Laying the groundwork for continuous improvement with workflow optimization

A few years ago, the client acquired a company that was already using Mavim, a business process management tool. While Mavim serves as an enabler, a powerful tool that helps organizations streamline their operations and process documentation, it also offers opportunities to enhance processes and improve organizational efficiency.

By centralizing process documentation, the tool makes workflows more accessible, reduces errors and inconsistencies, and simplifies change management. Its built-in analytics and reporting features further support continuous improvement by enabling performance tracking, identifying inefficiencies, and optimizing operations for greater productivity and cost-effectiveness.

At the start of the project, the employees involved in the pilot were unfamiliar with documenting their daily activities in a structured, process-oriented manner. Routine tasks - such as creating reports, registering working hours, monitoring RSZ (social security) obligations, and generating invoices - were typically managed on an ad hoc basis, without a standardized workflow. This limited process awareness highlighted the need for additional guidance and support to help the team shift toward a more systematic and efficiency-driven way of working.

Project Manager Lisa Vermassen quickly recognized the team's limited familiarity with structured process thinking and proactively addressed the gap. “To build a strong foundation, I began each workshop for new participants with a brief introduction to process management,” Lisa explains. “These sessions covered the key principles of process thinking, including the different process levels, how to document operational workflows, and how to interpret them. I also emphasized the importance of keeping processes up to date — an essential factor in ensuring long-term impact and sustainability.”

Recognizing the need for long-term sustainability, a second project was launched under the leadership of Brigitte Dulak, to establish a governance structure within Mavim. This involved defining clear roles and responsibilities for system maintenance, managing license usage, ensuring integration with other systems such as SharePoint and databases, and setting validation rights, all to ensure that Mavim remains up to date and fully functional over time.

As the project progressed into improvement workshops focused on mapping the ‘TO-BE’ processes, Lisa challenged the team to critically reflect on their current ways of working. She encouraged them to identify pain points by asking questions such as: What’s going wrong? Where are the inefficiencies? What information is missing? Which tasks consume the most time? Through this guided exploration, she empowered the team to design more efficient, transparent, and future-proof processes.

Although the client had already implemented Mavim, it quickly became clear that the tool was not being used effectively. The 37 subprocesses of the Administration team were assumed to be documented, but in practice, the documentation was incomplete, outdated, and lacked structure. Key departments such as Legal and Communication were missing from interdependent process maps, and no clear ownership had been assigned for maintaining Mavim. This absence of governance and process accountability left the platform underutilized, but it also created an opportunity for TriFinance to add value by addressing these gaps and professionalizing the client’s approach.

Because Mavim had not been effectively maintained, Lisa’s team had to start much of the groundwork from scratch. This meant organizing three additional workshops to map the ‘AS-IS’ processes, capture interdependencies with departments like Controlling, Communication, and Legal, and properly document everything in Mavim.

During this phase, two new client employees joined the Administration team — an ideal moment to test whether the newly documented processes were clear and easily adoptable. Their successful integration validated the team’s efforts to make processes accessible and user-friendly. By tackling both the immediate documentation challenges and the broader need for governance, the project team laid a strong foundation for ongoing process improvements across the organization.

The Administration team was selected as the pilot group for a process improvement initiative focused on mapping, refining, and embedding more efficient workflows. “Over five initial workshops — followed by three additional deep-dives, one per core process — I worked closely with the team to document their current ‘AS-IS’ processes in Mavim, capturing each step in detail,” Lisa explains. “Once validated by the team lead, I began identifying pain points, bottlenecks, and inefficiencies. This in-depth analysis revealed 101 improvement opportunities.”

These improvement opportunities ranged from refining internal policies and setting clearer deadlines for project information sharing, to involving the team lead in more strategic activities. Other key actions included automating repetitive tasks, introducing standardized templates for consistency, and optimizing SharePoint use to improve structure and accessibility.

This deep dive into the team’s daily operations not only highlighted the areas where improvements could be made but also paved the way for implementing a more streamlined and effective approach to their workflows, benefiting both the team and the broader organization.

Building on these insights, Lisa organized five dedicated ‘TO-BE’ workshops, where Administration team members reviewed the newly designed processes. These sessions created a space for open dialogue — allowing the team to share feedback, raise concerns, and contribute additional insights, such as:

• How should we communicate with other teams?
• How can we enforce stricter deadlines?
• Which standardized templates will we use
• How will colleagues apply them?

Once the team lead validated the ‘TO-BE’ processes, Lisa facilitated two management review sessions with the CEO, CFO, and Commercial Director. She presented the ‘AS-IS’ workflows, gathered feedback on the proposed ‘TO-BE’ designs, and aligned on key next steps. These included engaging other departments to clarify task ownership, establishing clear deadlines, and exploring integration opportunities with upcoming systems — most notably the new ERP system.

With the ‘TO-BE’ processes validated, the focus now shifts to embedding these improvements across the organization and rolling out the initiative to other teams. That phase will also include reinforcing Mavim usage through the governance structure defined in Brigitte Dulak’s project, ensuring long-term alignment and sustainability.

“For me, this project was not just about optimizing processes — it was about creating a work environment where people feel supported, engaged, and empowered by change,” Lisa reflects. “This project challenged me to quickly master Mavim, assess the organization's foundations with a critical eye, engage effectively with C-level stakeholders, and uncover new opportunities for TriFinance to add value.”

Beyond optimizing process documentation, the initiative laid the groundwork for continuous improvement by clearly defining roles—who owns, validates, and updates each process. It also outlined how digital integration between Mavim, SharePoint, and other systems will function. This transformation marks a fundamental shift in how workflows are managed. However, effective change management will be key. Teams may resist new ways of working, overlook inefficiencies in familiar routines, or be hesitant to adopt new tools like Mavim.

Picture by Freepik