Audit Template

Operational Waste & Friction Audit (Interactive)

An interactive, savable audit form to map processes, capture evidence, estimate impact, design time‑boxed micro‑experiments, and prioritize actions. Designed to be completed on-site with frontline contributors and stored for later comparison, dashboards, and iterative learning.

Interactive Tool

Operational Waste & Friction Audit

This interactive audit captures the essential evidence and decisions you need to find hidden operational waste, design testable micro‑experiments, and prioritize improvements. Work through the form during a gemba walk with frontline people. Save each audit to build a site history you can compare, analyze, and convert into repeatable toolkits.

Use conservative impact estimates, keep experiments small and time‑boxed, and record baselines before you change anything.

Process / Journey name

Clear, short name for the process or customer journey being audited.

Scope — start

Describe where the process starts (trigger/event).

Scope — end

Describe where the process ends (deliverable, handoff).

Date

YYYY-MM-DD or local date format.

Auditor(s)

Names and roles of people conducting the audit.

Primary customer(s) or downstream consumer(s)

Who consumes the output of this process? Internal or external.

Process map (sketch/notes)

Sketch or describe major steps. Note performers, inputs, outputs, systems, and attachments.

Suggested capture fields for each step

For each step note: step name; performer/role; expected time; actual median time; common variations.

Stakeholder map (roles and influence)

List roles that touch the process, who receives outputs, who is impacted when things go wrong, and who can authorize changes.

How many major steps will you capture (up to 4)?

Select to reveal step detail fields.

Step 1 — name

Short step name.

Step 1 — performer / role

Step 1 — expected time (min)

Minutes. Use whole numbers.

Step 1 — actual median time (min)

Step 1 — median wait time (min)

Step 1 — frequency (items per period)

E.g. 100/day, 200/month.

Step 1 — rework rate (%)

Percent of items requiring rework.

Step 2 — name

Step 2 — performer / role

Step 2 — expected time (min)

Step 2 — actual median time (min)

Step 2 — median wait time (min)

Step 2 — frequency (items per period)

Step 2 — rework rate (%)

Step 3 — name

Step 3 — performer / role

Step 3 — expected time (min)

Step 3 — actual median time (min)

Step 3 — median wait time (min)

Step 3 — frequency (items per period)

Step 3 — rework rate (%)

Step 4 — name

Step 4 — performer / role

Step 4 — expected time (min)

Step 4 — actual median time (min)

Step 4 — median wait time (min)

Step 4 — frequency (items per period)

Step 4 — rework rate (%)

Handoff analysis (notes)

Identify each handoff, missing information, ownership gaps, synchronous/asynchronous issues, and physical movement.

How many failure modes will you record (up to 5)?

Record top observed failure modes.

Failure mode 1 — description

Failure mode 1 — impact (qualitative)

Failure mode 1 — likelihood

1 = rare, 5 = very likely

1.0 10.0

Failure mode 1 — detectability

1 = easy to detect, 5 = hard to detect

1.0 10.0

Failure mode 2 — description

Failure mode 2 — impact (qualitative)

Failure mode 2 — likelihood

1.0 10.0

Failure mode 2 — detectability

1.0 10.0

Failure mode 3 — description

Failure mode 3 — impact (qualitative)

Failure mode 3 — likelihood

1.0 10.0

Failure mode 3 — detectability

1.0 10.0

Failure mode 4 — description

Failure mode 4 — impact (qualitative)

Failure mode 4 — likelihood

1.0 10.0

Failure mode 4 — detectability

1.0 10.0

Failure mode 5 — description

Failure mode 5 — impact (qualitative)

Failure mode 5 — likelihood

1.0 10.0

Failure mode 5 — detectability

1.0 10.0

How many micro-experiments will you plan now (up to 4)?

Start with small tests you can run in days or weeks.

Experiment 1 — name

Experiment 1 — hypothesis (If we..., then... because...)

Experiment 1 — minimal change to test

Experiment 1 — owner

Experiment 1 — success metric & baseline

Specify metric, current baseline value, and target.

Experiment 1 — duration (days)

Experiment 1 — estimated effort

Experiment 2 — name

Experiment 2 — hypothesis

Experiment 2 — minimal change

Experiment 2 — owner

Experiment 2 — success metric & baseline

Experiment 2 — duration (days)

Experiment 2 — estimated effort

How many ROI opportunities will you estimate (up to 3)?

Use conservative assumptions and capture uncertainty.

Opportunity / Change 1

Units / period

E.g. 2000/yr

Time saved per unit (hours)

Annual time saved (hours)

Labor $/hour

Annual savings ($)

Calculate: annual_time_saved * labor_cost_per_hour.

Estimated implementation cost ($)

Payback (months)

How many prioritized actions will you record (up to 5)?

Rank by impact × effort; prefer quick learning.

Action 1 / Experiment — concise description

Action 1 — Owner

Action 1 — Priority

Action 1 — Success metric & baseline

Action 1 — Due date

YYYY-MM-DD

Action 1 — Status

Quick evaluation — Is the process boundary clear?

Did you observe the work (rather than rely solely on interviews)?

Are hypotheses linked to measurable metrics?

Are experiments small, time‑boxed, and owned?

Is there a plan to capture baseline and post‑change measurements?

Next steps (start 1–2 micro-experiments within two weeks)

Record who will start, where baseline measures are stored, and huddle cadence for learning.

Tailoring and reuse notes

How will this audit be copied, packaged, or turned into a toolkit for other teams?

Attach photos or files separately (guidance)

This form captures structured fields. Store photos, spreadsheets, or sketches in your document system and paste links here.

You can explore this tool now. Sign in or create an account to save your responses and return to them later.

Make this tool part of your work

Save a personal copy, bring it to your team, or tailor the questions and workflow to fit what you are hungry to improve.

Member customization and team collaboration are coming soon.

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Operational Waste & Friction Audit (Interactive)

Operational Waste & Friction Audit

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