The catalog
A catalog lists every process a department runs, one row each. A row gives the process's name, its owner, what starts it, how often it runs and the least automated step in it. Every value is copied from the process, so the catalog keeps nothing of its own.
A catalog is worth making before anyone writes a full process. A first pass takes a few hours, and it shows what work exists, who owns each piece, what depends on what and where automation would pay off first. This is a marketing department's first pass.
| Process | Owner | What starts it | How often | Least automated step |
|---|---|---|---|---|
campaign planningmkt/campaign-planning | VP Marketing | The quarter opens. | 4 a year | assisted |
strategic competitor reviewmkt/competitor-review | Product Marketing | A month passes, or a competitor makes an announcement. | About 16 a year | supervised |
social campaignmkt/social-campaign | Head of Social | A campaign brief is approved. | About 40 a quarter | never |
email campaignmkt/email-campaign | Lifecycle Marketing | A campaign brief is approved. | About 20 a quarter | never |
website updatemkt/website-update | Web Lead | A change request is filed. | About 30 a quarter | supervised |
inbound lead routingmkt/lead-routing | Demand Gen | A form is submitted. | About 400 a week | autonomous |
claims register upkeepmkt/claims-register | Product Marketing | A new claim is proposed. | About 10 a quarter | never |
brand guideline reviewmkt/brand-review | Brand Lead | Six months pass, or someone asks for a review. | 2 a year | assisted |
trade show and eventmkt/event | Events Lead | The team commits to an event. | About 6 a year | manual |
agency brief and reviewmkt/agency-brief | Head of Social | Work is sent to an agency. | About 8 a quarter | manual |
quarterly readoutmkt/quarterly-readout | VP Marketing | The quarter closes. | 4 a year | supervised |
What the table shows
The claims register and the competitor review run rarely, yet most of the other work depends on them, so they come first. Lead routing runs about 400 times a week and is already autonomous, so it is left alone. The social and email campaigns both wait on the same legal reviewer, so the thing to fix there is how that review is staffed.
The full example, with the graph of what feeds what, is on Example: a marketing catalog. How to build a catalog is in Guide: the process catalog.
Next: Writing a process