Last week, we established how important process maps are in developing policies and procedures.  In the course of this series, we will present seven types of process maps. This week we will discuss three types: High-Level, Low-Level, and Cross Functional or “Swim Lanes” Maps.

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You have identified a problem, and you have made an immediate correction to fix it for now.  How do you make sure the same problem doesn’t happen again?

That is the role of corrective action in continual improvement of an organization.  In a reactive organization, we constantly react to problems in a corrective mode.  We make the short term fixes – over and over and over again. 

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Last week we identified another common process maturity level in many organizations, Phase Two — Documentation.  Frequently, this is where organizations get stuck, and are not able to advance in their management system maturity.  We also covered Phase three – Process Stability.  This week we will describe the next two levels in our process maturity model that we use to describe the phases of an improving effective management system.  We call the third level Corrective Action Phase and the fourth level Preventive Action Phase, and we will see why they are so difficult to reach.

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Last week we identified the most common process maturity level in many organizations, phase one — Reactive.  Few organizations are able to advance much farther up in management system maturity.  This week we will look at the next two levels in our process maturity model that describe the phases in which an effective management system comes to life.  The Documentation and Stability Phases.

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Your management system consists of business processes that interact with each other through documents and records.  Yet in many companies the system appears to be functioning whether anything is documented or recorded.  Can this be an effective management system?  It depends on the process management maturity of your organization.

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