Questionnaire — Process Owners

Introduction

Purpose. This is a per-process instrument: it is filled once for each key process (roughly the top 2–3 per department, selected from the department heads’ process inventories). The answers become the backbone of the process map (SIPOC + swimlane, per the requirement-analysis framework §4) and the inputs to the automation opportunity score (framework §7). You are the person who knows this process best — describe it as it really runs, not as the procedure says it should.

Confidentiality. Restricted to the transformation team; findings attributed to the process, not to people.

Time. 30–45 minutes per process, usually completed together with a TPL analyst in a mapping session.

Language. Administered in Greek; this English document is the committed master (project language policy). Answers recorded in English. Keep exact Greek terms in parentheses where the wording matters (e.g. SoftOne screen names, document titles).

Answer formats: [free text], [scale 1–5], [multiple choice], [table].

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A. Identification

1. Process name (and Greek working name if different). [free text]
2. Owning department and owner role. [free text]
3. One-sentence purpose: what does this process deliver, and to whom (external customer / internal)? [free text]

B. Trigger and flow

4. What starts the process (email arrives, vessel call announced, tender published, stock hits minimum, calendar date…)? Can it start more than one way? [free text]
5. List the steps as actually performed, in order. For each: who does it (role), and in which system or medium. [table]

#	Step	Actor (role)	System / medium (SoftOne screen, Outlook, Excel file, phone, paper)	Typical duration

6. Where does the process end — what is the “done” condition? [free text]
7. Which other departments or external parties (customer, supplier, agent, customs, port) are involved, and at which steps? [free text]

C. Inputs, outputs, documents

8. Inputs required to run the process (documents, data, approvals) and where each comes from. [table: input / source / format]
9. Outputs and documents produced (quotation, order confirmation, picking list, delivery note, certificate, invoice, customs docs…) and who receives each. [table: output / recipient / format]
10. Is any information entered more than once into different systems or documents during this process? Exactly which data, and where each time? [free text — key automation signal]

D. Volume, timing, effort

11. Volume: how many times does the process run? [free text: per day/week/month, and peak vs normal]
12. End-to-end duration: from trigger to done — typical, best case, worst case. [free text]
13. Of that duration, how much is active work vs waiting? [free text]
14. Where are the waiting points, and what is being waited for (approval, supplier reply, information from another department, customs, vessel schedule)? [table: waiting point / waiting for / typical wait]
15. Total person-effort per run (sum of active time across everyone). [free text — estimate]

E. Quality, exceptions, approvals

16. Error rate: how often does a run contain an error needing correction? [multiple choice: <5% / 5–15% / 15–30% / >30%] — most common errors? [free text]
17. What does rework look like and cost when it happens (redelivery to vessel, credit note, penalty, lost tender)? [free text]
18. Exceptions: which variants or special cases break the normal flow (urgent vessel ETD, out-of-stock, credit block, dangerous goods, bonded/customs cases, public-tender formalities)? Roughly what share of runs are exceptions? [free text]
19. Approvals inside the process: who approves what, at which step, and based on what rule (amount threshold, customer credit, discount level)? Is the rule written anywhere? [table]
20. Which steps require judgment or negotiation (pricing, substitutions, prioritization) vs which are purely mechanical? [free text]

F. Improvement view

21. What does a good run look like — how would you measure this process if you had to pick 2 metrics (cycle time, first-time-right %, cost per run…)? [free text]
22. Which steps would you hand to an automated assistant first, and why those? [free text]
23. Which steps must stay human, and what could go wrong if automated (safety, compliance, customer relationship, food safety, dangerous goods)? [free text]
24. If the process ran twice as fast with half the errors, what would that be worth (more orders served, fewer penalties, freed hours)? [free text]
25. Has anyone tried to improve or automate this process before? What happened? [free text]

Closing

26. Your top 3 wishes for this specific process — the three changes that would help most, most important first. [free text]