--- name: funnel-pce-calculator description: "The single flow-efficiency number for a sales pipeline — process time as a share of total time in the funnel — from a short list of stages, no full value stream map required. Use when: You want the headline flow-efficiency number fast — a sanity check before deciding whether a full funnel value stream map is worth the time. You already have per-stage process and wait time from your customer relationship management (CRM) system and just want it turned into a defensible percentage with the arithmetic shown. Not for: You need to know *which* stage to fix, not just the overall number — that's the sales funnel value stream map or the bottleneck analysis, both of which compute this same number as part of a fuller picture. You want waste findings, a Pareto ranking, or countermeasures — this calculator deliberately doesn't ask for the observation notes those are drawn from." --- # Funnel flow efficiency calculator The single flow-efficiency number for a sales pipeline — process time as a share of total time in the funnel — from a short list of stages, no full value stream map required. Family: Value stream mapping · Format: .xlsx · Domain: commercial ## What it is Process cycle efficiency (PCE), also called flow efficiency, is the share of total time a deal is actually being worked versus sitting idle: process time divided by total lead time (process time plus wait time), across every stage. It's the single most useful number in a funnel value stream map (see the sales funnel value stream map), pulled out on its own for the case where a full documented map is more than you need right now. Most funnels come back under 10% — the finding almost every revenue team is missing is not which stage is slow, it's how little of the pipeline's total duration is spent on active work at all. ## When to use it Use it when: - You want the headline flow-efficiency number fast — a sanity check before deciding whether a full funnel value stream map is worth the time. - You already have per-stage process and wait time from your customer relationship management (CRM) system and just want it turned into a defensible percentage with the arithmetic shown. - You're building a case for why pipeline velocity work matters and need one number a leadership team will immediately understand is too low. Not when: - You need to know *which* stage to fix, not just the overall number — that's the sales funnel value stream map or the bottleneck analysis, both of which compute this same number as part of a fuller picture. - You want waste findings, a Pareto ranking, or countermeasures — this calculator deliberately doesn't ask for the observation notes those are drawn from. - You only have a single blended total-cycle-time figure with no per-stage breakdown — flow efficiency needs at least process time and wait time distinguished per stage, not just a start and end date. ## How to fill it in - **scope** — Just the one-line description at the top — what pipeline segment this is. There's no separate scope field here; keep it as tight as you would for a full funnel map (one deal source or segment, not the whole blended pipeline). - **steps** — List each stage in order with its process time and the wait time after it before the next stage starts. This is the only real intake this calculator asks for — paste rows straight from a CRM export if you have them. - **demand** — Optional — add the deals needed per week or month if you also want each stage checked against the pace the business needs. - **map** — Drawn from your stages, so the share of time spent waiting is visible at a glance next to the number. - **metrics** — Flow efficiency, lead time, and the stage capping throughput are computed for you the moment you submit — this is the whole point of the calculator, not a step you fill in. - **wasteFindings** — Not part of this calculator's output — it only computes flow efficiency and the constraint. Use the sales funnel value stream map for the full eight-wastes breakdown. - **pareto** — Not part of this calculator's output. The full sales funnel value stream map ranks every stage by wait-time contribution; this tool only surfaces the single largest one. - **futureState** — Optional — once you have the number, sketch the faster funnel in the same editor and see the flow efficiency it would reach. - **countermeasures** — Not part of this calculator's output — there's no observation-notes field feeding a countermeasure narrative here. Once you know the number's worth acting on, the sales funnel value stream map is where you'd work through what to do about it. ## What good looks like The example below is the same six-stage outbound funnel as the full sales funnel value stream map — because the flow-efficiency number this calculator produces is exactly the same number that map computes as part of its fuller analysis, not a different calculation. What's different is the path to get here: this page only asked for stage names, process time, and wait time. Full worked example, on-screen and as a downloadable .xlsx: https://www.katafacts.com/katas/funnel-pce-calculator ## Common mistakes - **Treating a low flow-efficiency number as the finding itself, with no next step.** — A single percentage tells you the pipeline is mostly waiting, not why or where. Once the number is low enough to act on, move to the full funnel value stream map to find the specific stage worth fixing. - **Mixing deal segments with genuinely different natural cycles to get one 'overall' number.** — A blended self-serve-plus-enterprise flow efficiency describes neither segment — same scope discipline as every other value-stream kata in this catalogue. - **Estimating stage timing from memory instead of pulling actual CRM stage-entry and stage-exit timestamps.** — Flow efficiency is only as trustworthy as the timing data behind it — a guessed number that looks precise is worse than an honest 'we don't have this data yet.' ## What it connects to Downstream: - **Sales funnel value stream map** (`sales-funnel-map`) — Once the flow-efficiency number is low enough to warrant real attention, this is where you find which specific stage to act on and what to do about it. - **Bottleneck analysis** (`bottleneck-analysis`) — If the question is specifically 'which stage is capping throughput' rather than 'what's my overall efficiency,' this is the more direct next step. ## Where AI helps Judgement — stays with you: - Deciding whether the number is low enough to justify a full funnel value stream map - Drawing the pipeline segment's scope boundary Analysis — AI helps: - Nothing here — flow efficiency is a deterministic calculation, not an analysis judgement call Drudgery — automated: - Computing lead time and flow efficiency, with the arithmetic shown - Identifying the single largest wait contributor - Exporting to xlsx in the house format --- Funnel flow efficiency calculator is licensed [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Attribution: Katafacts (katafacts.com). ## Using this skill Apply this method as part of whatever broader task, instructions, or deliverable you're already working on -- it's a method to use, not a standalone conversation to start. There is no generation tool for this catalogue yet, so draft the artifact's actual content yourself, following the fields above, the same way a person filling this out by hand would. The canonical guide page and a downloadable worked example (.xlsx) are at https://www.katafacts.com/katas/funnel-pce-calculator.