Link to this page: go.osu.edu/DPA-Workflow-Analysis

Introduction

The DP&A's initial project is to identify our existing workflows that affect born digital acquisitions and processing, digitization, providing access to digital materials and the preservation thereof. Answering the question, “What are the intersections, gaps, redundancies and areas for improvement?”

We will engage in three techniques, to help us visualize and understand the workflows and processes that allow us to provide access to and preservation of, our born digital and digitized content. These techniques come to us from the realm of process improvement, with roots in total quality management (TQM) that continue to be used in Lean and Six Sigma programs.

The  SIPOC exercise provides for a very high level view of our workflow or process. The steps in the process are aggregated up to a level of abstraction that still allows us to understand suppliers, inputs, outputs, handoffs and customers. The intent is to ensure that all processes are represented.

Following up on the SIPOC, each group will be asked to conduct a RACI to determine for each step within a process who is responsible, accountable, consulted or needs to be informed.

Finally, we will engage in brainwriting to further tease out the granularities of the steps identified within the SIPOCs.

Stakeholders

SIPOC

SIPOC simply stands for:

• Suppliers
• Inputs
• Process
• Outputs
• Customers

The purpose of a SIPOC is to provide people who are unfamiliar with a process a high-level overview of it, as well as reacquaint people whose familiarity with a process has faded or become out-of-date due to process changes.  It is meant to show what the process or workflow IS, not what it should or what we want it to be. It is a first step in being able to help organizations in defining a new process or improve an existing process. It assists in defining, structuring and scoping complex processes, while also identifying possible problems and/or weaknesses in work processes.

• Suppliers are the providers of Inputs to the Process
• Inputs define the material, service and/or information that are used by the Process to produce the Outputs
• A Process is a defined sequence of activities, that usually adds value to Inputs to produce Outputs, or transforms Inputs to Outputs for the Customers. In a traditional SIPOC:
  
  •  there are at a minimum 4 and a maximum of 7 high level steps
  • that should be constructed in a "Verb > Noun" structure (e.g. deliver/upload digital object)
• Outputs are the products, services and/or the information that is valuable to the Customer.
• The Customers are users of the Outputs produced or transformed by the process; they can be people, organization, machines or software.

(Adapted from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SIPOC)

Conceptually a SIPOC looks like a table, and it lends itself well to being documented in a spreadsheet.

However, the interesting thing about a SIPOC, is that it is not created in the linear manner that the acronym suggests. The creation of a SIPOC, actually sort of happens inside out.

1. The first Phase is to identify and name the high level process or workflow
2. This followed by moving to the middle, and mapping it in 4 to 7 high level process steps:    
   1. There has to be a First Step and Last Step    
   2. With a minimum of two and a maximum of five additional steps
3. Next we identify the output of these process steps.
4. Which is followed by identifying the customers that will receive the outputs of the process steps.
5. Now we jump back to identify the inputs required for each of the process steps to function properly.
6. Finally, we identify the suppliers of the inputs that are required by the process steps.

(Adapted from https://www.isixsigma.com/tools-templates/sipoc-copis/sipoc-diagram/)

Once you complete a SIPOC, it can be reviewed with project sponsor(s), champion(s) and other involved stakeholders for verification.

SIPOC Example

SIPOCs should range from a minimum of 4 steps and a maximum of 7. The following real example embraces the maximum:

RACI

When we have completed the SIPOC we can begin to conduct the RACI exercise. This exercise allows us to identify the roles and their accompanying responsibilities that they may have for each process step. This acronym stands for:

• Responsible: A role is “Responsible” if they are those who do the work to complete the task. There has to be at least one role that is responsible, although others can be delegated to assist in the required work.
• Accountable: The role who is ultimately answerable for the correct and thorough completion of the deliverable or task, is deemed Accountable. They ensure the prerequisites of the task are met, and delegate the work to those responsible. There must be one, and only one accountable role specified for each task or deliverable.
• Consulted: These are roles whose opinions are sought, typically subject matter experts; and with whom there is two-way communication
• Informed: These folks are kept up-to-date on progress, often only on completion of the task or deliverable; and with whom there is just one-way communication

We need to make a distinction between a role and individually identified people:

• A role is a descriptor of an associated set of tasks that an individual is capable of completing; these may be performed by many people, for example: 
  • Role = scan technician
• Whereas, an individual, is one person that performs a particular role or roles.
  • Individual #1 = scan technician #1
  • Individual #2 = scan technician #2; and maybe conservation technician #4

