In the fast-paced, full-throttle world of modern business, there’s an incentive to keep going, keep doing, keep pressing forward.

(Business. More like busyness, amirite? 😏)

But what if I told you that striving forward without robust, solid processes is a massive mistake?

While Łukasz Tartanus found from his sample that 69% of businesses have documented processes, only 4% manage and measure them. This means countless businesses are zealously pressing forward with depreciated, outdated processes for their recurring tasks. If only their processes were optimized, these businesses would be able to grow and achieve internal targets far quicker.

This is why business process optimization is important. And it’s why you’re about to read my post on it.

I’ll define business process optimization, its benefits, explain how to go about it, and show you how Process Street makes process optimization super easy.

Just read through the following sections to get clued up:

• What’s the business process optimization definition?
• Is business process optimization right for you?
• Example of an optimized process
• How to optimize your business processes (with Process Street’s template)
• Use Process Street – and its automation features – for true optimization!

It’s time to learn about optimization! 🚀

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Understanding quality and seeking to improve it is arguably the core purpose behind undertaking process improvements.

But where did this philosophy of process improvement come from?

One key person is William Edwards Deming – sometimes referred to as Edward W. Deming. He’s principally a statistician, but one could even call him a philosopher of science.

Deming’s goal was to reapply the scientific method to business processes, and has left us with two main variants of his thinking: PDSA and PDCA.

In this article we’ll outline:

• What the Deming cycle is, with its history
• How to apply the Deming cycle to improve your business processes
• The important distinction between PDSA and PDCA
• How PDSA is employed in the medical field

Deming’s approach is not just about improving processes, but about improving a whole business.

In a recent meta-study from the British Medical Journal, researchers found only 2 out of 73 studies had applied PDSA in a way which fully met criteria. Commenting:

To progress the development of the science of improvement, a greater understanding of the use of improvement methods, including PDSA, is essential to draw reliable conclusions about their effectiveness.

And that’s why we’re writing this article!

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Do you know what SIPOC stands for?

Go on, have a guess…

To clarify, SIPOC is an acronym for Suppliers, Inputs, Processes, Outputs, and Customers.

The SIPOC methodology acts as a tool to identify the inputs and outputs of target business processes, to determine the process owner, customers, suppliers, and to establish clear boundaries for the process.

Numerous case studies have shown the utilization of SIPOC to give substantial process improvements. For this reason, we at Process Street present you with this ultimate SIPOC guide, explaining the what, why, and how of SIPOC, with free templates to help 👊you👌 get started.

Click on the relevant subheaders below to jump to that section, alternatively scroll down to read all we at Process Street have to say regarding SIPOC.

• What is SIPOC?
• SIPOC Template
• The benefits of implementing SIPOC methodology
• Creating a SIPOC diagram with our SIPOC Template
• SIPOC example

Alternatively, if you want to skip all of the info and get straight to the free SIPOC Template, you can check it out below.

Let’s get started!
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Knowing how to write a procedure is a key skill for anyone looking to build a successful business. Procedures are vital to consistent success for many of the same reasons that processes are important – they let you reliably repeat your successes, isolate and correct your mistakes, and create a business model that lets you scale your operations.

If you don’t know how to write a procedure then you’re dead in the water. Get it right, and the resulting efficiency boosts can put you on track to eclipse your competitors.

This Process Street post will cover the following topics to help you write effective procedures:

• What is a procedure?
• Why are procedures important?
• Preparing to write your procedures
• How to write an effective procedure
• How to write an effective procedure

Read on to learn the 13 steps to writing your business’ procedures effectively, in a way that they will actually be followed instead of getting read once and then forgotten.

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Lunch was over.

I was walking back to our senior common room with my friends. When we reached Foundation House, we found all of the students and teachers standing outside while the fire brigade trailed in.

There was no smoke or visible flames but I saw three friends that we’d left in the common room off to one side of the car park looking sheepish.

Turns out that they’d managed to make a pseudo-napalm launcher out of a tube of Pringles, a rubber band, spray deodorant, a lighter, and a supply of biro casings.

