Chapter 14
Measuring Process Performance
14.1 INTRODUCTION
There are two different ways of looking at an organisation. The first is through the structure and hierarchy of reporting – formally mapped by the organisation chart. The second way is through its processes, the basic mechanisms by which the organisation delivers products and services to its customers. In this chapter we will look at the process perspective and show how a process framework can be integrated into the reporting hierarchy.
We will describe a framework for process measurement and explain how this enables alignment with both business and customer objectives. Firstly, we will describe a process framework and then move on to describe the elements of coordination and control. We will present two universal process measures that can be used to improve the performance of processes and will finish with an approach for integrating process performance into the organisation’s top level scorecard or dashboard.
14.2 A PROCESS FRAMEWORK
Processes tend to be described in three elements, inputs, the process itself and outputs. However, there are four other elements that should be included. These are:
1. Outcomes: these are the direct and indirect consequences of the outputs from the process. In a prison, for example, you may have a process for educating prisoners. The output would be prisoners with qualifications. The outcome would be a lower rate of reoffending.
2. Resources: these are the people, equipment, systems, etc., ...
