What are the boundaries of the process I am improving?
Map Suppliers, Inputs, Process, Outputs and Customers on one page, then check every output has a named customer.
SIPOC Canvas · define · Foundation · free, no account needed
Use this when
- Your project scope keeps expanding and nobody can say where it ends
- Two people describe the same process and it sounds like two different processes
- You are about to start improving something nobody has agreed the boundaries of
SIPOC Canvas
sandboxWho hands something in, before the process starts.
What they hand in.
4–7 steps, each starting with a verb. Not a process map.
What comes out. Every one goes to somebody.
Who receives an output — and what they want.
scopeNo start or end point. This is the single most valuable line on the canvas: a project whose boundaries are unstated will expand until it cannot be finished, and everyone will believe they agreed to a different scope.
process14 steps. A SIPOC keeps the process column to about 4–7 so the conversation stays on scope. Past that you are drawing a process map, and you are drawing it before anyone has agreed what is being improved — which is the order that produces maps nobody uses.
process"Referral received" describes a state, not something a person does. Start with a verb — "Receive order", not "Order received". A state cannot be timed, staffed or removed; an action can.
process"Letter generated" describes a state, not something a person does. Start with a verb — "Receive order", not "Order received". A state cannot be timed, staffed or removed; an action can.
customers"Patient" has no stated need. Naming a customer without saying what they want is how a team ends up optimising for what is easy to measure. Write the sentence — it is usually the moment somebody says "actually, that is not what they care about".
customers"Referring GP practice" has no stated need. Naming a customer without saying what they want is how a team ends up optimising for what is easy to measure. Write the sentence — it is usually the moment somebody says "actually, that is not what they care about".
outputs4 outputs but only 2 customers. Every output goes to somebody. An output with no named recipient is either work nobody needs — which is worth knowing — or a customer who has been left off the canvas.
suppliers"Patient" also appears in the process column. A supplier is upstream — it hands something in. If it is doing the work, it belongs in the process, and the real supplier is whoever gives it what it starts with.
How this is calculated
No statistics — this is a structural completeness check, and it deliberately produces no score. A canvas graded out of ten teaches people to fill boxes until the grade goes up.
- Every column has at least one entry, and the start and end are stated.
- The process column holds 4–7 steps. More than that and you are drawing a process map before anyone has agreed what is being improved.
- Each step starts with a verb — “Receive order”, not “Order received”.
- Each named customer has a stated need.
- There are not more outputs than customers to receive them.
Source: George, M. et al. (2005), The Lean Six Sigma Pocket Toolbook, SIPOC; Rasmusson, D. (2006), The SIPOC Picture Book.
Saved runs can be attached to a project deliverable as evidence. Both what you entered and what the tool computed are stored, so the result can be checked again later.
How this is calculated
Structural completeness check, no statistics and no score. Verifies that every column is filled, that the start and end points are stated, that the process holds 4-7 verb-first steps rather than a full process map, that each named customer has a stated need, and that there are not more outputs than customers to receive them.
Source: George, M. et al. (2005), The Lean Six Sigma Pocket Toolbook, SIPOC.
Learn the method
- Work is a process, and somebody is waiting at the end of itFoundation · 12 min · free
- Scoping a project you can actually finishWhite Belt · 13 min · free