My friends were smart but, as you might’ve guessed, had no common sense.

Whether you have students setting off fire alarms with molten flaming plastic or have a much larger accident, it’s important to know that your safety measures are up to standard.

$25 billion in damages were caused by fire in 2018 in the US alone, which should tell you how vital it is to catch fires and deal with them early before they need additional help to contain.

That’s why fire extinguisher inspections are so important.

In this post I’ll cover:

• What is a fire extinguisher inspection?
• How often do fire extinguishers need inspecting?
• Who can inspect fire extinguishers?
• Perform free monthly inspections with Process Street

You’ll also get access to Process Street’s free Fire Extinguisher Inspection Checklist in the very next section of this article!

Let’s get started.
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“The biggest room in the world is the room for improvement” – Helmut Schmidt

Only 4% of businesses measure and manage their processes.

Why, when doing so provides an avenue for continuous improvement, advancement, and business success?

At Process Street, documenting our processes means we can continuously assess what is working and what is not.

For instance, when I first began as a Content Writer, I found navigating HTML code difficult. Luckily for me, at Process Street we document all of our business processes, creating full transparency over what works and what doesn’t. In this sense, a stronger HTML focus was needed during training. The required changes were made, and our training processes improved.

In this article, you will find out how you can do the same. You will learn how to:

• Identify opportunities for process improvements.
• Implement the changes required.
• Measure the success of the changes made.

Think of this article as your ultimate toolkit, to make continuous process improvements in your business. We provide you with 17 free templates, to support you in improving your processes. Click on the links below to jump to the relevant template.

• Business Requirements Template
• SIPOC Template
• SWOT Analysis Template
• FMEA Template: Failure Mode and Effects Analysis
• Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) Template
• SOAP Note Template
• HACCP Process checklist
• HAZOP Process checklist
• Lewin’s Change Management Model
• Bridges Transition Model Process Checklist
• ADKAR Model Change Management Process Checklist
• McKinsey 7-S Model Process Checklist
• Kotter’s Change Management Model Checklist
• Kubler Ross Change Curve Change Management Model
• Nudge Theory Change Management Model Process
• PDCA Change Management Model Process Checklist
• Satir Change Management Model Process Checklist

Or, if you just can’t wait, check out the first of our templates below to see what we’ll be giving you!

We begin this article by explaining exactly what we mean by the term process improvement, and identifying the three steps you should follow to effectively improve processes in your business. The templates provided above have been carefully designed to assist you with each step.

Click on the relevant subheader below to jump to the appropriate section, alternatively scroll down to read all we have to say.

• What do we mean by the term process improvement?
• Process improvements, step 1: Identifying business opportunities for improvement
• Using process documentation as a business opportunity
• Process improvements, step 2: Implementing changes
• Process improvements, step 3: Measuring the impact of change

Let’s get started!
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This is a guest article by Dan Fries – entrepreneur, investor, and writer. Dan shows bootstrapped entrepreneurs and business owners how to prepare for an exit by making better long-term financial decisions.

The only constant thing in business is change.

Whether you are seeking to grow your business or looking to adapt your model to evolving market conditions, implementing strong change management techniques is key to keeping your business agile and sustainable.

Effective change management techniques have many different elements, some of which Process Street has covered before. For instance, checklists for teams can help you to keep a careful track of the development of your team, and these ten templates that optimize creative workflow management can provide your team with the flexibility and creativity they need to stay ahead.

One of the biggest obstacles to applying change management techniques in the contemporary workforce is the rising number of freelance, remote workers.

In this Process Street post, we’ll cover the following seven key principles for managing change within a modern, remote workforce:

• Change management principle #1: Develop your strategic vision
• Change management principle #2: Master the art of communication
• Change management principle #3: Build a business transformation team
• Change management principle #4: Encourage communication with customers
• Change management principle #5: Use a business process management suite
• Change management principle #6: Assess your workforce’s response to change
• Change management principle #7: Get your team together
• Apply change management principles using Process Street

Let’s get stuck in.

