Process audit · documented reality
Process audit
The flowchart on the wall is not what happens on Tuesday.
01
The situation
Leadership and the front line tell different stories about how work happens. Every improvement becomes a debate because nobody agrees what the baseline is.
Consultants sell transformation; your team sells survival. Without documented reality, roadmaps are fiction and vendor demos look like answers.
Edge cases — refunds, overrides, multi-site quirks — live in heads and chat, not in the official system. That gap is where margin and compliance leak.
02
What you get
We document reality — start, stop, owners, system of record — then rank options honestly. You get artefacts you can shop with any vendor, or hand straight to us for build.
Maps are for humans on a normal week: who does what, where truth lives, what waits in inboxes, and what breaks at month-end.
Options are ranked by relief, risk, cost band, and who inside must own the result — not by how shiny the demo looked.
03
Deliverables
- As-is process maps with named handoffs and wait states
- Edge cases and exceptions — not just the happy-path flowchart
- System of record per fact the board argues about
- Options ranked by relief, risk, and internal ownership
- Written pack for board, ops, and whoever implements next
- Workshop notes that survive contact with a real Tuesday
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How the audit runs
Two to four weeks typical — artefacts that survive contact with a real Tuesday.
Step 1 Week one
Interviews & walk-throughs
Short sessions with people who do the work — not only managers with the polished story.
Step 2 Reality on paper
Map on paper first
As-is flows with named handoffs, wait states, and edge cases — validated with real examples from the floor.
Step 3 Tuesday tests
Stress-test exceptions
What happens when credit, split, return, or multi-site quirks hit — not just the happy-path flowchart.
Step 4 Deliverable
Options ranked & written
A pack for board, ops, and whoever implements next — enough to estimate slices, not shelfware nobody opens.
Use it internally, with us, or in front of vendors — the baseline stays the same.
04
Signs this might be you
- Two departments describe the same job differently
- Process improvement stalls because “that is not how we do it” meets “but we always have”
- Auditors or customers ask for traceability you cannot show cleanly
- A new tool was bought but behaviour did not change
- Multi-site or multi-brand work runs in parallel truths
- You need a spec-shaped artefact before a build or tender
05
How the audit runs
Short interviews and live walk-throughs with people who actually do the work — not only managers with the polished story.
We map on paper first, validate with examples, then stress-test with “what happens when X goes wrong”.
06
What the deliverable is for
A prioritised plan you can execute internally, with us, or put in front of vendors without losing the plot.
Enough detail to estimate slices — not a hundred-page shelfware requirements doc nobody opens.
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Good fit when
- Build or buy is coming and the room cannot agree on the baseline
- Post-merger or growth left process and data misaligned
- You want independence — artefacts you can hand to any implementer
×
Probably not when
- You only need a quick conversation — start with the free review
- Nobody will spare time for front-line interviews
- You want us to endorse a vendor you already chose