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In process improvement, SIPOC or suppliers, inputs, process, outputs and customers (sometimes in the reversed order: COPIS) is a tool that summarizes the inputs and outputs of one or more business processes in table form, with each of the words forming a column in the table used in the analysis.[1][2] It is used to define a business process from beginning to end before work on process improvement begins.[citation needed]
 | This article needs attention from an expert in Business. The specific problem is: This article needs attention from more Wikipedians with expertise on this concept to add history and theoretical basis. (January 2016) |
It was in use at least as early as the total quality management programs of the late 1980s[lower-alpha 1] and continues to be used today in Six Sigma, lean manufacturing, and business process management.
To emphasize putting the needs of the customer foremost, the tool is sometimes called COPIS and the process information is filled out in reverse order by starting with the customer and working upstream to the supplier.
The SIPOC is often presented at the outset of process improvement efforts such as kaizen events or during the "define" phase of the DMAIC process.[3][4] It has three typical uses depending on the audience:
- To give people who are unfamiliar with a process a high-level overview
- To reacquaint people whose familiarity with a process has faded or become out-of-date due to process changes
- To help people in defining a new process
Aspects
Several aspects of the SIPOC that may not be readily apparent are:
- Suppliers and customers may be internal or external to the organization that performs the process.
- Inputs and outputs may be materials, services, or information.
- The focus is on capturing the set of inputs and outputs rather than the individual steps in the process.[lower-alpha 2]
Mapping
To create a SIPOC diagram, one must first map the overall process in a few steps. Then one must identify process outputs, who will receive them, and what the necessary inputs and suppliers are for each process. The final step is to share the diagram with the stakeholders to evaluate and verify the results. [5]
| Supplier | Input | Process | Output | Customer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
|
|
- Input–process–output (IPO) model
- 5 whys
- Value stream mapping
- IDEF, a functional modelling language
- The SIPOC is a simplification of a tool that author and quality guru, Philip Crosby called a Process Model. The Process Model had additional parts, but the center of the process model was in fact a SIPOC. For example, compare the steps in preparing a SIPOC with the "Xerox Quality Improvement Process" presented in Kearns, David T.; Nadler, David A. (1992). "Appendix 7". Prophets in the Dark: How Xerox Reinvented Itself and Beat Back the Japanese. New York: HarperCollins. p. 318. ISBN 9780887305641. OCLC 25283632.
- The capture of individual process steps in detail is the focus of business process mapping.
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