Process Flow Analysis

Have you ever encountered a process that had too many steps or was overly complicated? Perhaps you examined the process and looked for areas where you could remove steps or simplify its flow. If you did, you were conducting a process flow analysis. Process analysis is an important step in determining the financial well-being of an organization and pinpointing areas where changes could help improve the bottom line. In this Assignment, you will create a process flow analysis (also known as workflow diagramming) for an activity in your own organization (or one with which you are familiar).

To prepare:

Review the information in the Learning Resources (including the Media) for this week dealing with how to perform a process flow analysis.

Identify a process that is completed on a consistent basis in your organization (or one with which you are familiar). Examples of a process include such things as how a patient is moved through the system, or what must occur to prepare an examination room or hospital room for the next patient.

Create a simple flow analysis map detailing the process using Microsoft Word using one of the methods below:

Select SmartArt from the Insert menu and select a diagram that matches the flowchart structure you would like to use.

Select Shapes from theInsert menu and select the shape that matches the flowchart piece you would like to use. Continue inserting shapes and connect them using the arrow shapes.

Reflect on the ease or difficulty of obtaining the necessary information to create your flow analysis map.

Identify "white space" as defined in the article, "Hospital Operating System: Unleashing Throughput Potential" found in the Learning Resources for this week.

Determine strategies for improving the process flow.

Reflect on the role of the process flow analysis in financial decision making and how it can have positive impacts on the process. Attach your Flow Analysis Map to your Discussion post. (Very Important)

Describe the process you analyzed and how you went about gathering the necessary information to create your flow analysis map.

Identify specific areas of white space that need to be addressed and propose strategies for improving the process. Analyze how process flow analysis can be a useful tool in financial decision making and the ramifications of not using it. Be sure and include your flow analysis map when you turn in your paper.

Reminder: This Discussion assignment serves as your Portfolio Assignment for this course. Be sure to save this Discussion Assignment on both your hard drive and on an external drive.


Describe the process you analyzed and how you went about gathering the necessary information to create your flow analysis map. Identify specific areas of white space and propose strategies for improving the process.

Analyze how process flow analysis can be a useful tool in financial decision making and the ramifications of not using it. Be sure and include your flow analysis map as part of your post.

Respond to at least two of your colleagues on two different days using one or more of the following approaches:
Share an insight from having read your colleagues' postings, synthesizing the information to provide new perspectives.
Offer and support an alternative perspective using readings from the classroom or from your own research in the Walden Library.
Make a suggestion based on additional evidence drawn from readings or after synthesizing multiple postings. (Will Send Responses Soon)

Required Readings

Baker, J., & Baker, R. W. (2014). Health care finance: Basic tools for nonfinancial managers. Burlington, MA: Jones and Bartlett Learning.

Chapter 14, "Using Comparative Data" (pp. 157-169)

Review: In this chapter, you are introduced to the criteria for identifying other health care organizations that are comparable to your own. Data from these organizations can then be used to evaluate your own organizational performance.
Thorpe, L., Kovach, S., Vins, W., & Stefanak, M. (2010). Business process analysis and redesign methods: improving response to telephone-based reports in a local health department. Public Health Reports, 125(6), 903-908.
Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.

In this article, the authors describe a case in which one local health department used the business process analysis and redesign methods to test their effect on response time to pressing public health problems. It demonstrates the importance of analyzing current organizational processes in order to improve system design.
Jenkins, A., & Eckel, S. (2012). Analyzing methods for improved management of workflow in an outpatient pharmacy setting. American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy, 69(11), 966-971.
Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.

This article details an analysis of a central outpatient pharmacy. The authors explain the need to transfer pharmacists' dispensing-oriented activities from technical dispensing functions toward more pharmacist-patient related interactions.
CareLogistics (n.d.). Hospital Operating System: Unleashing throughput potential (Executive Summary). Retrieved from https://www.iienet2.org/uploadedfiles/SHSNew/Tools_and_Resources/Case_Studies_and_Tools/Exec%20Summary-White%20Paper%20-%20Hospital%20Operating%20System.pdf

This white paper discusses whether or not a hospital would be able to manage throughput if it becomes a system of interconnected activities.
Required Media
Laureate Education (Producer). (2012). Process analyses. Baltimore, MD: Author.

Note: The approximate length of this media piece is 6 minutes.

In this video, Dr. William Ward describes brown paper analysis, process flow analysis, and value stream mapping. Dr. Ward demonstrates the application of the three types of analyses to the same scenario to highlight their different uses.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/spd1r9vomerilvq/wal_nurs6211_10_a_en-cc.zip?dl=0