Time for a cycle.

Reduces the time and expenses required for a product or service to move through a
supply chain in part or in its entirety. Internal auditors have paid little attention to this problem because
they are focused on financial and various compliance risks. Internal auditors do their organizations a
disservice if they do not analyze cycle time as a risk and opportunity, especially as customer satisfaction
becomes more important to assure first and future sales and to improve the organization's image.
Furthermore, anytime a compliance requirement specifies "timely reporting...", the internal auditor
should inquire, "How do we ensure that we always fulfill the reporting deadline?"

A related notion is cycle time compression, which refers to the reengineering of processes in order to
reduce cycle time. A word of warning is also in order here. Some auditors may believe that when I talk
about supply chain, I'm talking about manufacturing companies and their operations. That is not the
case. The supply chain is the system of people, actions, information, and resources involved in the
creation and delivery of a product or service from the supplier(s) to the client. With this in mind, the
concept also applies to service organizations, and we can argue that there are many micro supply chains
within an organization. What does it take for a company to hire a new employee, for example? What
actions in the supply chain ensure that an incoming invoice is paid according to the terms that were
agreed upon?