Patent US 6,850,892

An apparatus and method for allocating the resources of an organization in order to optimize the effects of that allocation on the quality of the organization, where the quality is viewed from a customer's perspective.The method includes the steps of acquiring the information required to construct a model of the organization's primary processes as viewed from the perspective of a customer. This information includes customer specific information such as customer inputs to the organization, customer outputs from the organization, and performance measures used by a customer to assess the quality of the outputs of the organization. Organization specific information such as the functional departments or units of the organization, and the inputs and outputs of each unit is also acquired. A model of the organization identifying the primary macro processes which a customer perceives to occur within the organization when that organization responds to a customer initiated input by producing a desired output is then constructed. The model is developed and enhanced to show the interrelationships between the primary macro processes, and the relevant front office, back office, and support subprocesses of the organization. The organization's resources are then allocated to the process whose improvement will have the greatest effect on customer-based performance measures of the organization.