SIPOC diagrams gained prominence as part of Total Quality Management (TQM) programs back in the ’80s. Once you know the process, you can design a solution and then develop your procedures! A SIPOC diagram is a potent tool for process design and improvement. The process is a blueprint for implementation, communications, and automation. The “process” provides a big picture view, allowing you to optimize business value. You can think of a process as a high-level map, providing an overview of the journey, while a procedure would be analogous to turn by turn directions.īoth are essential. The procedure will explain how to “create the request” in your company using your specific tools and software. The process describes what we need to do, while the procedure explains how we do it.įor example, a procurement process may start with step 1, “create the request.” That would be the same for any procurement process at any company. Learn more about Process Design Don’t confuse Process with ProcedureĪnd let’s not confuse the process with a procedure. I would go one step further as and say, “a process is a set of activities that transforms inputs into value-added outputs.” There is no point in having a process if it doesn’t add value.įor example, suppliers such as engineers and designers use the inputs of silicone, metal, glass, and plastic, in the Multi-step manufacturing process, to deliver the output of a cell phone for customers consisting of consumers and businesses.Ī SIPOC diagram puts everything on one page, allowing you to create a more detailed process or to decompose a process for improvement. Processes define the sequence of actions and their dependencies.” A process takes one or more defined inputs and turns them into defined outputs. ITIL ® 4 defines a process as “A set of interrelated or interacting activities that transform inputs into outputs. Customers : Any role, system, or inter-process connection that receives outputs from the processīefore we go any further, what do we mean by process?.They can sometimes be the input into another process. Outputs : An output is a value-added result produced by the process.Process : a list of the high-level steps of the process.They can sometimes be the output of another process. Inputs are something transformed, consumed, used, or processed. Inputs : An input is a trigger for the process.Suppliers : Any role, system, or inter-process connection that provides inputs to the process.Let’s go ahead define the five pieces of a SIPOC diagram. Organizations use SIPOC to capture, at a high-level, all the critical parts of a process. First off, SIPOC stands for Suppliers, Inputs, Process, Outputs, and Customers.

Example of sipoc