Author : Javier Castellanos 

 Visualization Tool 

 Challenge 

 Earlier this year , as part of a course of Problem - Solving Methodologies that we take in college , we   were required to develop a project aimed at solving a soft problem in any kind of business or   company . A soft problem is not related to problems like productivity of a manufacturing process o   reducing costs from certain department , but it is a problem that aims to solve issues related to   interpersonal relations among workers , or even with customers . We found a local clinical analysis   laboratory that let us help them to deal with the increasing customer complaints that they were   receiving , so the laboratory ’s director told us to aim our project in improving the experience of the   customer through the process that they have to go through to receive their service , since they make   the appointment until they receive their results . 

 Selection 

 When started analyzing the information that the laboratory gave us about their processes , how they   measured satisfaction and even how the organization was structured , we realized that we had a lot   of information to analyze and many stakeholders whose opinion was important and had to be taken   into account , such as the customers , the customer service department , the chemical analysis   department , and also the middle and top management . So , to understand their perspective of the   problem , we interviewed many people from all the different areas involved , and after we gathered   all the information about the interests and concerns of each of the stakeholders , we developed a   visual representation of the process using a tool called Rich Picture , which is basically using drawings   to graphically identify how a process flow , considering the physical route that the people follows   and also how the information moves through the different steps of the process and across the   departments 

 Application 

 First , we drew the first sketch of the rich picture to have a better perspective of the information that   we got from the historical data and the interviews to understand how the departments were   interconnected , which were their activities that were actually adding value to the customer and how   the information flowed through each area . Them we had a meeting with the stakeholders to show   them the sketch and explain the main issues that we found in it , so that they could give us some   feedback about it , to effectively correct mistakes and create a final sketch that we could use to   identify opportunities in the process . I think that applying this tool was great to start the project and   for the stakeholders , because in a visual way we communicated our perspective of the process more   effectively than just giving them an oral explanation of our findings , and that inspired them to give   ideas of how the process could be improved to increase the customer satisfaction with the process . 

 Insights 

 Applying this visualization tool ( rich picture ) , we were able to have a broader perspective of the   problem and suddenly the scope of the project increased because many other problems arose that   were not directly related with how the customer was treated during the process , but also on how   the information flowed across the different departments , having a lot of delays that caused a large   lead time for the results to be sent to the customer , which at the end caused customer ’s   dissatisfaction . Also , as the drawings also facilitated the stakeholders understanding of the problem ,   the meeting was so productive because it became a brainstorming session in which they provided   very useful ideas and potential solutions to the problem , and we were able to use that information   for further analysis , using other useful tools , such as affinity diagrams and prioritization matrix . 

 Approach 

 In my opinion , applying visualization tools is very useful for mapping processes and to identify   opportunities to improve , and as we perceived during the project , it helped other people to   understand our perspective of the situation and inspired them to share their thoughts . But , if I an   opportunity in the future to do a project with similar characteristics , I would use the journey   mapping tool to follow the process from the client ’s perspective , to better understand their reality   and the problems that they may have while passing through the different steps of the process ,   because this could lead to better insights about the pain points and needs of the customers and to   the generation of better ideas to solve them . 


EMAIL: 
ID_NUM: 
NAME_STUDENT: Javier Castellanos
PHONE_NUM: 
STREET_ADDRESS: 
URL_PERSONAL: 
USERNAME: 

### Task: You are a PII (Personal Identity Information) Detection. Given a essays written by students, you have to identify ONLY the following:
NAME_STUDENT - The full or partial name of a student that is not necessarily the author of the essay. This excludes instructors, authors, and other person names.
EMAIL - A student’s email address.
USERNAME - A student's username on any platform.
ID_NUM - A number or sequence of characters that could be used to identify a student, such as a student ID or a social security number.
PHONE_NUM - A phone number associated with a student.
URL_PERSONAL - A URL that might be used to identify a student.
STREET_ADDRESS - A full or partial street address that is associated with the student, such as their home address.
### Input: Author : Javier Castellanos 

 Visualization Tool 

 Challenge 

 Earlier this year , as part of a course of Problem - Solving Methodologies that we take in college , we   were required to develop a project aimed at solving a soft problem in any kind of business or   company . A soft problem is not related to problems like productivity of a manufacturing process o   reducing costs from certain department , but it is a problem that aims to solve issues related to   interpersonal relations among workers , or even with customers . We found a local clinical analysis   laboratory that let us help them to deal with the increasing customer complaints that they were   receiving , so the laboratory ’s director told us to aim our project in improving the experience of the   customer through the process that they have to go through to receive their service , since they make   the appointment until they receive their results . 

 Selection 

 When started analyzing the information that the laboratory gave us about their processes , how they   measured satisfaction and even how the organization was structured , we realized that we had a lot   of information to analyze and many stakeholders whose opinion was important and had to be taken   into account , such as the customers , the customer service department , the chemical analysis   department , and also the middle and top management . So , to understand their perspective of the   problem , we interviewed many people from all the different areas involved , and after we gathered   all the information about the interests and concerns of each of the stakeholders , we developed a   visual representation of the process using a tool called Rich Picture , which is basically using drawings   to graphically identify how a process flow , considering the physical route that the people follows   and also how the information moves through the different steps of the process and across the   departments 

 Application 

 First , we drew the first sketch of the rich picture to have a better perspective of the information that   we got from the historical data and the interviews to understand how the departments were   interconnected , which were their activities that were actually adding value to the customer and how   the information flowed through each area . Them we had a meeting with the stakeholders to show   them the sketch and explain the main issues that we found in it , so that they could give us some   feedback about it , to effectively correct mistakes and create a final sketch that we could use to   identify opportunities in the process . I think that applying this tool was great to start the project and   for the stakeholders , because in a visual way we communicated our perspective of the process more   effectively than just giving them an oral explanation of our findings , and that inspired them to give   ideas of how the process could be improved to increase the customer satisfaction with the process . 

 Insights 

 Applying this visualization tool ( rich picture ) , we were able to have a broader perspective of the   problem and suddenly the scope of the project increased because many other problems arose that   were not directly related with how the customer was treated during the process , but also on how   the information flowed across the different departments , having a lot of delays that caused a large   lead time for the results to be sent to the customer , which at the end caused customer ’s   dissatisfaction . Also , as the drawings also facilitated the stakeholders understanding of the problem ,   the meeting was so productive because it became a brainstorming session in which they provided   very useful ideas and potential solutions to the problem , and we were able to use that information   for further analysis , using other useful tools , such as affinity diagrams and prioritization matrix . 

 Approach 

 In my opinion , applying visualization tools is very useful for mapping processes and to identify   opportunities to improve , and as we perceived during the project , it helped other people to   understand our perspective of the situation and inspired them to share their thoughts . But , if I an   opportunity in the future to do a project with similar characteristics , I would use the journey   mapping tool to follow the process from the client ’s perspective , to better understand their reality   and the problems that they may have while passing through the different steps of the process ,   because this could lead to better insights about the pain points and needs of the customers and to   the generation of better ideas to solve them .
### Output: 