WK 2 – 01 EXERCISE “Value-Add and Non-Value”

[Mike Hincks]

Chapter 3 of Lean For Dummies introduces the concept of value and how ultimately, value is defined by our customers—not by us. Key to this is the invaluable three-question criteria for determining if any activity or process step truly adds value (or if it is waste) found at the bottom of page 51.

Here is your instructional task:

·         Pick a work activity that you are involved in regularly at MasterControl.

·         Write down the name of the process you have selected.

·         List out its major steps.

·         For each step, indicate the average time it takes to complete that step.

·         Use the three-question criteria from page 51 to determine whether each step is value-add (VA) or is non-value-add (NVA).

·         Calculate what percentage of the time spent completing the process adds value to the customer.

·         Add a quick comment/observation or two regarding your analysis.

To complete this exercise, reply to this posting with information outlined in the bullet list above. Put this information in the body of your response or save it in a Microsoft Office file that you attach to your response.

To create and send your response, just select this note and click on the Reply button, then after typing your response (and attaching your file, if you choose that route), click Send.

Thanks!

[Ryan]

Team Meeting

1- Preparation (info gathering from leadership and team) 30 minutes

2- put together outline with info                                     15 minutes

3- plan a place to have the meeting                               15 minutes

4- invite all who should attend                                       15 minutes

5- coordinate phone coverage                                       30 minutes

6- conduct meeting                                                      60 minutes

I would say all steps except coordinate phone coverage is NVA. The only other step I would even hesitate on is the meeting itself because it may transform the product in a beneficial way meaning it assist Tech Support in being better at our jobs. so out of almost 3 hours the most that could/would be considered possibly being Value-Add is the phone coverage and the meeting which are approximately half of the time spent.

2 steps could be cut out if 2 things were to happen/be in place:
1- I sent a recurring meeting request to all the tams every Wednesday at 11am for 1 hour, if they would plan on it like they already accepted to do, then I would not need to coordinate it every week.

2- the conference room is booked but we get kicked out a lot because it is the central conference room. If other conference rooms had more chairs, or if TS had our own conference room then this step would also be eliminated.

I feel it is necessary to have the meeting and to have an agenda/outline prepared ahead of time to ensure the most effective and efficient meeting.

[David Healey]

Taking a Call from a Customer
1. Address the Customer and ask for their name and the name of the company they work for.                                                      30 seconds  
2. Gather information in the order of name, company name, version of MC, issue/concern, and any error messages(if any).             2-5 minutes
3. Invite the customer to the the session.                                                                                                                                  30 seconds
4. Troubleshoot the issue.                                                                                                                                                       15-20 minutes
5. Ask questions to team on Skype if necessary.                                                                                                                      3 minutes 
6. Report/show the resolution suggestions to the customer.                                                                                                       2 minutes
7.  Thank them for calling MasterControl and tell them to have a great day.                                                                                30 seconds

Percentage of the time spent completing the process adds to value to the customer: 30% (Gather information, Invite into the webex session, Report/Show the resolution) 

It's interesting to see from this perspective that even though I may be paddling like crazy to keep myself afloat in the call, the customer is really only looking for the validation in the information I gather as well as being invited into a webex, and the resolution to their problem.  That means that while some of my call is required waste, a lot of the time on my calls are 70% waste. 

[bmiller]

Logging bugs

 

Major steps:

gather information - 20min

research -              30min

test environment -   20min

log findings -            5min

file bug -                35min

 

I feel that all of these steps add value to the customer and the product.  The only way there would not be value in these steps is if you do not do them right the first time.  One example is if you ahve to ask the customer for more information that you could have gathered beforehand.  I could also be far off on my time estimates since I have only logged one bug so far.

[Jared Allen]

Creating an FTP account

Browse to FTP admin page and login

View list of existing accounts to see if it's already there

Go to the create account page

Create user name

Select access options

Create password

Switch to FTP app to create folder

Switch back to browser, and browse to and select the folder

Set expiration date

Save account

Send account info to Engineer

Each step takes 5-10 seconds.  Most of the time is waiting for the pages to load in the browser.  The whole process is NVA, but it is necessary to get files from customers in a secure manner.

[estolberg]

Logging a New Case

1. Get customer's name and company     30 sec
2. Take notes during call on notepad        5 min (roughly, during call)
   
3. Search for customer/company in SF    30 sec
4. Fill out top information on case            1 min
5. Fill out case template/description         4 min
6. Close or save case/send email            30 sec

I would say that from the customer's standpoint, only steps 1, 5, and 6 are value-added (case is put under the right contact, they get an accurate description and solution, and get notification for reference). This means roughly 5 minutes are value-added. However, that means 6.5 minutes is non-value added.

