps. Looking at the big picture, it might be difficult to point out exactly where your gaps are, so the key here is breaking each process down.

As-is

Start with one process. Break it down into steps. What does the process deliver at the end, and how does it go about getting there? Map it out linearly in a flowchart, in as many steps or stages as it takes to represent it accurately. This is the representation of your As-is process; it's where you are now.

To-be

Next, take some time to discuss how you want this process's goal to be improved. You know where it gets you now, so where do you want it to get you once you've tweaked the process? This is the first stage of your gap identification, and once you've settled on your new goal, you can map out a new process: your To-be state. What steps will it take to get to your newly-decided end point?

With this done, now you have two clear, easily-comparable visuals. Initially, you made your To-be flowchart by identifying the gaps between your current process's end point and its ideal end point. But now that you've mapped out both, it's time to really get into the details on how to improve. Go point-by-point between both process and look for gaps there. You can follow these steps as a guide:

1. Identify. Before doing anything else, you have to find the gaps first. What is the difference between how an activity plays out now and how it could be done in your To-be state? Go through every step and pinpoint exactly where these gaps are located.
2. Analyze. Now that you know where all your gaps are, it's time to ask a crucial question: why? Discuss and determine the reason these gaps exist. If you know how you want your process to be run, why isn't that already how you do it?
3. Plan. At this point, you know where your gaps are and why. This is your "how?" stage. Come up with an achievable improvement plan for closing each gap.

Looking at your processes and trying to figure out why they aren't getting the results they should be from an external perspective is sure to cause some confusion. Using an As-is – To-be model is a great way to get inside the problem, and solve it in achievable steps. By partnering with Fluxus, we guarantee high-value quality in strategy consulting, bringing fresh perspectives to the table, combined with reliable, proven methods.