Explanation
Value stream mapping is a lean tool that documents the step-by-step processes required to bring a product or service to market. It helps visualize, analyze, and improve all the steps involved by identifying waste and reducing process cycle times. The ultimate goal of VSM is to create more value for customers while improving overall efficiency1. An organization that receives a high volume of calls from users complaining that their issues are not being resolved efficiently should use value stream mapping to help understand the end-to-end flow of user support. By laying out each step in detail within the user support process, VSM helps the organization better understand and more easily identify optimization opportunities. VSM also helps the organization see more than waste in their user support process, including the sources of waste, the value-adding and non-value-adding activities, the material and information flow, and the decisions that affect the flow2. Using value stream mapping, the organization can create a current state map that shows the actual condition of the user support process, and a future state map that shows the target image of how the user support process should work after making improvements. VSM also forms the basis of an implementation plan, a blueprint for improvement, that helps the organization design how the whole user supportprocess should operate2. Therefore, using value stream mapping is the first step the organization should take to start to improve the situation. References:
Understanding the Fundamentals of Value-Stream Mapping
Value stream mapping: Examples, process, template, and symbols