SIPOC: Map Any Process on One Page

A SIPOC is a one-page summary of a process. The name lists its five columns: suppliers, inputs, process, outputs and customers. It is often the first step in an improvement project, because it makes everyone agree where the process starts and ends and who it serves before anyone starts changing it.

It is deliberately high level. The process column has only five to seven steps. Detail comes later, with a value stream map or a full process map of the one step that matters.

The five columns

• Suppliers: who or what provides the inputs. They can be internal (another team) or external (a merchant, the customer).
• Inputs: what they provide: information, materials, approvals, money.
• Process: five to seven main steps, each starting with a verb.
• Outputs: what the process produces.
• Customers: who receives the outputs, again internal or external.

How to build one

1. Name the process and agree where it starts and ends. "Quote to first visit" is clearer than "sales".
2. Write the five to seven main steps first. Resist adding detail.
3. List the outputs, then the customers of each output.
4. List the inputs each step needs, then their suppliers.
5. Add one or two measures: how will you know whether the process is working?

Filling in the process column first is a common recommendation, because the other columns are easier once the steps are agreed.

Worked example

A small heating firm maps how an enquiry becomes a booked job:

Just writing this down showed the firm that nobody owned the follow-up step, which is where quotes went cold.

Build your SIPOC

Fill in the worksheet below and email it to yourself as a one-page PDF.

What to do next

A SIPOC shows the shape of the process. To improve it:

• Measure it using the measures you listed, for four weeks.
• Map the slowest step in detail. Value stream mapping separates working time from waiting time.
• Go and see it. A gemba walk checks the map against what actually happens.
• Write the agreed method down as a standard operating procedure.