Jillian Theil has been the Training and Field Support Coordinator for Pro Bono Net since 2011. She manages the LSNTAP/PBN Community Training series. 

Last month, Pro Bono Net and LSNTAP held another webinar in the 2015 LSNTAP Community Training series with a new topic, “Process Mapping for Civil Legal Services: Small Investments with a Big Impact!” The training highlighted approaches and techniques to help identify, automate and simplify routine activities and reduce complexity in a variety of contexts, from service delivery to volunteer management.

Mike Grunenwald of Pro Bono Net kicked things off by establishing the “why?” of business process analysis. A powerful tool, this type of analysis can not only increase efficiency in workflows, but also enhance communication between stakeholders.

Matthew Burnett of Immigration Advocates Network followed with a case study image for Mappingof process mapping analysis used to help build Citizenshipworks 2.0, a naturalization application assistance technology. The IAN team facilitated a series of process mapping exercises which helped identify the landscape of existing nonprofit legal service models that support the naturalization application process. The organization then performed a SWOT analysis to assess a number of strengths, weaknesses, internal problems and external threats, along with potential strategic opportunities for creating technology in this space, the results which informed the build of Citizenshipworks 2.0.

Next, Susan Zielke of Land of Lincoln Legal Assistance Foundation discussed how her organization used process mapping to help clients in need get connected to attorneys for extended representation more quickly and accurately. The experience resulted in some beneficial takeaways and lessons learned – including a reminder to engage critics and to persevere and keep improving.

Adam Heintz of Legal Services NYC closed out the presentation by reviewing the process mapping his organization completed to brainstorm process needs, bottlenecks, and determine priorities for designing a volunteer management system in the disaster response context. The result was a configured version of Salesforce that automates much of their paperwork, allowing for a much more efficient, effective way to manage volunteers.

 

To view the other tips mentioned on this webinar, be sure to check out materials available on the SWEB Support Site and LSNTAP.org