Optimize Your Operations—How Business Process Mapping Can Increase Efficiency and Improve Service

As water and wastewater utilities struggle to deal with tough issues of long-term drought, increasingly stringent regulations, public concerns about water quality and a host of other challenges, there is real value in taking the time to understand and improve the business and service delivery processes of the organization. Creating a comfortable and safe environment for dialogue among employees who know and perform the tasks which take the process from point A to point B or C is critical to gathering the information needed. Unfortunately, many utility managers find themselves too busy to undertake the mapping or they delegate the task to a staff member and don't make it a priority or follow-up to monitor progress. Time passes and the mapping moves down on the list of priorities. This tends to be the reason that an independent facilitator is brought in to lead the project.