End-to-end walk-through
Lead, quote, sale, delivery, invoice and renewal, followed from start to finish as they really happen.
Business process audit
Find where the hours go before building anything
For business owners who know admin is eating the week but not exactly where. You get a documented map of how work moves and a ranked list of what to fix first.
Most businesses know they spend too long on admin. Far fewer know which tasks cause it. A business process audit walks every workflow end to end and finds where the time and the errors actually go, before any money is spent on software.
It is the first stage of how we work on process: audit, streamline, systemise, integrate, optimise. We build systems ourselves, so the audit is not a sales exercise for a particular product, and what it produces is useful to you even if we never build anything.
Why 3S
- One contract, one point of contact
- A plan within 48 hours
- Photo-verified sign-off against the spec
- Funding available on the work
Business process audit
What a process audit covers
Who does what
A record of who handles each step, including the tasks only one person knows how to do.
Re-keying
Every place the same information is typed in twice or copied between systems by hand.
Stalls and hand-offs
Where work waits for an approval, a reply or someone who is out of the office.
Tasks done from memory
The jobs that rely on someone remembering, which are usually the ones that get missed.
Your current systems
What each system does, who uses it and whether it talks to the others.
Ranked opportunities
Every task scored by volume, time and error rate, so the most valuable fixes stand out.
Quick wins
One or two changes you can make straight away, often without new software.
How we rank what a business process audit finds
Not every slow task is worth automating. We rank each one by volume multiplied by time multiplied by error rate. A ten-minute task done forty times a week that sometimes goes wrong is a far better target than a monthly report that takes an hour. Work that is repetitive and follows clear rules is where automation pays.
The audit also looks for steps that exist only out of habit. Those are cut before anything is built, because automating a pointless step just makes it happen faster. What is left is standardised and documented, so it works the same way every time.
What an audit typically turns up
Typical examples include enquiries logged in more than one place, quotes rebuilt from scratch each time, invoices keyed by hand from a job sheet, and certificates or renewals tracked in someone's head or a spreadsheet. None of these needs a large system to fix. They need the process mapped, the duplicate steps removed and the data captured once.
How it works
Three steps, one point of contact
Step 1
Walk the workflows
We sit with the people who do the work and follow each process from enquiry to renewal. Nothing is assumed from the org chart, because work rarely moves the way it suggests.
Step 2
Map and rank
Each workflow is documented, with re-keying, stalls and memory-based tasks marked. Every task is then scored by volume, time and error rate.
Step 3
Agree what comes next
You get the process map and a ranked list of changes, starting with one or two quick wins. If a build makes sense, we price it in one proposal.
Funding
Spread the cost
If the audit leads to a systems build, that build is a capital project like any other. It can be spread over a fixed term through our sister business, Novora Asset Finance™, rather than taken out of this quarter's cash, subject to status and credit approval. Terms, total cost and any fees are set out before you commit.
Evidence
What you end up holding
A documented map of how work moves through your business, a list of tasks scored by volume, time and error rate, and a short plan that starts with the quick wins. It is yours to keep and act on, with us or without us.
Questions
Business process audit: common questions
How long does a process audit take?
It depends on the size of the business and how many workflows are involved. We agree the scope with you first, so you know which processes are covered and what you will receive before we start.
Do we have to buy software afterwards?
No. Some of the most useful findings are steps that can simply be removed. If a build does make sense, we develop the system ourselves, shaped around your process, and price it separately.
Who in the business needs to be involved?
The people who actually do the work, not only the managers. They know where things stall and what is done from memory. We plan our time with each person around the working week.
What kind of business is it for?
Any business where admin has grown faster than the systems behind it. It is particularly useful for trades, FM and service businesses that quote, schedule, invoice and renew work, because those workflows cross several systems.
Can the audit cover just one area, such as invoicing?
Yes. The audit can focus on a single workflow if that is where the problem is. It is still followed end to end, because an invoicing problem often starts much earlier, at the quote or the job sheet.
Related services
Often needed alongside this
Business automation for small businesses
For owners and teams losing evenings to admin. We build automation around how your business already runs, then measure what it saves.
Read more →CRM integration and connected systemsFor businesses running on several systems that do not talk to each other. We connect them, so information moves without a person carrying it.
Read more →Asset financeFor businesses that need plant, vehicles, IT or equipment without handing over the full price on day one. The cost is spread into fixed monthly payments, arranged through Novora Asset Finance™.
Read more →