Process Optimization Course: COO Operating System, KPIs

• What is process mapping and its purpose

• Differences between mapping and modeling

• Types of maps: stakeholder, relationship, flow, cross-functional, value stream

• Components of process maps and step-by-step creation

• How process improvement aligns with business strategy

• Key phases: from planning to implementation

• Frameworks for managing process changes

• What is process architecture and how it supports simplification

• Benefits of modeling processes for clarity and alignment

• Where to begin with process design and modeling

• Introduction to problem-solving in process improvement

• Practical tools: 5S, 5 Whys, 8D, flowcharts, cause-and-effect diagrams

• Brainstorming, checklists, and activity diagrams

• Benchmarking for continuous process enhancement

• Strategic frameworks: SIPOC, SWOT, DRIVE, ICOR

• Analytical techniques: nominal group technique, prioritization matrix

• Basics of linear regression for decision-making in process improvement

• What defines a culture of process excellence

• Key phases in cultural transformation

• Behavioral change and employee engagement

• The roles of managers and HR in sustaining simplified workflows

• Separate paid hours, leave, protected non-client work and feasible client capacity.

• Calculate utilisation with a named hours base and keep actuals separate from plans.

• Compare confirmed demand with provisional scenarios and identify weekly gaps by role.

• Compare hiring, subcontracting and rescheduling with ramp time, oversight and cash commitments.

• Record a staffing decision with an owner, review date and explicit triggers.

• Download the interactive HTML tool Capacity and Hiring Planner and the PDF of this lesson's slides from the lecture resources.

• Reconstruct payroll-only margin, direct project contribution and a stated cost-recovery view.

• Calculate realised price per hour using actual project effort.

• Track unbilled work and invoice readiness without treating logged effort as automatic billing entitlement.

• Separate invoiced amounts, recognised revenue and collected cash; assign overdue follow-up actions.

• Build a weekly cash forecast, check conditional runway and record a profit or cash recovery action.

• Download the interactive HTML tool Project Profit and Cash Planner and the PDF of this lesson's slides from the lecture resources.

• Choose one repeatable task and define its trigger, inputs and standard output.

• Write a standard operating procedure with steps, owners and evidence of completion.

• Assign responsibility and decision ownership, with explicit delegation limits and escalation routes.

• Set quality checks and an onboarding practice task before client release.

• Rehearse founder absence, record remaining dependencies and plan the next playbook revision.

• Download the interactive HTML tool Delivery Playbook Builder and the PDF of this lesson's slides from the lecture resources.

• Select one delivery task and record its baseline human effort, cost and required output.

• Define approved inputs, client permission and the system allowed to process them.

• Prepare bounded prompts for scoping, proposals or reports, with sources and missing facts made explicit.

• Set a human review gate and test missing evidence, incorrect totals and instructions embedded in untrusted content.

• Compare assisted drafting, review and rework costs under fixed-fee and hourly billing; record pilot evidence and client disclosure.

• Download the interactive HTML tool AI Delivery Pilot Planner and the PDF of this lesson's slides from the lecture resources.

• Assigned workflow boundaries and source evidence
• Observable steps, decisions and handoffs
• Current Workflow Map and unresolved facts

• Human and AI participation at each step
• Revised sequence, task boundaries and accountable roles
• Human and AI Workflow Design

• Acceptance criteria, review coverage and evidence
• Failed checks, uncertainty and human handling routes
• Workflow Quality Plan

• Changed role functions and decision rights
• Execution, review, exceptions and rework effort
• Role and Workload Map

• Step instructions and connected quality rules
• Document ownership, version control and exception handling
• Draft specification and consistency inspection

• Market questions, source scope and evidence boundaries
• AI-assisted extraction with source-linked findings
• Human checks, revised requests and research gaps

• Fictional competitor profiles and source references
• Comparable dimensions, price units and unknown values
• Human-reviewed benchmarks and positioning hypotheses

• Material uncertainties and distinct market scenarios
• Assumption checks and strategic implications
• Observable signals and conditions for review

• Evidence-linked SWOT and common decision criteria
• Options compared across market scenarios
• Counterarguments, assumption sensitivity and human judgment

• Checked evidence, alternatives and strategic rationale
• AI draft review and decision authority
• Strategy-session questions, initial action and revision conditions

• Reporting scope, source IDs and assistant requirements
• Revenue, contribution and operating result checks
• AI commentary, unsupported claims and human approval

• Variance signs and a consistent bridge convention
• Volume, price, variable cost and fixed cost reconciliation
• Supported explanations, open questions and a variance brief

• Forecast drivers, explicit assumptions and capacity limits
• Three scenarios, sensitivity and independent calculations
• AI commentary checks and conditions for forecast revision

• Staffing dates, FTE and loaded cost assumptions
• Quarterly reconciliation and an alternative start date
• AI draft checks and finance, HR and operations review

• Assistant access requirements and finance workflow ownership
• Reporting acceptance cases and human review gates
• Full effort, cost checks and an implementation decision