The Full Waterfall
One operational question, traced from source to answer.
Some of the work we are asked to do is broad by design — never one size fits all. We start by understanding how demand, workload, capacity, people and process actually fit together for a business, then work out the operational course that's right for them.
In this example, we’re looking at a business that wanted its resourcing needs made visible across a number of real "what if" scenarios: what a seasonal spike in demand would actually cost them, and what pulling different operational levers could buy back.
It’s what we call The Waterfall
Prefer to skip ahead?Jump to the good stuff →The business ran on a large number of small tasks. We start by finding where each one truly belongs in the end to end customer journey.
Every task finds its category — the same ten we’ll walk through next.
Then we work through each category and pull it apart — who does each step, whether it's manual or automated, how long it takes, over how many days, and how exceptions can change that.
We repeat this for every process above, breaking each one down into its component parts.
We line the categories up into the real journey a case follows, start to finish.
Now that we know what happens within each stage, who does it, and how long it takes, we're ready to build the waterfall.
It's vital that a waterfall accurately reflects exactly what a business does, day to day — that's why we never use a standard template or approach.
Here are a few of the real assumptions behind this example: conversion rates, people capacity, and timing.
There are many more like these — these are the ones that shape the model here.
Every one of these is editable — change the number, and the waterfall updates with it.
Now the waterfall is built — let's send 500 sales enquiries through it and see what it shows us.
500 sales enquiries enter in month 1 — every stage and every role shown, even where nothing has reached them yet.
| Month 1 | Month 2 | |
|---|---|---|
| Sales Leads | 500 | 0 |
| Process Waterfall | ||
| Customer Registration | 350 | 0 |
| Quote Production | 315 | 0 |
| Application Processing | 142 | 0 |
| Verification & Checks | 135 | 0 |
| Approval Decision | 108 | 0 |
| Documentation | 103 | 0 |
| Onboarding | 0 | 103 |
| Payment Processing | 0 | 103 |
| Ongoing Support | 0 | 103 |
| Resources Required | ||
| Sales Advisor | 1.5 | 0.0 |
| Case Manager | 2.5 | 0.4 |
| Finance Officer | 0.0 | 0.1 |
| Servicing Administrator | 0.0 | 0.3 |
| Operations Manager | 0.4 | 0.1 |
Same rates as before — 45% quote → application, 80% verification → approval — real unit times and elapsed days at every stage.
Let's see the impact of adding a spike in sales in the summer.
| M1 | M2 | M3 | M4 | M5 | M6 | M7 | M8 | M9 | M10 | M11 | M12 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sales Leads | 500 | 500 | 500 | 500 | 500 | 500 | 500 | 500 | 500 | 500 | 500 | 500 |
| Resources Required | ||||||||||||
| Sales Advisor | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 |
| Case Manager | 2.5 | 2.9 | 2.9 | 2.9 | 2.9 | 2.9 | 2.9 | 2.9 | 2.9 | 2.9 | 2.9 | 2.9 |
| Finance Officer | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
| Servicing Administrator | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 |
| Operations Manager | 0.4 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 |
| Total FTE | 4.4 | 5.3 | 5.3 | 5.3 | 5.3 | 5.3 | 5.3 | 5.3 | 5.3 | 5.3 | 5.3 | 5.3 |
| Additional Heads Needed | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
Now let's look at how we'd improve this journey — one realistic change at every stage, from first enquiry to ongoing support.
Enquiries land by email. Someone reads each one, pulls out the contact details and what they're asking for, logs it on the spreadsheet, then assigns it to whoever's free — and emails the team so two people don't call the same person.
Solution → Automate enquiry capture
ID documents arrive as photos or scans. Someone checks them by eye against the application, keys the details into the system by hand, and runs a separate identity check through another portal before the account can be opened.
Solution → Auto-verify identity and KYC
A Case Manager pulls the customer's details together, works out the right price from the rate sheet, and builds the quote in a template by hand — checking the numbers twice before it goes out.
Solution → Auto-generate quotes
The same details the customer already gave get re-typed into the application system, checked against the quote, and any gaps get chased by phone or email before the file can move on.
Solution → Auto-populate application data
Every case is checked in full — documents re-read, figures re-verified, a second person signs it off — even though the large majority come back clean.
Solution → Sample-check instead of checking every case
A Case Manager reviews every file against the approval criteria and makes the call, even the straightforward cases that clearly meet every standard rule.
Solution → Rules-based auto-approval for standard cases
Once approved, someone drafts the paperwork from a template, fills in the case-specific details by hand, and checks it against the file before it goes out for signature.
Solution → Auto-generate documents
A Case Manager sets up the account, posts or emails a welcome pack, and talks the customer through what happens next — one conversation at a time.
Solution → Self-service onboarding
First payment is chased and taken manually — a call or an email with payment details — then someone reconciles it against the ledger by hand.
Solution → Automated payment collection
Every support enquiry, however small, lands with a Servicing Administrator to read, triage and answer individually before it's routed to the right place.
Solution → Self-service support triage
Try it — switch these on and watch the table below respond.
| M1 | M2 | M3 | M4 | M5 | M6 | M7 | M8 | M9 | M10 | M11 | M12 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sales Leads | 500 | 500 | 500 | 500 | 500 | 500 | 900 | 900 | 900 | 500 | 500 | 500 |
| Resources Required | ||||||||||||
| Sales Advisor | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 2.7 | 2.7 | 2.7 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 |
| Case Manager | 2.5 | 2.9 | 2.9 | 2.9 | 2.9 | 2.9 | 4.9 | 5.2 | 5.2 | 3.2 | 2.9 | 2.9 |
| Finance Officer | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
| Servicing Administrator | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 0.3 |
| Operations Manager | 0.4 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.8 | 0.9 | 0.9 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 |
| Total FTE | 4.4 | 5.3 | 5.3 | 5.3 | 5.3 | 5.3 | 8.8 | 9.5 | 9.5 | 5.9 | 5.3 | 5.3 |
| Potential Savings | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
At its peak (month 8) the spike needed 9.5 people — 9.5 with 0 of these ten changes applied, a difference of 0.0. Same demand, same team available — just far less of it consumed by manual work.
The full picture, start to finish.
Grouped
Many everyday tasks, sorted into where they truly belong.
Untangled
Each category pulled apart and fully understood: who does it, how long it takes, and what changes it.
Sequenced
Lined up into the real order a case follows, start to finish.
Build the waterfall
No template — this business's own conversion rates, capacity and timing. Whatever truly impacts the flow of work.
Find the base
500 enquiries run through the model. The true resourcing need became visible.
Pressure test
A seasonal spike, modelled as a real ‘what if’ — to see exactly how the resourcing need moves.
Now you can see exactly what's worth changing, and why. The decision is yours — but we're still here to make it happen when you are ready.
Have a question shaped like this one?
If your own version of it doesn't have an evidenced answer yet, that's exactly the kind of conversation we start with.
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