What does SIPOC stand for?

SIPOC stands for suppliers, inputs, process, outputs, customers. It is the five columns of a one-page process map, read from left to right. Some teams add a requirements column for what each customer needs from the output.

What is a SIPOC diagram used for?

It is used to agree the scope of a process before improving it: where the process starts and ends, what it needs, what it produces and who receives it. It is most often built in the Define phase of a DMAIC project, at the start of a value stream map or a kaizen event, and when a process crosses departments and people describe it differently.

How many steps should the process column have?

Five to seven. If the team lists more, merge neighbouring steps until seven remain. A SIPOC is a high-level view, and detail belongs in a flowchart, swimlane map or value stream map drawn afterwards.

What is the difference between a SIPOC and a process map?

A SIPOC is a one-page summary with five to seven steps and no decisions, delays or loops. A process map, such as a flowchart or a swimlane map, shows every step and decision in order. The SIPOC comes first and sets the boundaries the detailed map covers.

Who should build a SIPOC?

A small group of six to ten people that includes someone who does the work, someone who supplies it and someone who receives the output, for about an hour. One person drawing it alone records one view, which defeats the purpose.

Do you fill in a SIPOC from left to right?

You can, but most teams go faster starting with the process column, then outputs and customers, then inputs and suppliers. The team knows its own steps best, and starting from the suppliers tends to produce a long list of every supplier ever used. Some teams start from the customer and call the result COPIS.

Practical guide · Value stream mapping and flow

SIPOC diagram: what it is, how to build one, and a worked example

Short answer

A SIPOC diagram is a one-page map of a process in five columns: Suppliers, Inputs, Process, Outputs and Customers. It shows where a process starts and ends, what goes in, what comes out and who receives it, before anyone draws a detailed flowchart.

SIPOC stands for suppliers, inputs, process, outputs, customers. The middle column holds only five to seven high-level steps, written as verbs. The columns on either side say who provides what to the process and who gets what from it. A team builds it in an hour at the start of a project, mostly to agree the scope: the trigger that starts the process and the result that ends it. It is not a detailed map. It does not show decisions, delays or rework loops, and it does not measure anything. What it gives you is a shared edge to the problem, a list of the customers the outputs must satisfy, and a short list of things worth measuring next.

Last reviewed: November 5, 2026

What is a SIPOC diagram? What the five letters stand for

SIPOC is an acronym, read left to right across the page. Suppliers are the people, teams or companies that provide what the process needs. Inputs are what they provide: material, information, equipment, people's time. Process is the work itself, in five to seven steps. Outputs are what the process produces. Customers are whoever receives each output, inside the plant or outside it.

Some teams add a sixth column, Requirements, between outputs and customers, to write down what each customer needs from the output (on time, complete, right first time). It is a useful habit, and the printable on this site has the column. The acronym stays SIPOC. A few teams build the diagram from the right, customer first, and call it COPIS. It is the same diagram read the other way.

The word customer is wider than the buyer. The next process down the line is your customer. So is the quality department that receives your inspection record. That is what makes a SIPOC useful in a plant: it forces the team to name the receiver of every output, and receivers who were never asked what they need are a common reason for rework.

When to use a SIPOC diagram

Use a SIPOC at the start of work, when the team can still change what the project covers. It earns its hour in four places.

Define phase of a DMAIC project. The SIPOC sets the boundary the project charter refers to, and its outputs and customers point to what the project will measure. See the DMAIC project charter.
Before a value stream map. A VSM follows one product family from order to delivery. The SIPOC tells the team which family and which part of the stream they are drawing.
At the start of a kaizen event, so that the people in the room, who often come from different areas, describe the same process.
When a process crosses departments and each one describes it differently. Eight people can give eight different start points for the same process. A SIPOC puts that on the wall in the first ten minutes.

Do not use it to find the cause of a problem or to design a solution. It has no data in it. For causes, use a fishbone or 5 Whys. For waste in the flow, draw a map from the next section.

How to build a SIPOC diagram in seven steps

Run it as a working session with a whiteboard or a printed sheet, six to ten people, about an hour. Include someone who does the work, someone upstream and someone who receives the output. A SIPOC drawn by one person at a desk records one person's view, which is the thing it is meant to fix.

1
Name the process and write the scope sentence
Write one sentence: it starts when this happens and ends when that happens. For example, from a truck checked in at the dock to the parts in their stock location with the receipt posted. Do this before anything else. Half of the arguments about a process are arguments about where it starts.
2
List the process steps
Write five to seven steps on sticky notes, verb first: check in, match, inspect, release, put away. If the team lists twelve, merge neighbours until seven remain. Detail belongs in the next map.
3
Write the outputs
For each step or for the process as a whole, what leaves it? Products, records, decisions, data. Include the unwanted outputs too: rejects, scrap, rework, a nonconformance report.
4
Name the customers
Who receives each output? Be specific: weld cell 3, not production. If an output has no receiver, ask whether the process needs to make it.
5
Write the inputs
What does the process need to run? Material, a schedule, a drawing, a gauge, a trained person, a signed work order. Look at the steps and ask what each one cannot start without.
6
Name the suppliers
Who provides each input? A supplier can be outside the plant or the person in the next building. Mark any input whose supplier is unclear, or whose quality is a known problem.
7
Read it back and pick what to measure
Read each row as a sentence: supplier gives input, the process turns it into an output, the customer receives it. Then choose two or three measures from the outputs, such as on time, complete and right first time. Those are what you baseline next.

