"I have an open house in two weeks and need to put together a campaign".   "I needed it to be in the mail weeks ago".  "My agency is not meeting my deadlines".  "My creative piece is not ready".   Sound familiar?  Understandably, in a perfect world things would get done on a timely basis.  Things unexpectedly come up and you veer off course.  The best way to stay the course is to map out a process that fits your needs and schedules.  A process map will help you keep track of:

External Tasks

• Meet with List Broker to identify campaign requirements
• List Research; Review Analytics; Back End Analysis
• List Rental; Mail House Agreements; NDA's
• Estimates; LOA; SOW
• Various Meetings

External Milestones

• Review List Broker recommendations for campaign requirements
• List Research completed
• Order lists
• List Rental/Mail House Agreements completed
• Want Date to Mail House; Mail Date(s)
• External element status meetings

Deadlines

• Campaign requirements set
• Lists Ordered
• List files at Service Bureau
• Print and Production deadlines
• Mail Dates that ensure proper delivery of "time sensitive" materials

Project Summaries & Progress Reports

• Periodic reports from all aspects of the project/campaign.  These come in the form of brief "stand-up" meetings or email correspondence depending on your organization and  needs.

Tasks At hand

• Generally refer to the near-term tasks, such as, what's due this week in order for the project/campaign to stay "on-track".

What does your process map look like?