Continuous improvement process

Specialist applications are no longer developed according to the waterfall principle, but as a rule with the help of agile methods and procedures in order to be able to react to adjustments to the legal, technical as well as user-centred requirements of the Online Access Act.

When using agile methods, small-scale improvements must be constantly made available to the organisation. On the one hand, these consist of new (technical) functionalities in specialised applications, but also of process adjustments and, if necessary, adjustments to the organisation. As part of the continuous roll-out of improvements, these must always be coordinated and made available to the users as part of a coordinated change management/communication management.

The continuous improvement process (CIP) is considered a basic principle of quality management and is firmly integrated in the quality standard DIN ISO 90001. In accordance with the philosophy of the Japanese word "KAIZEN", which translates as "change for the better", the focus here is on constant efforts to increase the quality of products, services and processes through operationally-oriented, permanent process improvements (as opposed to innovations in the context of sudden, drastic innovations). The concrete process in administration begins with process documentation, followed by regular comparisons of standard processes (actual processes) with predefined target processes, and ends with problem assessment and the derivation of measures and ideas for solutions with the constant inclusion of customer requirements.

Our approach is based on the iterative control cycle of the so-called Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle (PDCA). The PDCA cycle is an instrument of quality management and allows for the regular representation of planning tasks (Plan), implementation measures (Do) and control tasks (Check) as well as improvement in case of deviation/lack of objectives or stabilisation and institutionalisation (Act). 

• In the "Plan" step, the concrete problem or task to be solved is determined and the actual situation is analysed. In addition, goals and measures for the solution or optimisation are decided.
• In the "Do" step, the plan is communicated to the employees concerned and the measures defined under "Plan" are implemented.
• Under "Check" a review takes place (target-performance comparison). The results achieved are collected and evaluated and it is checked whether the goals of the planning phase have been achieved.
• Under the step "Act", the process is reflected and, especially in the case of deviations between target and actual, decisions are made on how often and with what content phases P and D must be run through again. If the target and actual situation coincide, the result can be standardised and introduced or institutionalised.

Co-authors: Jörg Veidt, Dominik Nerge