The Process of Refilling within a Corporation
The diagram above depicts the process of refilling simple things such as stationary within a corporation. This procedure starts with determining the necessary components, and then lists of articles are provided to the manager for approval. If the manager does not approve the list, whether due to increased items or a lack of items listed, the list must be rewritten. When a manager approves the catalog, the list still needs to be reviewed by the finance office before funds are released. Because the manager's office is deemed a higher authority, the finance office cannot disapprove after the manager's consent. From the flowchart, the next step after the approvals is seeking suppliers if suppliers have items available, the items are collected or delivered (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2012). However, in case a given vendor lacks items, the step of seeking suppliers is repeated until the items are found. The items are them collected and accounted for by the finance office and a similar process done by the storekeeper's office. The manager has to approve whether the stock of items is compact before they are distributed to the agencies for use.
Analysis of the Steps in the Process
The first step is identifying required items, and under this process, the list of needed items is made. This step is essential because it helps to determine the amount that the finance office allocates for the purchase of the items. There is no important technology used at this point except that the required items are identified and listen using a Microsoft Excel program that also aids in calculating the cost of each item required and the total cost for purchasing the items (Koppel & Kreda, 2010). The policies surrounding this stage is that each department's secretary makes a list of the things that are finished or required. The records are submitted to HR Management's every three days before the end of each month. The HR secretary is in charge of purchasing the items, and so he/she compiles the list and submits it to the manager before the end of three days. For this step to be executed efficiently, the information required is the items' names, the quantity required and the amount (Koppel & Kreda, 2010).
The second step, Manager's approval is important because it helps to eliminate any form of misappropriation and ensure that no item is excluded. The manager relies on the recorded item's list using simple Microsoft Office programs like Excel. The manager is expected to review the list and approve it in less than two days (Koppel & Kreda, 2010). To execute this step the manager needs to have knowledge of the company items and prices. Hence he/she can rely on the company's requirement catalog.
The finance officer's position as a step does not require any technology or information since their work is to approve the list and more specifically giving the required money. This action is governed by the policy that, the finance officer should sign the list immediately when given. Looking for suppliers is the next process and it lacks technicalities since all that is required is to calling and collecting the items. Items should then be received immediately as the seventh process as long as they are found to be available in the supplier's stores. The technology required in this step is company locomotives.
The finance office's stock taking and the Store Keeper's stock taking are two stages follow consecutively. These steps are similar in nature since they both help to account for the new items supplied to the company before they are distributed to the offices and them, are both made successful through spreadsheets as a computer technology. The policy and rules involved here are that the items should be recorded immediately when collected from suppliers and distributed directly to the offices. Anything that remains must be registered and stored with the warehouse keeper. These two steps rely on the list of requirements made by the secretary of the HR, and the list of the item supplied as given by the suppliers. The two lists should corroborate.
The Metrics Used to Measure the Soundness of the Workflow
Currently, the company is using to measure the soundness of workflow is an accountability metrics software to ensure that the items within the company are well accounted for and that they are distributed to the offices within the required time frame (Staron, Meding & Nilsson, 2009). This metrics being used currently is partly effective and partly ineffective the reason being that, it ensure accountability but does not save time. Besides, it has duplicated roles.
Areas Requiring Changes
The workflow could be made much simpler and faster if some steps would be eliminated while other restructured. For instance, all lists can be collected by the HR secretary who then compiles and reviews it with the Finance Office. This means that there will be only two steps, the Finance office then approves the list together with the funds and sends to the manager for approval. The manager confirms the items required and approves the purchase of the items. The suppliers are then sought and goods collected (Staron, Meding & Nilsson, 2009). The major change here is that the manager does not have to approve the list as it has already been approved by the finance of and his duty is just to pass the budget hence saving time. Once goods are supplied, the storekeeper then takes stock of the supplies according to the list from the suppliers which he/she then hands over to the manager and the Finance office to confirm. Again, this step relieves from the duplicated role of finance and the storekeeper's office. Consequently, the workflow will have minimized the steps, reduced time and still ensured accountability (Staron, Meding & Nilsson, 2009).
Summary
Flow charts are one way through which one can track the process of activities in their company and through metrics; the work flow's effectiveness can be measured. The importance of having knowledge of workflow activity is that it helps to keep a record of things that are relevant to the process of the activity and eliminate redundancy such as duplicative roles and time wastage .The knowledge of activities in a process is further significant because understanding how time relates to action becomes a priority and such knowledge helps in eliminating irrelevant activities that take time. Every business activity relates to some results, and therefore knowledge of event flow offer continuous insight on what is going on in the process. Finally, through following up and having knowledge on workflow, one can assign tasks based on strengths and skills hence accentuate the positives.
References
McGonigle, D., & Mastrian, K. G. (2012). Nursing informatics and the foundation of knowledge(Laureate Education, Inc., custom ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones and Bartlett Learning.
Koppel, R., & Kreda, D. A. (2010). Healthcare IT usability and suitability for clinical needs: Challenges of design, workflow, and contractual relations. Studies in Health Technology and Informatics, 157, 7-14
Staron, M., Meding, W., & Nilsson, C. (2009). A framework for developing measurement systems and its industrial evaluation. Information & Software Technology, 51(4), 721-737.