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As I stood, staring at my big toe which had somehow poked its way through a layer of polyester, it occurred to me that:

1. These 2-month-old running shoes definitely needed to be disposed of.
2. I will not be buying from this poor quality brand again.

In this scenario, I had fallen victim to poor quality control measures.

Purchasing a pair of running shoes not robust enough to meet my needs meant I, as a consumer, was not satisfied and did not repeat my custom with the given brand.

This reaction is to be expected.

A study by Psomas et al, detailed on Emerald Insights, concluded that effective quality control measures, in the form of Quality Management Systems (QMS systems), directly improve employee benefits, business performance, and customer satisfaction.

“Quality is never an accident; it is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, intelligent direction, and skillful execution; it represents the wise choice of many alternatives” – William A Foster, Forbes Quotes

In this Process Street article, we take a look at what quality control is, and how you can implement effective quality control processes in your business today.

You will be presented with 19 free templates, ready and waiting to be used right away. These templates will help you build and audit your QMS systems, to meet the needs of key stakeholders in your business.

1. ISO 9001:2015 Internal Audit Checklist for Quality Management Systems
2. Financial Audit Checklist
3. Environmental Accounting Internal Audit
4. Environmental Management Self Audit Checklist
5. Management Systems Audit Checklist
6. ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 Integrated Management System (IMS) Checklist
7. PPC Audit Checklist
8. Google Analytics Audit
9. Technical SEO Audit
10. UX Audit
11. ISO 27001 Information Security Management System (ISO27K ISMS) Audit Checklist
12. SQL Server Audit Checklist
13. Firewall Audit Checklist
14. Network Security Audit Checklist
15. ISO 45001 Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Audit Checklist
16. Diversity Management Monthly Audit
17. Hotel Sustainability Audit
18. Laboratory Safety Procedure Audit
19. Retail Store Audit Checklist

Sound good?

Click on the relevant subheader below to jump to that section, alternatively, scroll down to read all I have to say.

• What is quality control?
• Create your quality control systems in Process Street
• Audits: What are they and why they are needed for quality control
• Audit processes: Incorporating audit processes into a QMS

Let’s begin!
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Project proposals are how you can get management to act on your ideas. They’re the bottom-up version of a project request form.

They are how you can influence your company’s future.

Writing a project proposal isn’t rocket science, but it is a vital skill for being able to successfully pitch projects that you know will benefit your team and business as a whole. Casual conversations aren’t enough – you need to give a formal document that addresses concerns before your manager, CEO, and stakeholders have a chance to voice them.

Plus, having a set template for writing a proposal gives you a document which you can reference throughout the entire project. Instead of having to rely on notes and your vague memory of a water cooler conversation, you have set instructions to follow, and a defense against anyone who says that the project isn’t worth it.

It’s a great example of effective business process management – if anyone questions you, you can show them the project proposal and say “this was approved, and so this is what we’re going to do”.

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If you’re on the front lines fighting COVID-19 and want to use these processes to help your facility, please contact us and we will set you up with a free account*

COVID-19 hit hard, and many communities, organizations, and small businesses are struggling to shoulder the increased pressure put on by circumstances of economic downturn and uncertainty.

This article is an attempt to offer some aid in the form of 8 free coronavirus workplace templates, to help you improve efficiency in your organization by streamlining and automating manual tasks in recurring COVID-19 processes.

Some of these templates are straightforward, linear processes, while others are more complicated processes with various different outcomes. They will all be embedded below with relevant descriptions and links to sources.

The Process Street checklists in this post were all informed by procedures established by the following leading health authorities:

• World Health Organization (WHO)
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
• Government of Alberta’s Emergency Coordination Centre (ECC)
• New York Department of Health (DoH)

Each process template will be embedded below with a description. The article will be structured as follows:

• Coronavirus template quick-links
• How to use these coronavirus workplace templates
• 8 COVID-19 procedure templates to organizations and businesses fight coronavirus in the workplace
• How to use Process Street for crisis management in a downturn

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