Business Management

While many organizations and businesses have what they consider to be a strategic plan, often the plan lacks the strong element of a process. Managers need devote time to understanding the...

Continuous Process Improvement (CPI) is a results-oriented goal of most industries and businesses anywhere in the world. Through implementation of an effective CPI program, an organization can...

What does the character that actor Steve Martin portrays in the movie "Cheaper by the Dozen" have to do with process mapping? They were both inspired by the bricklayer turned management engineer...

The Six Sigma process, named for the Greek letter used in reference to standard deviations in statistics, has permeated the structure of more than two-thirds of Fortune 500 companies. At their...

Quality Management Systems (QMS) are common in highly regulated industries. They are used as a way to put procedures in place to control the flow of work and processes in an organization. One...

Trying to collect overdue invoices is one of the unfortunate aspects of doing business. A small business often makes a profit by a very small margin. The failure to properly collect for services...

Most businesses aim at maximizing profits. This means that every aspect of a business that incurs too much cost and little revenue must be eliminated. This is the reason why most firms outsource...

The United States Patent and Trademark Office website defines a trademark as "a word, phrase, symbol or design, or a combination of words, phrases, symbols or designs, that identifies and...

The results of poor customer service claims processes and unhappy customers can lead to profit loss over the long term, as each customer will spread the message about bad customer service...

Reengineering an organization can be a daunting task. Process mapping is a technique that allows members of an organization to outline visual strategies with the goal of improving the overall...

Production planning processes are used by manufacturing companies and other types of organizations to make a logical plan for work performed by computers, machines and humans. This specialty...

Business process mapping is a method used to create comprehensive, visual outlines of any process that consumes specific inputs to create specific outputs. Process mapping methods are designed to...

A process amounts to any set of tasks deliberately sequenced to achieve a specific purpose. Be it profit or nonprofit, private or public, an organization is the sum of the processes it employs....

ISO 9001 is a quality management system (QMS) created and maintained by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), the largest developer of international standards in the world. QMS...

Lean Six Sigma is a methodology used to improve business processes by eliminating unnecessary steps and improving processes for better performance. The approach used is the five-phase D.M.A.I.C....

Employers doing background checks is a very important part of the entire employment process nowadays. Find out what the employers look for in background checks from a career expert in this free...

Advanced Product Quality Planning (APQP) is a collaborative process that involves the use of rigorous critical analysis combined with past experience to design products and production processes...

Value stream mapping creates a visual representation of a production process to identify and eliminate waste and increase efficiency. According to valuebasedmanagement.net, value stream mapping is...

A flow chart is a map of how a project progresses from point A to point Z. There are several types of flow charts used in business: charts to show the involvement of people or departments in a...

Flowcharts are diagrams or maps showing how a process works. There are several different shapes and symbols used in flowcharting, some that are specific to the process or to the company creating...

In business management, operational success is often attributed to strong production, customer service satisfaction and planning. Six Sigma is a strategic business strategy companies can adopt to...

The Six Sigma business management strategy is used to improve quality by identifying and preventing errors in manufacturing and business work flows. It can also be used in managing training...

Technology has changed our lives in many different ways, and advances in technology continue to transform the world of business. For years, technological advances have helped businesses of all...

Creating process maps is a way to visual represent how a process is currently working. Use a process map to represent how work flows from one person to another. Then, examine the result to...

A commitment to providing quality customer service raises the competitive bar and is key to developing customer satisfaction and loyalty. According to Entrepreneur.com, the connection between...

Value Stream Mapping (VSM) is a tool used by process-based organizations specifically in conjunction with Lean Manufacturing quality initiatives aimed at reducing waste by eliminating redundant...

Think of the organization you work for. Most organizations have different departments. Each department performs a specific task within the organization. The work of that department is handed off...

Companies are often in search of ways to provide a high-quality product at a reasonable price. Quality improvement is a discussion topic for companies ranging in size from small operations to...

Building an effective process team is as complicated as the process itself. The task involves attention to detail and project management knowledge. Your corporate process team should be lead by an...

The purchasing or procurement process is one of the most important for any business, especially in lean economic times. Cost of goods sold is looked at by most bankers as the real cost of doing...

A workflow diagram visually represents the movement and transfer of resources, documents, data and tasks through the entire work process for a given product or service. A successfully built...

Developing a sales force is an ongoing process that involves education, communication, and attention to refining the sales process through acknowledging best practices. Sales team leaders need to...

Although Six Sigma methods focus on improving a company's bottom line, there are many problems associated with this quality improvement philosophy: the large investment of time and money, a lack...

As competency analysis has become a concept highly touted in business, it has become increasingly misunderstood. Contrary to many articles on the subject, competency analysis does not focus on...

Six Sigma is a fact-based methodology designed to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of processes. DMAIC is an acronym for the five phases used in improving existing processes: Define,...

Six sigma measures establish baseline performance and determine if process improvement is achieved.

Total quality management (TQM) is a management concept of achieving the best possible results from business inputs and operations. Most companies use TQM to improve customer value and to increase...

Contracts are legally binding agreements between two or more parties. Contracts are pervasive and used in many aspects of life such as protecting property. They form the cornerstone of commerce in...

Six Sigma tools are used to find and eliminate process variation. The Failure Modes Effects Analysis (FMEA) is used to find and prioritize areas of the process needing improvement and to measure...

Manufacturers use different types of costing systems to allocate production costs to their products and services. Two types of common product costing systems are process costing and job-order...

No it's not the one eyed monster. SIPOC is a Six Sigma Tool used to identify all elements of a process (usually a process improvement project) before work begins. It defines the inputs, outputs...

The goal of a value stream map is to see the value in each step from the beginning of a process to the end. Value stream mapping (VSM) identifies the most value-added steps in a process and weeds...

Productivity is affected by a variety of factors, from the equipment used to the attitude of the employees to the quality of the materials. Improving productivity requires that factors such as...

CRM or customer relationship management is the concept behind technologies and initiatives aimed at building customer relationships. At the heart of the concept is the belief that customer loyalty...

Management information systems (MIS) are a concept that has been building in popularity for the last 20 years. This progress has coincided with technological innovations that enable information to...

Billing mistakes can cost hospitals hundreds and thousands of dollars. Some of that money can be recovered, but many errors result in lost profits. This is especially so with higher-priced...

Business management methodologies such as Six Sigma and Total Quality Management (TQM) focus on understanding and improving processes. By focusing on process management and improvement, business...

When it comes time to expand your business, there are two options: Open new locations yourself or franchise the business to other individuals. The latter option is often the most attractive...

ISO (International Organization for Standardization) 9001 is a quality system used by many organizations, both corporate and government. The procedures are typical of other quality systems such as...

Budget planning is a dirty word in most hospitals, but it must be done each year. The process is usually an iterative one that requires full consensus between administration and hospital...