I realize that step 2 might be more or less, and could be completely transparent to the customer so it might not be included. Also, most of the non-value added steps are necessary for the accurate completion of the case, whether or not the customer deems them necessary.

[ajones]

Work From Home End of Day emails - 

1.Create a new email 

2.Fill in what you did that day with details on the case you touched and closed

3.Add in details on the phone calls you took or meetings you had

4.Add notes on lab work

5.Send email 

The process can take several mins to complete when you are duplicating you work by coping your notes from the case and adding them to the email.  

Average time to complete this task is between 20-30 min

There is no value added in the process of duplicating your notes and calendar information.  Eliminating the excess in the email by linking the SalesForce reports and Outlook calendar. 

[emcginty]

Inbound call from customer:

1- Get customer's information 15 seconds VA

2- Find Customer in SF 10 seconds NVA

3- Get information about the issue 1-3 minutes NVA

4-Troubleshoot using tools (kb,sf,skype) 5 minutes VA

5- Relay the useful information for the fix to the customer 3-5 minutes VA

6- Determine if the fix worked 1 minute VA

7-Ask customer for additional questions and end call 1 minute NVA

I found that with these steps: value added activities range from 8 to 13 minutes and non-value added activities range from 2-5 minutes.

I feel that this is an efficient model for resolving our customer issues. Even though it might be non-value added activities to our customers, we value them on our side. 

[Chanse]

Creating a virtual server in the lab

 

1- Verify if it's needed for a particular version of MC or if it should have MC on it at all. (10 seconds) (VA)

2- Deploy the VM from the necessary template using the standard naming convention. (10 minutes) (VA)

3- Ensure to pick the proper script necessary for the VM O/S version. (5 seconds) (VA)

4- Login to VM to confirm functionality and add rights for the person who requested it. (5 minutes) (NVA)

5- Log out and inform the requester that it is available. (15 seconds) (NVA)

 

About 60% of the time is value added.

 

Since this process is for internal customers only, I'm sure none of us is willing to pay for the activity but if it was for an external customer they would so I based my evaluation on that.  If the first 3 steps aren't done correctly the first time, the process will need to be started over and each step has a big part in transforming the VM.  Although the last 2 steps do transform the VMs, they don't need to be done correctly the 1st, 2nd or 50th time but they do need to be done.

[lgleason]

Scheduling

            Coordinate details, 15 minutes (VA)

            Create Case, 2 minutes (NVA)

            Log details on Xcel Tracking 2 minutes (NVA)

            Schedule Appointment 2 minutes (VA)

            Coordinate the receipt of pre-approvals 10 minutes (NVA)

            Log Case Updates upon appointment completion 5 minutes (NVA)

            Record completion time and version on internal tracking 5 minutes (NVA)

 

Based on the strict criteria activities must meet to be considered value-added, only 40% of the time spent on the scheduling process adds value. All the activities in the process, however, are necessary for our processes to function.

[Tyler Nelson]

Database copy procedure.

1) Receive request from customer directed at project office. 10 min VA

2) FWD request to Lynnae.  2 Min NVA

3) Lynnae contact customer and schedule appointment 10 min - 30 min NVA

4) Install team execute appointment 1-2 hours VA

At maximum with this process we are looking at 31% being NVA.  That surprises me, that it is so high.  It seems there could be relatively few process changes to help eliminate that waste.  The most difficult part is contacting the customers to schedule the appointment.  I've never viewed it in this sense before. 

[csimpson]

Customer Call

1.       Gather contact info

a.       2min

b.      non-value-added

2.       Gather preliminary customer observations/problems

a.       5-10min

b.      non-value-added

3.       Reproduce problem

a.       3-5min

b.      non-value-added

4.       Trouble shoot problem

a.       5-60 min

b.      non-value-added           

5.       Clarification of problem resolution( Why the resolution worked)

a.       5-10min

b.      value-added(9.8% of total time)

6.       Document case

a.       5-10min

b.      non-value-added

7.       Close case

a.       1min

b.      non-value-added

Steps 1-3 and 6-7 are not something our customer would pay for.

Step 4 is something that customers would pay for and can transform the product but sometimes is not the correct resolution.

Step 5 is the only step that matches all criteria. Our customers pay us so that we can tell them how it should work and why it didn’t work. This changes our product in the eyes of the customer and can be done correctly.