Define the most important Core Processes

The first step toward your department's / unit's operational excellence is to go through 3 stages, as follows :

1. Define what your core processes are, and among them, the most important ones.
2. Choose the 3 most important Core Processes, and identify how you are going to measure their performance, i.e. the attribute of the output of the processes.
3. From point no.2 above, create  Data Collection Plan document. Tell the nature of the data (e.g. continuous vs discrete), how frequent the measurement will be, and who will conduct the measurement & who will interpret them for you.

Without defining first what's most important, you might end up measuring trivial things.

 

If a department head fails to measure what's important, chances are, he/she will fail to continuously improve his/her operation.

 

Key takeaway : use Data Collection Plan