DMAIC Project: Improving the Continuous Enrollment Process

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Baseline (Define)

TIn this project, the turnaround time for continuous enrollment of students at the institution was improved. Continuous enrollment is another form of applying for education alongside joint application. Continuous enrollment means that students can apply for education and start their studies flexibly throughout the year. Through continuous enrollment, individuals who wish to obtain a vocational qualification or develop their professional skills can apply. Currently, approximately one-third of applicants apply through continuous enrollment. The number of students is related to the institution's basic funding in terms of weighted student work years, the competence points of completed modules to performance-based funding, and student feedback on the start of studies affecting impact-based funding.

Continuous enrollment became a new practice with the reform of vocational education and training in 2018. In the beginning, it was an unevenly smooth operation, managed by team leaders in addition to their own work. In practice, continuous enrollment means that you can always apply, but you cannot always start your studies immediately. For example, you can start your studies online or when the next face-to-face or distance learning course for the relevant part of the qualification starts. The customer request (VoC) was that it would take about 3 weeks (13.3.2019) from the application date to the start of studies, in order to have time to organise one's own affairs.

Process performance at the beginning (Measure)

In the initial situation, 69% of continuous enrollment completion times exceeded 21 days. Initially, the continuous enrollment process was depicted on Intranet as a simple diagram where several steps were combined. When presenting the performance based on initial data and the process description using LEAN methods, the managers were surprised by the performance of the process, the number of steps involved, and how many people are involved in the continuous application process

The team leaders did not find measuring the matter pleasant, but rather justified their actions by citing their busy schedules. In the beginning, it was necessary to clarify which enrollment processes had been measured: in this project, only individual applications were measured, where studies are started flexibly at one's own pace and not as group starts. After that, the improvement of the operation began without anyone questioning it.

The data helped in continuing the project. Initial data showed that there was variation in performance among teams. Hypothesis tests indicated that there were statistically significant differences in team performance. The diversity was utilized in the composition of personnel for Kaizen workshops. In the Kaizen workshops, process steps were improved and their sequences rearranged.

Improvement measures (Analyze & Improve)

The main root causes were found in working methods: inefficient sequence of process steps and process speed.
Examples of root causes -> eliminative measure:

• stacking of interview forms on interviewers' desks -> the interview form was converted to electronic format and is automatically transferred from the interviewer to the search coordinator
• scheduling interview times in professional fields was arbitrary -> an interview schedule was created at the educational institution, which is published in conjunction with continuous recruitment on the website, and both teachers and applicants can see it, and it is regularly repeated
• the flow of decision forms through supervisors' mail is delayed, gets lost -> decision forms are sent through supervisors' mail in green plastic envelopes to distinguish them from regular mail
• delay in personalization of studies -> teachers have been trained in personalizing studies, emphasizing the importance of prompt personalization for funding
• as a result of the process, the enrollment coordinator continues to develop operations ->a monitoring table has been prepared, which is available in our enrollment, and can be quickly updated and regularly submitted for review by the management team

Results (Control)

At the end of the project, the processing time for continuous enrollments was 21 days. The average processing time and variability improved significantly from the initial situation. The process was documented in a process flowchart, published on the organization's Intranet, and KPIs were defined for monitoring purposes. The processing time is monitored using these indicators by the management team, allowing corrective actions to be taken.

The continuous enrollment process has been clarified, and the processing time of enrollments has improved, as measured by both average and variability. The process is monitored at the managerial level, its significance for the institution's operations has been understood, and the acquired information can be utilized in marketing. However, there is still variability occurring due to factors beyond the control of employees in individual enrollment events, as approved by the Process Owner.

As part of continuous improvement, the processing time of ongoing enrollment is regularly monitored in the management team meetings every month, and an updated file prepared by the enrollment coordinator is made available to all team leaders in the Education Planning team on Teams, with enrollment events color-coded. Team leaders can react immediately to situations and address any deficiencies with applicants.

What did I learn in the Black Belt role?

I have learned to visualise the process as a process description, and the improvement of the process using statistical methods. I have learned that I would like to do the implementation phase myself, so that I know how it has gone and how to improve it.

I have learnt how to lead improvement projects, involve stakeholders in process improvement, act as a facilitator, describe and define processes, eliminate waste, improve a process, pilot a new process in a large expert organisation, learnt how information flows through the different levels of the organisation and what kind and who has decision-making power, be proactive myself, monitor process improvement, encourage employees to improve their own work and create KPIs.

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This project was a Black Belt training project, which the participant did as part of the training and received a Black Belt certificate at the end of the project.

If you are interested in learning how to improve your processes using Lean and Six Sigma, and earn your Belt Belt certification at the same time, check out the training at the link: Black Belt training.