Process Mapping and Management

Chapter 2

Process Improvement Project Initiation

Introduction

This chapter describes project initiation and the development of a contract for a process improvement project, sometimes called a “statement of work” (SOW). Organizational entry to initiate a project differs among different organizational maturity levels and among consulting organizations.

In developing an SOW, the organization and target process need to be understood well enough to ensure that the scope of the process improvement project is appropriate. Developing an understanding of an organization requires information elicitation skills, usually through interviews, although other methods can be useful, depending on the context. Different elicitation techniques are discussed, along ...