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RUNNING HEAD: DESIGN A FLOWCHART FOR A PROCESS

Design a Flowchart for a Process Younes Chaaban OPS 571 April 11, 2011 Todd Myers

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Design a flowchart for a process Introduction A process is a kind of mechanism used to follow in daily lives (individual and professional) to accomplish a specific task that convert certain input into output, Sequence of interdependent and linked procedures which, at every stage, consume one or more resources (employee time, energy, machines, money) to convert inputs (data, material, parts, etc.) into outputs. These outputs then serve as inputs for the next stage until a known goal or end result is reached (Business dictionary, 2010). One of the daily activities that i do each morning during business day is going work. This activity is done following a uniform process or mechanism starting from waking up until reaches the work on time. Design of the process It is important to understand the objective and how process work so we can establish an efficient process that obtains desired output from certain input, Understanding how processes work is essential to ensuring the competitiveness of a company. A process that does not match the needs of the firm will punish the firm every minute that the firm operates (Chase, Jacobs, & Aquilano, 2006, p. 154). Each business day, i have a routine that start in the morning at the instant we wake up to go to work and finish once we reach our office, importance of this process is to reach our work on time. As per flowchart presented in the Annex. As a starting point to design process, it is important to estimate time needed to accomplish each task, calculate cumulative time to complete process and define starting time of the process. Many Tasks constitute key drivers of process and these tasks that have direct impact on process with their estimated time are

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Wake up on time (5 minutes) Take shower/teeth/Shave (20 minutes)

Get dressed assuming clothes are ironed (10 minutes) Take breakfast (15 minutes) Drive car and take easiest traffic (20 minutes). Performance measure of the process To measure efficiency of this process, we will use time as metric to measure completion of each task. It is important to note that these tasks are done in a sequential way, only one task can be done at a time, but we may change order of some of them (like get dressed and breakfast). Tables shown below will be used to collect data over the coming weeks, compare them with estimated time and make modification to improve process performance if needed. Tasks Wake up Shower/Brush /Shave Get dressed Breakfast Drive car Estimated time Week one Week two Week three Week four

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Description and assessment of process Process startup trigger is an alarm clock followed by sequential tasks that all need to be done within a certain time frame. Major concern that affect advancement in process is completing task within a specific time frame, in case one task take more time than supposed a decision should be taken may be to skip one task to capture delay in time (for example, if completion of task take more than estimated time like get dressed, I may skip breakfast). Another factor affect also process that taking the easiest traffic path to reach work, and this need to gather information on daily basis to know for each day, which path is better. Flowchart represented in the annex describes movement of the process, highlight where decision should take and display graphically stage of process. It is important to highlight that this process is counting on two external tasks that are setting alarm clock and have clothes ironed that mean that this process is dependable on other task and processes. Conclusion Process is important to organize for the execution of our duties in work and life; it is an essential tool the creation of target product or individual goal that we need to obtain. Process ensures that tasks implementation is governed by rules and clear indication how to move forward where there is a decision. The most important key is to understand exactly what the target is so we can design an optimum type process to obtain result. Flowchart has an a main role by presenting process in a simple and friendly manner using convenient tool and standard symbol so user can understand clearly what is and how to do it.

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Reference
Chase, R. B., Jacobs, F. R., & Aquilano, N. J. (2006) Operations management for competitive advantage (11th ed). New York: McGraw Hill/Irwin. Businessdictionary (2010), Process, Retrieved April 2010 from http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/process.html

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Annex Process Flowchart

Drawing1.vsd

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