{"version":"0.19.0","built_at":"2026-10-17T14:21:37.518Z","license":"CC BY 4.0 © Mike Reams","canonical":"https://catalog.mikereams.com","value_stream":{"id":"VS-370","name":"Idea-to-Improvement","industries":["cross-industry"],"description":"Carry a process problem or improvement idea from capture through screening, evidence and delivery to a changed standard process that people follow and that keeps its gains. Where Demand-to-Change (VS-80) delivers IT changes, this is the everyday improvement of how work flows, owned by process owners; plants run it under BC-1150.50.","outcome":"The process performs measurably better, the new standard is documented and followed, and the gain is still there months later.","trigger":"A process owner, employee, audit or performance review raises a problem, waste or improvement idea.","aliases":["Continuous Improvement Cycle","Problem-to-Standard","Kaizen Lifecycle"],"stages":[{"id":"VS-370.10","order":1,"name":"Capture the Idea","description":"Log the problem or idea against the process it affects and its owner, with the symptom in measurable terms.","capability_ids":["BC-190.40","BC-190.10"]},{"id":"VS-370.20","order":2,"name":"Prioritize","description":"Screen the idea, size the benefit and effort, and decide which improvements go ahead now, later or not at all, with funding where the change needs it.","capability_ids":["BC-190.40","BC-180.10"]},{"id":"VS-370.30","order":3,"name":"Measure the Baseline","description":"Map how the work really flows and measure it, with process mining where event data exists.","capability_ids":["BC-190.30","BC-190.20","BC-750.60"]},{"id":"VS-370.40","order":4,"name":"Improve","description":"Find the root cause, design and pilot the change, including automation where it pays.","capability_ids":["BC-190.40","BC-770.40"]},{"id":"VS-370.50","order":5,"name":"Standardize","description":"Update the standard process, work instructions and training through process change control.","capability_ids":["BC-190.50","BC-190.20","BC-330.30"]},{"id":"VS-370.60","order":6,"name":"Sustain the Gain","description":"Watch the measures after go-live, check conformance to the new standard and act when performance slips.","capability_ids":["BC-190.30","BC-190.50","BC-180.60"]}]}}