Alacient

Lean-Agile Transformation

Value Stream Mapping

See where time is really lost between a request and delivered value, and what to change first.

A focused 3–4 week engagement that maps how one value stream actually works today, from the moment work is requested to the moment value reaches a customer. Most of the elapsed time in that journey is waiting, handoffs, and rework, not people working slowly. The map makes that visible, measures it, and turns it into a short list of changes worth making first.

Duration3–4 weeks
EngagementFixed-fee, scoped to the value stream and the people who work in it

What You Get

What you get

  • Current-State Map

    Every step, handoff, and queue in the value stream, built with the people who do the work rather than from the process document.

  • Flow Baseline

    Flow time, process time, wait time, and flow efficiency for the stream as it runs today, so improvement is measured against your own numbers.

  • Constraint Analysis

    Where the time actually goes: the queues, approvals, rework loops, and handoffs that hold work up the longest.

  • Future-State Map

    A realistic target design for the stream, with the changes that get it there and the improvement each one should deliver.

  • 30/60/90-Day Roadmap

    A sequenced improvement plan with owners, next steps, and an executive readout.

What the map looks like

Where the time goes, on one screen

Every step, its process time and quality, and the wait in front of it, with the constraint flagged. In this example, a motor claim takes 9.3 days from first notice to payment, but only about 3 hours of that is work: a flow efficiency of 1.5%. Most of the time is spent waiting, and the longest wait sits in front of Assess claim.

Example map for Harbor Lane Insurance, a fictional sample client.

Value stream map for motor claims at the fictional Harbor Lane Insurance: five steps from FNOL received to Pay claimant, with a flow time of 9.3 days, process time of 3 hours 15 minutes, flow efficiency of 1.5%, and the Assess claim step flagged as the constraint after a 4-day wait.

How It Works

How it works

The engagement moves from a shared picture of today to an agreed plan for what changes first, in three to four weeks.

Choose the value stream and agree on what it is for. We confirm where it starts and ends, the outcome it delivers, the sponsor, the people who need to be in the room, and the data that exists about how work moves today.

Outputs: Value stream scope, stakeholder map, mapping plan, data sources.

Inside the constraint

When a step needs a closer look

Where the constraint is a step with its own internal workflow, we map that step too: the people involved, the handoffs between them, and the loops that send work back. Here, claimants are asked to re-send damage photos on 31% of claims, a loop that adds handoffs before assessment can even begin.

Example process map for Harbor Lane Insurance, a fictional sample client.

Process map for the damage assessment step at the fictional Harbor Lane Insurance, with four swimlanes (Claimant, Intake team, Adjuster, Claims lead), seven activities and four handoffs, including a photo re-send loop that repeats on 31% of claims.

Part of one system

The map tells us which intervention fits

Value stream mapping is where our Lean-Agile work starts, but the fix it points to is not always Lean-Agile. Some constraints are solved by changing how work is organized. Others call for clearer decision rights, workflow automation, or better systems through Technology Enablement. Where AI can safely remove a constraint, the map becomes the starting point for an AI Readiness Diagnostic.

We build your map in Alacient's value stream mapping platform rather than on a whiteboard, so the baseline is something you can measure again as changes land, not a slide that goes out of date.

Who This Is For

Who this is for

Leaders who know delivery takes too long but can't yet say where the time goes, and who want a defensible, measured answer before committing to a larger change. It works with or without an agile framework in place.

FAQs

Value Stream Mapping FAQs

Do we need to be using SAFe® or another agile framework? +

No. Value stream mapping looks at how work moves, whatever framework you use, or none. If you are adopting SAFe®, the map also gives Value Stream Identification and team design a factual starting point.

How is this different from the AI Readiness Diagnostic? +

Value stream mapping looks at a whole value stream, from request to delivered value, and finds what slows it down. The AI Readiness Diagnostic looks at specific workflows and decides where AI can safely help. If the map shows constraints that AI could remove, it gives the diagnostic its starting point.

Who needs to be involved? +

A sponsor who owns the outcome of the value stream, and the people who do the work at each step. Short working sessions with them are what make the map accurate. We agree on the time commitment during framing.

Can our people learn to map value streams themselves? +

Yes. Our Value Stream Mapping for Lean-Agile Delivery course is a 90-minute micro-course that teaches your team to frame a value stream, map it from evidence, separate process time from wait time, and run a small improvement experiment. It works well before an engagement, so the people in the room already share the vocabulary, or after it, so they can keep the map current.

Start with a value stream map

Most clients start with one value stream, on a fixed fee. Tell us which one keeps you up at night.

Schedule a mapping conversation