By Cathy Dew
In case you missed it, here are the first two blogs in our series on business process analysis templates:
This week we look at surveys...
Why a survey is an excellent Business Process Analysis template
Often times in the work-a-day world, we come to a point where we need assistance in determining which business processes help us get our jobs done in the most efficient manner. A survey can help determine customer or employee satisfaction for public websites and company enterprise intranets, It’s also easy to market and utilize the same website or intranet to conduct the survey.
A survey allows us to cast a wide net to gather data from people in a targeted manner. Some common scenarios when a survey works well are:
- Overall validation, such as customer or employee satisfaction.
- When a qualification of assumptions is necessary, such as customer requirements or preferences.
- To determine whether a change was successful.
What makes a survey a reliable Business Process Analysis tool
A survey respondent who takes part via the Intranet has a vested interest in completing the survey due to being a member of the company staff. Responding in part because they appreciate being included and also in hopes that the answers will be of some assistance to their employer and eventually help with their daily work. A caveat of a using a survey is that by and large respondents expect change as a consequence of completing one, especially employees. It’s a good practice to use a survey when action is taken as a result, for example, as part of an upgrade or redesign project.
Respondents who are loyal customers or followers via the Internet will often participate in a survey especially for a free gift, a Starbucks gift card or discounted product offer for a future purchase.
Commonly used best practices for surveys
- Scale questions that offer a complete spectrum of options. This allows respondents to give their true opinions but reduces lengthy surveys.
- Survey results provide information regarding the real opinion of survey respondents especially from employees or customers. They can be used to monitor customer or employee satisfaction.
- Satisfaction surveys should be compared to objective indicators of such, for example-attendance for employees. This is a good choice for intranet respondents.
For reference please click here to download a sample survey template.
Other considerations when deciding to conduct a survey as a business process analysis tool. In order for the survey to be useful the following steps are recommended:
- Decide what is to be learned from the survey and how the results will be used.
- Determine a target group of respondents, for example employees via the intranet.
- Demographic information is normally taken into consideration in order to analyze and understand results. In the case of employees, it can be one category of employee who performs the same job function on a daily basis.
- Narrow down the list of questions to the minimum required.
For best results and high response rates, make sure that your survey is as brief as possible and cam be completed quickly, 10 to 15 minutes is a good guide.
Learning big from your wide-cast survey
Within the realm of business process mapping steps (phases), there are many tools to choose from. The survey has proven to be a benefit in clarifying and understanding targeted aspects of the process you are analyzing. It is important to tailor the questions and the response time to suit your purposes and encourage participation. Involve the stakeholders in the development of the survey, establish a deadline for responding to your survey, and consider what you are going to do with the feedback in advance. With a little preparation and collaboration, a survey can be an indispensable business process analysis template.
Need more advice on how to leverage business process analysis templates for your next project? Please do not hesitate to connect with us at 1.510 652-7700 or complete this form and we’ll contact you to set up a free consultation.