One of the more difficult steps that application development managers face when identifying and defining new IT projects is ensuring that project deliverables align with strategic business goals and objectives. Even more challenging is the quantification of the proposed projects' returned value, with respect to business process improvement.

With today's focus on the lean enterprise, such insight requires detailed analysis of the associated business processes, affected resources, physical environment, supporting technologies, and cultural influences. This can be a near impossible task without a focused methodology as a guide. One such tactic borrowed from the growing management research into the "lean enterprise" is Value Stream Assessment or Value Stream Mapping and Analysis.

Value Stream Assessment is a structured analysis of one or more business processes with the goal of identifying the points where value (efficiencies) is added, as well as the points where waste (inefficiencies) accumulates. This leads to the identification of process issues and challenges, as well as opportunities for improvement or innovation.

Value Stream Assessment is based on the supposition that an organization consists of a collection of interrelated business processes or value streams whose ultimate goal is the delivery of the organization's products or services. Each value stream includes all the component and associated support tasks or activities leading to the overall business process flow. These may include:

• The detailed business steps or activities, polices and procedures, and roles and responsibilities required to deliver the value stream.
• The organization's employees and their skill sets.
• The organization's knowledge capital or business intelligence.
• The tools and technology consumed or utilized.
• The physical environment in which the business process resides.
• The economic environment in which the business process operates.
• The communication channels used to disseminate process information.
• The internal cultural and social environment influencing the business process, including corporate culture, vision, and mission; this includes employees' vision and value systems.
• The external cultural and social environment that may affect the business process, such as public relations, governmental rule compliance, legislative requirements, and marketing.

Solutions derived from a Value Stream Assessment will focus on a number of factors, including management, operations, and technology. For technology managers, a Value Stream Assessment can identify opportunities for process waste elimination (streamlining) by automating costly or inefficient tasks.