Bottlenecks in a Process

Bottlenecks in a Process

Mayle Johnson

University of Phoenix

OPS 571

Dr. Tug Gokaydin

09/27/2010

Abstract

The following paper is the description of a process performed daily in my job. As a Branch Manager, it is my job to ensure that my bankers have enough preset appointments each day to support the needs of my business. Bankers often have a difficult time keeping track of the number of appointments they are setting each day and have difficulty confirming appointments in a timely manner. I am responsible for submitting a daily report to my District Manager on a daily basis that accurately represents the number of confirmed preset appointments per banker per day. This paper will identify the main bottleneck in the process of preparing the daily report.

The Process

The current process to prepare my daily reporting consists of six steps that are performed each morning before the bank opens for the day. I begin by signing on to bank systems and my Outlook Express Calendar. I then check the schedule to see which bankers will be working that day and print their calendars. After doing this, I go to each banker and confirm the appointments on their calendar are confirmed and the correct number is recorded. If the appointments are not confirmed or correct, I need to manually adjust the Outlook calendars and wait for the banker to confirm the appointments before reporting them to my District Manager. On an average day I spend about 30 minutes preparing this report to ensure that I am accurately representing the number of appointments for my branch.

Identify the Main Bottleneck

A bottleneck in a process can be identified as the component that slows the process and makes it less efficient. The presence of a bottleneck in a process can be very frustrating because the process is only as fast as the bottleneck allows it to be. In the banking industry, a bottleneck in a process is the result of bad habits developed by trying to find ways to shortcut the process....