Peer to Peer Magazine

WWW.ILTANET.ORG 19 Data and metrics give you important baseline information and can isolate the root cause of a broken process. PROCESS MAPPING I've heard attorneys and secretaries say, "We don't have a process in place for that," and I say, "Oh, yes you do!" The problem is that the process varies because it hasn't been documented. In an LSS project, process mapping enables you to identify a process in its current state and establish a baseline. Process mapping is done in the "measure" phase, and it involves gathering the team of people responsible for performing a task. They're guided through an exercise to create a workflow diagram of a single process or a series of parallel processes to gain an understanding of the steps involved. It is vital for everyone involved to agree on the steps of a particular task and what inputs and outputs are critical to the process. A few examples of processes in law firms are document production, legal work product and time and billing. Once your project is underway, process mapping will help you identify the causes of problems and evaluate performance measurements. The process map is also used to assess the success and the improvement of a particular activity, letting you know if the steps you are taking positively impact and improve the customer's experience. VOC captures feedback in a variety of methods, including surveys, interviews, focus groups, customer specifications, observation and complaint logs. PROCESS IMPROVEMENT Process improvement is the proactive, continuous practice of identifying, analyzing and improving existing business processes for optimization and to achieve new standards of quality. It is strategically focused on identifying operations or employee skills that can be improved to increase efficiency, enhance quality and boost business growth. Process improvement should be approached one process at a time, not across the board. Documenting a process is the first move toward standardization, which leads to greater efficiency and improvement. There are two ways to accomplish process improvement: Eliminate wasteful steps and practices Optimize the important steps Process improvement goes beyond temporary fixes by getting to the root causes behind broken processes. DMAIC DMAIC is a tool to improve organizational processes and to produce quantifiable business outcomes by utilizing data. DMAIC is completed in five phases: Define: Identify and define the scope of the problem, get alignment from stakeholders and project sponsors, and establish customer requirements Measure: Map out the current process and collect related data Analyze: Generate and prioritize potential root causes of the problem, identify quick wins and decide what measures should be taken Improve: Design an implementation plan and pilot/implement a solution Control: Ensure the process stays on track with a control mechanism (e.g., a dashboard that shows any deviations so corrective actions can be taken) Voice of the Customer in Law Firms VOICE OF THE CLIENT VOICE OF THE ATTORNEY • Be predictable • Be transparent • Know me • Know my business • Lower my cost • Stay within budget • Help manage my law practice • Maximize billable hours • Provide document support • Reduce non-billable work The voice of the customer is important to capture and critical to success when improving a service or product 2 3 4 5

• Cover