Working from the process outward, as above, is quicker than starting at the suppliers, because the team knows its own steps. Starting at the left tends to produce a list of every supplier the plant has ever had.

SIPOC diagram example: receiving inspection

Illustrative example: a plant's receiving area, with made-up numbers. The scope sentence is: starts when a truck is checked in at the dock, ends when the parts are in their stock location and the receipt is posted.

SIPOC for receiving inspection (illustrative)
Suppliers	Inputs	Process	Outputs	Customers
Carrier	Truck and packing slip	1. Check in the truck	Parts in the right stock location	Production lines
Component supplier	Purchase order	2. Match to the PO and count	Posted receipt	Accounts payable
Purchasing	Inspection plan and drawing	3. Inspect a sample	Inspection record	Quality
Quality	Gauges, calibrated	4. Release or hold	Hold tag and nonconformance report on rejects	Supplier quality
Stores	Operator trained on the plan	5. Put away and post	Updated on-hand count	Planning

Read each column down. Rows are not linked to each other; the row layout is only a way to list the entries.

Laying this out raised two points the team had not settled. Step 4 had no owner on night shift, so parts waited until morning. And accounts payable was a customer nobody had asked: it needed the receipt posted the same day, which no one had written down.

Baseline from the outputs

The team chose one measure from the outputs: parts released to stock within 4 hours of check in. They sampled 80 receipts over two weeks. 22 took longer than 4 hours. On time is 80 minus 22, which is 58 receipts, so 58 / 80 = 72.5 percent on time. The late share is 22 / 80 = 27.5 percent. The two add to 100 percent. The SIPOC did not find the cause. It named the measure and the start and end points, so the baseline means the same thing to everyone. The cause hunt comes next, with the team's Pareto chart of the 22 late receipts.

SIPOC vs flowchart, swimlane map and value stream map

SIPOC is the zoomed-out view. The other maps are what you draw once the team knows what it is zooming into.

Which process picture answers which question
Picture	Level of detail	Answers	Use it when
SIPOC	One page, 5 to 7 steps	Where does the process start and end, who is in and who is out?	Starting a project or an event, to set the scope
Flowchart	Every step and decision	What happens, in what order, and where does it branch?	Writing a standard or finding rework loops
Swimlane map	Every step, by who does it	Who hands off to whom?	A process that crosses departments
Value stream map	Material and information flow with times	Where does time and inventory pile up?	Finding waste in the flow of one product family

The usual order is SIPOC first, then one of the others. For the value stream map, see the [value stream mapping guide](/blogs/value-stream-mapping-beginner-complete-guide).

Common SIPOC mistakes

Too many steps. Fifteen steps is a flowchart. Merge until you have seven or fewer.
Process steps written as nouns. Receiving is a department. Check in the truck is a step.
No scope sentence. Without it, the process has no edges and the project grows.
Customers named as departments. Production does not tell you who needs what. Name the line, the cell or the next process.
Only the wanted outputs. Scrap, holds and nonconformance reports are outputs too, and they have customers.
Built alone. One person's view is the opposite of what the diagram is for.
Filed and forgotten. Check it again after the Measure phase. If the data shows the real process starts earlier or ends later, move the edge and say so.

SIPOC template

A printable SIPOC diagram template has boxes for where the process starts and ends, seven numbered steps, columns for suppliers, inputs, outputs, customers and requirements, and a place for the measures to baseline. A filled-in sample is on page 2. The same layout runs as a Lean Studio board if you would rather build it on a shared screen.

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FAQ

Questions about sIPOC diagram

SIPOC stands for suppliers, inputs, process, outputs, customers. It is the five columns of a one-page process map, read from left to right. Some teams add a requirements column for what each customer needs from the output.
It is used to agree the scope of a process before improving it: where the process starts and ends, what it needs, what it produces and who receives it. It is most often built in the Define phase of a DMAIC project, at the start of a value stream map or a kaizen event, and when a process crosses departments and people describe it differently.
Five to seven. If the team lists more, merge neighbouring steps until seven remain. A SIPOC is a high-level view, and detail belongs in a flowchart, swimlane map or value stream map drawn afterwards.
A SIPOC is a one-page summary with five to seven steps and no decisions, delays or loops. A process map, such as a flowchart or a swimlane map, shows every step and decision in order. The SIPOC comes first and sets the boundaries the detailed map covers.
A small group of six to ten people that includes someone who does the work, someone who supplies it and someone who receives the output, for about an hour. One person drawing it alone records one view, which defeats the purpose.
You can, but most teams go faster starting with the process column, then outputs and customers, then inputs and suppliers. The team knows its own steps best, and starting from the suppliers tends to produce a long list of every supplier ever used. Some teams start from the customer and call the result COPIS.

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SIPOC diagram: what it is, how to build one, and a worked example

What is a SIPOC diagram? What the five letters stand for

When to use a SIPOC diagram

How to build a SIPOC diagram in seven steps

Name the process and write the scope sentence

List the process steps

Write the outputs

Name the customers

Write the inputs

Name the suppliers

Read it back and pick what to measure