The Kure Project Builder® helps both new and experienced users to choose a project and even suggests an appropriate name using 3 simple questions:
What is the name of the process you want to optimize?
What about the process do you want to optimize?
Do you want to increase or decrease the performance measure (or chosen measure)?
Before you know it, you’re working on your project!
What is the name of the process you want to optimize?
Beginning your first Process Optimization Project can be daunting – what makes a good project anyway? How do I decide what to work on?
It all starts with the process. When we do our work, we’re actually working within a process. A process is simply a series of steps by which our work is done. The Kure Project Builder® begins by asking for the name of the process you want to optimize.
Beginners should pick the daily process you work in – you know it best, and you’ll soon know it even better. The process may not have a formal name. It might just be the way you do your work. However, for your project, let’s give it a simple name with just a few words describing the process.
Here are some common examples:
Order Entry
Production Scheduling
Expense Reimbursement
Can you think of a process that needs to be optimized?
What about the process do you want to optimize?
Once you have named the process, decide how you want it to perform better and what you want to do with it. Perhaps you want it to:
Take less time (cycle time reduction)
Have fewer errors (error reduction)
If there are known problems, we might want to tackle them.
Perhaps you are completely new to process improvement and don’t know of a problem to take on. In that case, you might choose to reduce waste. At this point, you don’t even have to know what waste you want to reduce. It’s a safe bet that all processes have some waste, even the very best processes. In your first project, you’ll learn about waste and find ways to improve.
Many processes have measures that track how well the process is performing. These might measure:
Timeliness (cycle time, labor hours, on-time deliveries)
Quality (errors, yield, rework, customer complaints)
Volume (units/hour, throughput)
If such measures exist, then a quick review can identify opportunities. Choose a measure that’ll make a difference so that the results will be very noticeable.
Do you want to increase or decrease the measure of performance?
Most measures have an obvious direction of improvement. For example, we normally want quality, output, and yield to be larger, while cycle time, defects, and rework should be smaller.
The Kure Project Builder® helps us identify the improvement measure, which we’ll later turn into a project goal (using the Goal Statement Builder).
Sometimes we need to make a process change that’s not readily measurable. Examples include modifying a process to:
Include a new offering
Comply with a new regulatory requirement
Add new payment options
Create new customer service options
Improve workflow
Combine with another process
In such cases, the Kure Project Builder® helps identify the aspect of the process that must change, so you can confirm success once the project is complete.
Finally, the Kure Project Builder® helps ensure that your project has an easily understood title that includes the process name and what the project expects to accomplish. Such names make it easy for you and others to find similar projects in your own and other organizations. It may be possible to learn from completed projects and coordinate, if needed, with active projects.
Here are a few examples of projects created by the Kure Project Builder®:
Decrease Patient Billing Losses
Decrease Cardiovascular Nursing Unit Length of Stay (LOS)
Increase Hospital COVID-19 Safety Compliance
Decrease STAT Order Cycle Time
Decrease Contractor Onboarding Time
Decrease Permit Approval Time
Increase Final Assembly Throughput
Decrease Packaging Rework
Decrease Customer Support Call Time to Answer
Increase Tech Support First Call Resolution Rate
Improve Customer Satisfaction in the Registration Process
Increase Financial Forecasting Accuracy
Improve Audit SOC 2 Compliance
Kure guides you through each step in your process optimization journey by asking simple questions and providing guidance along the way. Powered by our Process Optimization Path® (artificial intelligence), Kure will help you and your teams collaborate to complete process improvement projects together.
Ready to start improving?