The RACI can be completed by creating a matrix where the rows are at a minimum the process steps from the SIPOC, but could be augmented with more granular steps.  The RACI can be then be filled out in one of two manners:

• in version 1, the columns represent R-A-C-I and for each process the roles or persons are identified. Each step must have someone responsible (can be multiple) and accountable (can only be one). In this version one can quickly identify who is responsible, accountable, consulted and informed, for each step. In this example, we can quickly see that yes, there is one and only one accountable person for each step, while there may be multiple roles/people responsible, consulted or informed
• In version 2, the columns represent the various roles, and could be further broken down by individuals. For each step, one indicates if the role or individual is responsible, accountable, consulted and/or informed. In this version, one can see how a role or an individual’s participation changes throughout the process, and aggregates their responsibilities.

Both versions provide us with valuable insight into the workflow and its processes. Below is an example of each version based upon the Archives Digitization SIPOC above:

RACI Example

The following real v1 and v2 examples are based upon the aforementioned SIPOC example:

1 = Collection Head: University Archivist, Public Policy Archivist or Polar Archivist

2 = "External" to the unit creating the SIPOC (e.g. Digital Preservation is "external" to University Archives)

Brainwriting

Link to this section: go.osu.edu/DPA-Brainwriting

The RACI is an important bridge to the brainwriting process. It helps us identify who needs to be in the proverbial room for the brainwriting exercise.

We are using the term brainwriting not brainstorming.  What is the difference between brainwriting and brainstorming?

• In a brainstorming session we approach the exercise with an open mind where the sky is the limit, trying to get all the potential disparate ideas on the table from various points of view.
• However, the objective in front us, is to document the now, and what we are currently doing; not what we want to be doing, regardless of whether we are doing the right thing or not. Brainwriting allows us to dive deeper beyond those four to seven process steps and examine our processes with a finer granularity.

Brainwriting Tools:

We are currently using two tools to capture the Brainwriting activity. We initially chose to utilize Google's Jamboard in an attempt to replicate the use of sticky notes and whiteboards, which one would typically use for this exercise if we were able to meet in the same physical space. While this worked well for a tangential DP&A project, it became distracting for individuals to do their personal "brain dump" of micro-steps for each of the SIPOC's macro-steps. We engaged the initial group to use Jamboards with our observed concerns, and discussed other more user-friendly options for capturing the necessary data. That lead to the development of a spreadsheet template tool that is integrated into the existing SIPOC/RACI spreadsheets that also consolidates the data for each Workflow. We are not discarding Jamboards outright as it may be useful in limited situations where the SIPOC is not overly complex, as well as still potentially utilizing it for visualization purposes.

Spreadsheet

The Brainwriting activity allows us to delve into the details that we "left on the roadside" as we aggregated the workflows up to the 4 to 7 macro-steps of the SIPOC. The RACI allowed us to begin to bridge to the Brainwriting and additional granularity by potentially beginning to identify separate streams or channels based in responsibility and accountability, format or nature of a project. For example, in the example illustrated above for the "Archives Digitization Workflow" the First Step, Request for digitization, in the RACI is broken down into 2 channels:

• Channel 01: Patron Requests. This can be further divided into sub-channels based upon format or size:

  • Channel 01-01: Patron Requests - Photo(s)
  • Channel 01-02: Patron Requests - Documents
  • Channel 01-03: Patron Requests - Requires specialized handling via Preservation & Digitization
  • Channel 01-04: Patron Requests - Requires specialized handling via Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center
  • Channel 01-05: Patron Requests - AV transfer on Steenbeck
  • Channel 01-06: Patron Requests - AV transfer via vendor
• Channel 02: Project Digitization

In the spreadsheet tool, the macro-steps from the SIPOC become the columns, and the rows become all the micro-steps necessary to complete the particular macro-step. Additionally, each column is sub-divided to record notes and potential dependencies for each micro-step, if necessary.

How do we use the Spreadsheet?

The Brainwriting template and a "ReadMe - Brainwriting" tab have been added to the SIPOC/RACI spreadsheet template. For those that have not yet begun the workflow analysis process, the template has been updated in the appropriate folder. For those that have already begun the SIPOC and RACI activities, we will add the ReadMe tab and template to the existing SIPOC/RACI before the start of the Brainwriting process. It is strongly encouraged create new tabs for each channels/sub-channels before the Brainwritng activity commences and copy the template to the new tabs.

