Development of a Standard Methodology for Documenting Processes in an Organization

The application of process management in our country has been extended throughout the last decade; improvement in management, high performance levels, reduction of operation times, optimization of resources and obtaining of quality certifications are among the main reasons why both public and private organizations seek to implement it. However, despite being an implicit activity within the change of management model to the process approach and even the improvement of the functional administrative model, the documentation of processes becomes an uncomfortable, complex and time-consuming task that often generates nervousness and distrust in workers. Diversity of criteria and the lack of an adequate methodology with effective tools makes it difficult to achieve the expected results. This article presents in detail the steps, their sequence and instruments used that allow an organization to raise the information of its processes and document them. As a result of different research projects developed over several years, the methodology of process mapping allowed for the documentation of all the activities of different administrative units of the Escuela Superior Politécnica de Chimborazo and not only to comply with the laws and regulations but also to improve their management. In the last application, it contributed to the development of the documentary structure of a quality management system that allowed an academic unit to achieve international quality certification. Keywords: management, processes, process documentation, process manual. Resumen Escuela Superior Politécnica de Chimborazo, Riobamba, Ecuador *E-mail: [email protected] La aplicación de la gestión de procesos en nuestro país se ha ido extendiendo a lo largo de la última década; mejoras en la gestión, altos niveles de rendimiento, reducción de tiempos de operaciones, optimización de recursos y obtenciones de certificaciones de calidad son entre otros los principales motivos por los cuales organizaciones tanto públicas como privadas buscan implementarla. Sin embargo y a pesar de ser una actividad implícita dentro del cambio de modelo de gestión hacia el enfoque de procesos e incluso del mejoramiento del modelo administrativo funcional, la documentación de los procesos se convierte en una labor incomoda, compleja y con un alto consumo de tiempo que suele generar nerviosismo y desconfianza en los trabajadores. Diversidad de criterios y la falta de una metodología adecuada con instrumentos eficaces complica cumplir los resultados esperados. El presente artículo presenta a detalle los pasos, su secuencia e instrumentos utilizados que le permiten a una organización levantar la información de sus procesos y documentarlos. Resultado de diferentes proyectos de investigación desarrollados a los largo de varios años, la metodología de levantamiento de procesos permitió documentar todas las actividades de distintas unidades administrativas de la Escuela Superior Politécnica de Chimborazo y no solo cumplir lo establecido el leyes y reglamentos sino también mejorar su gestión, en la última aplicación contribuyó a elaborar la estructura documental de un sistema de gestión de la calidad que logró que una unidad académica alcance una certificación internacional de calidad. Palabras claves: gestión, procesos, documentación de procesos, manual de procesos

Iron-Deficiency Anaemia (IDA): Socio-Cultural Misconceptions Intersect the Health of Vulnerable Populations in Developing Countries

Iron is a mineral that the human body uses to make hemoglobin, a protein that red blood cells need to carry oxygen from the lungs to all parts of the body. The lack of adequate iron in the blood is known as iron deficiency, which if experienced in greater proportions, can lead to anaemia. Iron-deficiency anaemia is generally understood as a nutritional deficiency that can be treated by diets of food rich in iron content or the ingestion of iron supplements; yet lack of information, restricted access to bioavailable iron-rich foods, minimal awareness of anaemia’s detrimental effects on children’s cognitive development, culturally inaccurate understandings of anaemia consequences, and non-compliance for the ingestion of iron pills; illuminates a greater public health issue to overcome in the developing world than simply focusing on the massive distribution of iron supplements. A holistic and culturally-driven perspective of iron-deficiency anaemia is necessary to adjust our current practices of health counseling, distribution of complete information regarding iron supplements, informed and culturally-sensitive diets, as well as ensuring the delivery of substantial programs of prevention and follow-up for iron-deficiency anaemia

The effects of economic crises on participatory democracy

This paper examines the impact of economic conditions on participatory democracy. It analyses whether economic crises affect the types of proposals that emerge from local participatory processes and the fate of these proposals. Focusing on more than 500 proposals that emerged from 34 participatory processes in Spain between 2007 and 2011, our study covers a period which straddles the emergence of severe economic problems resulting from the global financial crisis. Applying four different but complementary analytical strategies, we find two types of effects. First, proposals made during the crisis period were less costly though more challenging. Second, local governments implemented a smaller proportion of the proposals that were put forward by the public. These findings suggest that external economic shocks reduce the ability of governments to respond to the demands of citizens, but that citizens also recalibrate their expectations in response to austerity

Learning Heuristics for Efficient Environment Exploration Using Graph Neural Networks

The robot exploration problem focuses on maximizing the volumetric map of a previously unknown environment. This is a relevant problem in several applications, such as search and rescue and monitoring, which require autonomous robots to examine the surroundings efficiently. Graph-based planning approaches embed the exploration information into a graph describing the global map while the robot incrementally builds it. Nevertheless, even if graph-based representations are computational and memory-efficient, the exploration decision-making problem complexity increases according to the graph size that grows at each iteration. In this paper, we propose a novel Graph Neural Network (GNN) approach trained with Reinforcement Learning (RL) that solves the decision-making problem for autonomous exploration. The learned policy represents the exploration expansion criterion, solving the decision-making problem efficiently and generalizing to different graph topologies and, consequently, environments. We validate the proposed approach with an aerial robot equipped with a depth camera in a benchmark exploration scenario using a high-performance physics engine for environment rendering. We compare the results against a state-of-the-art planning exploration algorithm, showing that the proposed approach matches its performance in terms of explored mapped volume. Additionally, our approach consistently maintains its performance regardless of the objective function used to explore the environment

Mapping Nairobi's dairy food system: An essential analysis for policy, industry and research

Demand for dairy products in sub-Saharan Africa, is expected to triple by 2050, while limited increase in supply is predicted. This poses significant food security risk to low income households. Understanding how the dairy food system operates is essential to identify mitigation measures to food insecurity impact. This study aims to determine the structure and functionality of Nairobi's dairy system using a value chain mapping approach

Charting the History of Social and Economic Analyses in the North-East Atlantic, OSPAR, region: Lessons Learned and Future Opportunities

Over the past decade, the North-East Atlantic region has witnessed a substantial increase in social and economic analyses related to ocean and coastal management. This article offers a comprehensive overview of this progress, focusing on the work of the International Cooperation Group - Economics and Social Analysis (ICG-ESA) within the OSPAR Commission. While highlighting ICG-ESA\u27s contributions to the OSPAR Quality Status Report 2023, the paper underscores the necessity of integrating social analyses into OSPAR\u27s decision-making processes. It calls for sustained efforts to prevent regression in the achieved progress, stressing the importance of accountability and collaboration among OSPAR and its contracting parties. The article advocates for the integration of economic and social analyses across all OSPAR activities, emphasizing the need for a holistic approach to sustainable management. It further underscores the ongoing efforts required for the full incorporation of these analyses into OSPAR\u27s decision-making processes