Skip to main content

Introduction to Improving Organizational Processes

 Brought to you by Professional And Continuing Education and the Process Management Lab at Boise State University.  PACE Course Description

Thursday, February 6, 2025, 9 am – 4 pm (mountain time)
**** Please check in by 8:45 to make sure your technology works.

Instructors:
Dr. Steve Villachica   stevevillachica@boisestate.edu
Dr. Rob Anson           ranson@boisestate.edu

Welcome to our course webpage.  Please review it to complete a few tasks well before the class is set to begin.  We also recommend you bookmark this page in case you need to revisit it. If you have questions prior to class, feel free to contact one of us.

** Please check in to the course by 8:45 am (mountain time) Thursday morning to make sure your technology works.

** Use a laptop or computer with a large screen for class.  Technically, you could access it from your phone, but please don’t bother.  Everything we will do is visual, and a smartphone or tablet screen is simply not large enough–especially working with Mural, our e-whiteboard.

There are a few quick things we need to ask you to prepare before class.

A. Please complete before the day class starts

A virtual class works or doesn’t depending on the technology and the materials. We want this to work for everyone in class, so we need to ask for a few minute of your time before the day of class. There are a few tasks we ask you to complete by Wednesday, February 5th. Please let us know immediately of any problems so we can work through or around them and not waste your time in class. Then you can relax and have fun learning to improve the business processes that define our world.

  1. Feb 2025 Exercise 1 Processes in Your Organization (2 pages) PLEASE PRINT THIS FOR CLASS. You will fill the printed version out in class. That way you can refer to other information on your display screen while filling it out and during our discussion.
  2. Feb 2025 Exercise 6 Planning Your Project (1 page) PLEASE PRINT THIS FOR CLASS..  Consider variations in how to set up and deliver a process improvement effort.
  3. Feb 2025 Case Study–City Event Planning (6 pages)
    PLEASE PRINT THIS FOR CLASS. A printed version of the Case will let you avoid a lot of screen jumping between Zoom, Mural, and the class Slides to find information.  Trust us!  It is much easier to enjoy the class if you print this!  It is 6 pages.
  4. Mural Access Linkk — TEST SIGN-IN BEFORE CLASS STARTS — Mural is an electronic Whiteboard that we use to facilitate virtual Process Improvement workshops for organizations.  For class, you will use it to work in teams on the Case Study.  Watch this video [3m 09s] for a quick demonstration how to work with Mural,

Please test your access to Mural
before the day of class. 
If there is an issue, email Rob or Steve ASAP. 

How to access & test Mural:

  a.  Click on this Mural Access Link
  b.  Click on “Enter as a visitor”
  c.  Enter your first & last name in the “Your visitor display name” field.
  d.  Click on the “Enter as a visitor” button.
e. Click on the “Zoom Etiquette” button in the outline.
f. You should be on the Mural classboard now.

If the above steps work for you, you don’t need to do anything until class starts. Just sign back in to Mural 15 minutes before class starts.   If it did not work, email Rob Anson or Steve Villachica ASAP.

B. Class morning startup (8:45am)

7. Start up your laptop/computer (NOT a smartphone or tablet!) to enter class.  Everything is visual. You need to be able to see it to engage in it.

8. Mural Access Link — SIGN IN TO MURAL BEFORE CLASS

C. Optional download: available from Tuesday 2/4 through Thursday 2/20

5. CLASS SLIDES Intro to Improving Org Processes Feb 2025 (35 pages) DOWNLOAD — This is the entire set of slides for our class. They will be finalized and posted here 2 days before the course starts. And they will remain here for a week after if you wish to download a copy.

6. Process Improvement Handbook Feb 2025 (40 pages) DOWNLOAD.  The Course Handbook includes a depth of supportive material for conducting process improvement efforts. You will not need to consult it during the class, but we hope you find it handy afterwards!

Other Process Management Lab Resources