1. Identify the appropriate workflow
2. Identify the appropriate Channel(s)/Sub-channel(s) if necessary
3. Fill in all appropriate steps from your Unit's SIPOC. For Brainwriting, the Steps are represented as Columns as opposed to Rows. If there are less than seven steps, delete the appropriate columns.
4. Fill out step details in rows below each Step that are necessary to complete that Process Step.
5. When necessary, create notes or identify dependencies for the Process Step Details. Dependencies are the relationship between conditions, events, or tasks such that one cannot begin or be-completed until one or more other conditions, events, or tasks have occurred, begun, or completed.

Spreadsheet in action…

Below is an example of a partially completed Brainwriting activity based upon the Archives Digitization SIPOC/RACI

Google Jamboard

(downloadable PDF version)

Jamboard is an easy and simple tool that provides us with the ability to utilize “sticky notes” and free style drawings to create details, to build up the activities that occur within each process step of our SIPOCs. The goal is to conduct an activity that combines Brainwriting and Affinity Mapping/Diagramming. In a nutshell:

• Affinity Maps/Diagrams allows us to group ideas in various categories.  
• Brainwriting allows users to participate without:
  • a single voice shadowing others
  • fear of contribution
  • having to worry about speaking out
  • Brainwriting also eliminates the filtering by facilitator, which can introduce bias or any accidental omissions.

We will use the very basic versions of both activities in order to generate all possible actions and details that take place within each step of a SIPOC, understanding that we may have to add additional categories as we zoom in from the “satellite view” to “street level” perspective.

How do we use Jamboard?

It is super simple with 5 color sticky notes, multiple frames and free-style annotations/connections capabilities. While we will supply shareable links for the Brainwriting exercises, you can do the following to familiarize yourself with the tool:

• Go to jamboard.google.com
• Click the + in the orange circle located in the lower right corner of the screen
• Select the background if you like (I like the dotted style so I can keep things neat and nicely aligned)
• You have the following options in the vertical menu:

• Start by naming the Jamboard to coincide with appropriate SIPOC.
• Next,  SIPOC process steps can be added as top categories. All participants can now  add their sticky notes, identifying microprocess steps along with connecting lines and/or other supporting details.
• Depending upon the nature of the SIPOC, the number of microprocesses identified could begin to overcrowd a frame; in this situation, a frame could be used for each process step, as opposed to trying to fit all steps on a single frame.
• When we complete a Jamboard, it can be exported to a PDF (export example of diagram below).

Jamboard in action…

We will invite the individuals that were identified during the RACI exercise to make sure we are capturing all relevant and pertinent information that can inform our Value Stream Mapping activities.

Below is an incomplete example of what Archives began to create during their initial Brainwriting session. 

Status Summary

Link to this section: go.osu.edu/DPA-Workflow-Analysis-Status

Link to detailed Project Status page: go.osu.edu/DPA-Workflow-Analysis-Status-Detail

Initial Recommendations (2021)

In the Fall of 2021, based upon the discussion both within the DP&A and externally through the workflow documentation process, the DP&A developed and presented to its sponsors and initial set of five (5) key organizational gaps, their implications and recommendations to remediate and ameliorate these conditions. These five areas included:

• Processing of materials

• Prioritization and governance: this recommendation was additionally informed by the Digital Projects Planning, Priorities and Transparency project noted below; and has been actively worked on, since November of 2020 via the Digital Content Policy/Governance project linked below.

• Process management
• Resources
• Documentation

The report is completed with a discussion the categorization of the recommendations as immediate impact and long-term impact projects. A full accounting of the recommendations can be found in the Initial Recommendations document or on the Initial Recommendations (2021) wiki page.

Topical Resources

• University Libraries:
  
  • SIPOC/RACI/BW Template or go.osu.edu/LIB-SIPOC-Template
  • SIPOC, RACI & Brainwriting: An Introduction to Exposing the University Libraries’ Digital Preservation & Access Workflows: PDF| Recorded Zoom (mp4 - 15 minutes)
• External:
  • SIPOC in Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SIPOC
  • Lean Six Sigma Technique Tips – SIPOC by Pyzdek Institute: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlN7eNOBPzg (7 minutes)
  • How to complete the SIPOC Diagram by Six Sigma Development Solutions Inc: https://youtu.be/x8_I19PJBY8 (1 minute)
  • SIPOC by LeanOhio: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2_Ijfg4EVk (4 minutes)
  • SIPOC Diagram explained (with example) by Bzhwen A Kadir: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9oWnnbtkOo (7 minutes)