5/17/22, 10:14 PM Process Decision Program Charts - Managing Risk Methodically

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Process Decision Program Charts

Managing Risk Methodically
Kharina heads up a large electronics company, and has just received a message from a
national newspaper's "consumer champion." The reporter asks her how she plans to deal
with the current crisis, and why the company doesn't put its customers first.
Kharina didn't realize that there was a problem, so she schedules an emergency meeting
with her head of distribution, Max, to find out what's gone wrong.
Closer investigation reveals that the organization's name is trending on social media… for
all the wrong reasons. There have been many customer complaints about missed, late or
incorrect deliveries, damaged packages, and a lack of action from the company's
complaints team.
Kharina is disappointed to discover that Max hasn't done anything about these problems –
he needs to improve process management in his department, and fast. So, Kharina asks
him to create a process decision program chart for the distribution team, so that they can
identify where the problems are happening and address them effectively.
In this article, we'll explore how you can use a process decision program chart (PDPC) to
improve process management, process flow, process risk management, and contingency
planning .

Note:
See our article on flow charts  for a more in-depth understanding of how to think about
and communicate workflows or processes. Swim Lane Diagrams  are also useful for
projects or processes that involve several people or teams, and you could use storyboards
  to illustrate the steps in a process.

Understanding Process Decision Program Charts

A PDPC (see Figure 1, below, for a snapshot) is similar to a flow chart in many ways. For
example, it's a diagram that illustrates a process from start to finish, showing how different
elements fit together. However, PDPCs are particularly helpful for identifying risks , and
outlining how to mitigate them by developing and planning countermeasures.

Figure 1 – Snapshot of a PDPC

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PDPCs were developed in the second half of the 20th century by the Union of Japanese
Scientists and Engineers. They formed part of a set of tools intended to solve qualitative
problems, such as identifying and resolving issues and dealing with customer complaints.

How to Create a Process Decision Program Chart

PDPCs are easy to create and use. They help you to consider risks methodically at the
planning or review stage of a project or process, so that you don't overlook anything, and
they make it easy to communicate about this with your team members.
Follow these four steps to create a PDPC:

1. Break Your Tasks Down, and Put Them in Sequence

To use a PDPC, you start by breaking your process down into its individual tasks. These
might be the steps of a manufacturing process or a routine business workflow (such as
regular order fulfilment, in our example).
Take a sheet of landscape letter-format paper, and write each task or element of the
process in a separate box, spaced out down its left-hand side. You can see the tasks for our
order fulfilment example in Figure 2, below.

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Figure 2 – Tasks for Max's Order Fulfilment Process

2. Identify Potential Risks

Next, you extend the chart to identify risks for the tasks you've mapped out. Draw branches
off each task, and add the risks in rounded boxes at the ends of them (see Figure 3, below).

Tip:
Read our article on Risk Analysis  for more on identifying possible risks.

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Figure 3 – Potential Risks

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3. Identify Possible Countermeasures or Contingencies

Unless the solution is immediately obvious, you'll likely need to brainstorm  the most
effective countermeasures for each risk. Draw branches off each risk, and add your
countermeasures in wavy boxes (called "clouds"). (See Figure 4, below, for a complete
PDPC for our example.)

Figure 4 – Complete PDPC

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This PDPC gives Max and Kharina a clear set of actions to take to investigate and solve the
problem, and it helps them think about how they can monitor these regularly to ensure
that customers are satisfied.

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4. Review the Process

This process should provide you with clear solutions to the potential problems or risks that
you've identified. However, it's important to review your PDPC regularly, and make
changes where appropriate.

Note:
A PDPC is one of several tools that you can use to identify potential risks and possible
countermeasures. You could also use Risk Analysis  to identify and manage risks that
could undermine key business initiatives. This is particularly useful when you're planning a
project, and when you need to make go/no-go decisions .
Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA)  encourages you to analyze everything
that could possibly go wrong during an existing or proposed project's design phase, and it
helps you to identify, rank and prioritize your most serious threats.
And, Cause and Effect Analysis  helps you identify all possible causes of a problem, not
just the most obvious or serious ones. Here, you identify the root causes of a problem,
uncover any bottlenecks, and pinpoint where and why a process isn't working.

Key Points
A process decision program chart is a simple, easy-to-use tool that allows you to monitor
and manage processes more efficiently, and then to identify risks and brainstorm, develop
and plan ways to mitigate them.
To draw up a PDPC, you break a process down into individual tasks, and write these in
boxes down the side of a piece of paper. Next, you identify the potential risks that could
occur at each stage and add these. Finally, you brainstorm possible countermeasures and
add these.
A PDPC allows you to think about, plan for, and solve problems in a methodical way at the
planning stage of a process, and to monitor your subsequent progress.

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