SIPOC

Description:

SIPOC is a process-oriented tool that pieces together the major elements of a process/value stream to allow participants the ability to view it at a high-level and agree on it.

The term “SIPOC” consists of the first letter of the five major pieces in a process, consisting of

Suppliers to the process,

Inputs provided by the suppliers,

Process Steps – the main steps of the process,

Outputs for the customer, and

Customers of the process.

 

Once every element of the SIPOC is identified, a group can easily identify the starting point and the stopping point of the process.

If all the elements of the SIPOC cannot be identified, it may indicate the lack of a clearly-defined process.

When to Use:

The SIPOC tool is useful because it:

1- Verifies the existence of a process.

2- Helps clarify the scope of the initiative/project early in the scoping process.

3- Sets clear boundaries of where the project starts and stops in terms of the overall scope of work.

4- Helps a group determine the most effective level of detail that will be addressed in the project.

5- May shape the scope further, enabling early review by the sponsor of the initiative/project.

6- May help re-shape the group to ensure that the appropriate resources are in the group and that some areas are not over-represented.

7- Provides early discussion and clarification of the group’s scope which will speed up the subsequent work of the group.

Construction :

1- Obtain a general description of the scope of the initiative from the leader, process owner, or subject matter expert. This should include a summary of the specific issue(s) being addressed.

2-Identify the customer(s) of the process.

3- Identify the outputs/final products to the customer(s).

4- Identify the high-level steps to the process (optimal is 5-10 steps).

5- Clearly identify the “start” and “stop” points of the process (start point should be prior to the first process step and stop point should be immediately after the last process step).

6- Identify the suppliers and inputs to the process.

7- Document/Summarize the conclusions/output of this tool for later reference.

Example :

please see the figure below and read it .

The above example is from www.Asq.Org

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