Tools used for value stream mapping

When your team is "walking the flow," be sure to gather high-value information from employees, including:. The information gathered does not have to be perfect or overly detailed. As long as the data provides a relatively clear picture of major issues, the team can begin building its lean process map.

Once your team has gathered and reviewed the information obtained while "walking the flow," begin drawing the value stream map. Figure 2 below shows some common examples and strategies with VSM template development. Calculate the cycle time vs. Each VSM will look slightly different depending on the process and how it was drawn.

Figure 3 below features an example of a VSM current state map used for a metal fabricating company. The current state map is usually completed by the second day, but it may need refining. On the VSM, place a kaizen burst a sticky note or thought bubble around any items to signal improvement is needed. Items may include low equipment reliability or first pass yield; long changeover times; large batches; any waste such as overproduction, motion, transportation, waiting, defects, or adjustments; and over or extra processing.

During a typical VSM event, it is possible to create the draft plan based on the information from the future state map. The plan will need further refinement, especially in determining resources required, such as time, people, and budgets. What Is a Value Stream Map? How to Create a Value Stream Map? Identify the scope of the value stream map. Select a relevant value stream map template from the Creately templates library.

Enable the shape library for value stream mapping and drag and drop the relevant shapes to start from scratch. The start and end points should be placed at the top left and right corners of the document. Map out the steps of the process with process boxes. Include every step. To show the entire process, connect the boxes with arrows. This provides an all-inclusive view of not only how the changes impacted the changing area, but also the entire process. Value stream mapping provides a great way to make changes and improvements to the process without doing so at the expense of other process segments.

Depending on the organization, the value stream mapping activity should be held as often as needed for each process.

If your project value stream uses a Waterfall methodology that might be a couple of times a year. But if you use an Agile methodology, that could be monthly.

It can also be used to focus on smaller segments of the process, enabling a deeper dive into those process specifics. The goal is to make ongoing iterative improvements to the process, using strategy before tactics. Those improvements can take multiple forms, such as changes in procedures, incorporating automation, adding new tools, increasing headcounts, etc.

Some identified improvements might focus on improving team morale, team or cross-team unification, training, improving team focus, or inter-department process and workflow transparency. Staying competitive in business requires consistent process improvement and monitoring.

These metrics need to be tracked regularly, some even daily or hourly. So how are these numbers tracked in the real world? Most organizations will establish a report, or series of reports, that show the data points of interest. Dashboards are also a great way to display current figures.

There are, of course, a wide variety of tools that can be employed to track and report the necessary value stream data points throughout the entire mapped process. A few will even provide support for other development lifecycle management functions.

For example, in looking at the enterprise-scale development process, Plutora Value Stream Management Solutions has the ability to track and provide detailed reporting and analytics on the entire development process from concept to delivery. This type of dashboard can be a powerful tool to show current state value stream data in near real-time. This dashboard also gives the viewer the ability to easily drill down into data hotspots to identify specific issues and bottlenecks. It also integrates with tools like ServiceNow to further expand the tracking and reporting capability to include production system uptime, production side release tracking, feature requests and more.

As a founding member of the Value Stream Management Consortium , Plutora is committed to helping businesses to deliver more value to their customers. Tools like Plutora are designed to track and report on data of all types, including the data used in the value stream maps.

These tools are ideal for providing dashboards, reports, and analytics that track the performance of the entire mapped process in nearly real time. They provide amazing transparency and clarity of current state throughout the entire lifecycle. They also enable the user to drill down into the data to identify and address problem areas.

At the end of the day, the goal is to develop a corporate culture that provides the best possible product to meet or exceed customer needs and expectations. This is ultimately done by making continual improvements to the value stream.

Learn more about how Plutora can help improve your value stream. Learn More. Figure 1. Figure 2. Figure 3. Available for every major platform and with continuous updates, creating diagrams for almost all types of industries becomes extremely easy with EdrawMax. Any tool that is easy to use has multiple templates, offers free upgrades is your best bet for value stream mapping software. With that said, only one app from the above list, EdrawMax covers the entire spectrum and is definitely worth trying.

True Romance from Edraw. Twitter Share Copy. Link copied! Allows seamless team collaboration where each member can jointly work on a project regardless of their geographical location. Paid subscription is required to access advanced shapes and features.

One of the most diversified and feature-enriched team collaboration and workflow management apps. Atlassian offers various other tools like Bitbucket for code management, Status page for effective communication, etc. Offers several pre-built templates to start with, without wasting your valuable time. Offers limited signup options.