End-to-End Processes
An end-to-end process (E2EP) is defined using just two things:
- The Start Deliverable of the process
- The End Deliverable of the process
Clearly, any single Start Deliverable may lead to many possible End Deliverables. And within any E2EP, there may well be multiple possible pathways and loopbacks.
For example, in Triaster's support process you can see from the screengrab below that the Start Deliverable 'L2: Enquiry by email' (which is one of several possible Start Deliverables for triggering support from Triaster) can result in 20 different End Deliverables. And to get from the Start Deliverable to any of these end points there are 131 different possible routes (repetitions of loopbacks do not represent a new route).
With Triaster, the diagram of this E2EP can be generated automatically (each block on the diagram below is a whole page of process)
You can see there are nested loop backs, and the E2EP contains several branch points - the number of possible execution pathways grows very quickly!
This crystal-clear representation of the E2EP is a great start point to discuss improvement opportunities and to walk through the process itself with your team. It also solves the problem of having a 'tractable object for analysis' if you like of something that is smaller than a Process Library, but bigger than a process map. With this tractable object at your disposal, versions of E2EPs can be compared and contrasted, and shared and refined.
We are working on a simulation approach that will enable you to tabulate all E2EPs by any metric you choose (cost being the obvious example). With this new capability, you will be able to show the most costly E2EPs in your process libraries entirely automatically.
E2EPs are most definitely the way forward for business analysts to gain more value from Triaster, and we are actively expanding and improving the automated capabilities in the Triaster software to help you build and analyse your E2EPs.