Application Orientation Guide

Contents of This Page

Application Orientation

• What Is the ActionMap Toolkit?
• What Does the ActionMap Toolkit Produce?
• What Does the ActionMap Toolkit Look Like?
  
• What Is the ActionMap Main Cycle?
• What Are Mapping and Evaluating?
• What Are the Parts of the Main Page?
• What Are the Stages of Main Cycle?
• Mapping Is Done in Three Stages
• Planning Is Also Done In Three Stages
• The Main Cycle Can Be Performed Flexibly
• Map Sets for Larger Projects
• Where Can the ActionMap Toolkit Be Used?
• What Are the ActionMap Toolkit's Credentials?
• Who Is the ActionMap Toolkit Designed For?
• Summary

This page provides a quick overview of the ActionMap Toolkit.
For additional information please visit our website at actionmap.com

Application Orientation

What Is the ActionMap Toolkit?

The ActionMap Toolkit is an online problem solving and consensus building tool.
It focuses on process development and improvement.
It can be used for individual work or for group meetings, both online or in-person.

It uses a single page format to lead a group through a compact improvement cycle.

What Does the ActionMap Toolkit Produce?

The ActionMap Toolkit is designed to produce two types of results:

• Collaboration Results
• Work Product Results

The Collaboration results are strong shared understanding, agreement and commitment to take action.

The Work Product results are high quality process maps, evaluations and action plans, that support and distribute the collaboration results.

What is the ActionMap Main Cycle?
The Toolkit uses a compact process improvement cycle, called the Main Cycle:

 

What Are Mapping and Evaluating?

The Map and Evaluate stages are the heart of the ActionMap method.

The Key to Mapping is shifting from a "Performance View" to a "Process View"...

In the process view, the focus is on what is needed to produce the overall value rather than on who is doing specific tasks.

...and then to capture that "process view" in an easy to build, simple to understand diagram format.

The key to Evaluating is to capture people's feelings, intuitions and experience-based judgements, and to link them to the parts of the Map.

Evaluations can be:

• Goals (what we want to go toward)
• Issues (what we want to go away from)
• Change Ideas (how to get from the issues to the goals)

Notes can be any additional information that helps with understanding the process, including detailed measurements and qualities such as size and location.

The closer the evaluations are to specific, tangible parts of the map, the more useful the evaluations will be for changing the parts of the map. 

Mapping provides focus and structure, and Evaluating supports engagement and energy. 

That focus, structure, energy and engagement are used to move  through the entire Main Cycle.

What Does the ActionMap Toolkit Look Like?

All the process work is done on the Main Page.
A simplified view of the Main Page is shown here.

What Are the Parts of the Main Page?

The Main Page is made up of a Map and a List. The Map is a process diagram that is easy to build and understand. It provides a graphic, visual point of focus for the meeting. The List is the primary way that the group interacts. It is like a structured forum discussion. The Map can be automatically generated from the List. The Map structures and focuses the List discussion.

 

What are the parts of the Map?

All maps are made with the same standard format and the same type of parts.

What Are the Stages of the Main Cycle?
The Main Cycle: Mapping and Planning 

The Main Cycle is the simplified process improvement method in the ActionMap Toolkit.

The Main Cycle has a standard sequence that is divided into two parts: Mapping and Planning.

Mapping Is Done in Three Stages

Map Evaluate Prioritize

 

Planning Is Also Done In Three Stages

Capture Proposed Changes Create Action Plans Assign and Schedule

 

The Main Cycle Can Be Performed Flexibly

Many group sessions will be completed after just the Map, Evaluate and Prioritize stages, or even just the Map and Evaluate stages.

 

Mapping and Evaluating can be used to drill down to any level of detail that is of interest.

Map Sets for Larger Projects

For large areas of activity the Main Cycle steps can be spread over as many individual work group meetings as needed.

  

Where Can the ActionMap Toolkit Be Used?

The ActionMap Toolkit can be applied to a wide range of process oriented activities in any industry sector, including those shown below:

What Are the ActionMap Toolkit's Credentials? 

The ActionMap Toolkit method has been used in its original flip chart form in over one hundred engagements including with HP, Chevron, ConAgra, Target, Kaiser, and the cities of San Leandro and Fairfield.

 

Who Is the ActionMap Toolkit Designed For?

The ActionMap Toolkit is designed to be used by anyone with: standard office automation skills general meeting management skills and an interest in accelerating collaborative process change.

The Toolkit was particularly designed to provide enhanced capabilities for process modeling, meeting facilitation and process improvement to people without requiring formal training in those areas.

 

Summary

The ActionMap Toolkit uses a structured page....

...in a compact improvement cycle...

...to produce collaboration results...

...and work products that support and distribute the collaboration results.

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