Work we usually map in operations
- Enter and check orders
- Plan schedules and assign work
- Confirm ship dates and track deliveries
- Handle returns and exceptions
- Update spreadsheets and status reports
- Answer status questions from sales and customers
Where work usually waits
- Orders wait for missing details from sales.
- Exceptions go back to one experienced person because nobody else knows the rule.
- The same data is typed into two or three systems.
Tasks AI can help with
- Check new orders for missing or wrong fields
- Draft ship-date and status replies
- Build the daily exceptions list
- Prepare the weekly operations report
These are examples. Your own list comes from your team's answers. A person stays in charge of each task and makes the judgment calls.
Questions we ask your team
- What starts the work: an order, an email, a schedule?
- Which exceptions come back to you, and how do you decide?
- Which systems do you type the same data into?
- Who gets your work when you finish, and how?
How the one-week map works
- Days 1 to 3: your team talks. Each person answers a few questions about their own work, on their phone or by typing. It takes about 20 minutes.
- Days 4 to 5: we map the work. Every task, who does it, how many hours it takes and where work waits. The people who do the work check it.
- Days 6 to 7: you pick what AI does. A ranked list of tasks AI can help with and the hours each one takes today. You choose. A person stays in charge of each one.
What you get on day 7
- One map of who does what in the department.
- A written card for each task: what starts it, the steps, who gets the result, how often it happens and how long it takes.
- The hand-offs where work waits.
- The tasks only one person knows.
- A ranked list of tasks AI can help with, each with a named owner.
Every number comes from your team's own answers. You keep the readout and the files.
Questions and answers
What is operations process mapping?
It is a written map of the recurring operations work: each task, who does it, what starts it, how long it takes, which systems it uses and who gets the result. Hand-offs between people show where work waits.
Do we need workshops?
No. Each person answers on their phone or by typing, in about 20 minutes. The people who do the work check the map.
What do we get at the end?
A map of the department with hours by task, the hand-offs where work waits, tasks only one person knows, and a ranked list of tasks AI can help with.