What is case?
A case is the single thing whose journey is being followed through a process — one RA bill, one purchase order, one vendor invoice — identified by an ID that stays the same from first step to last.
Also called case ID.
Case in plain words
Choosing the case decides what the map is about. Follow the purchase order and you see procurement. Follow the invoice and you see payment. Follow the RA bill and you see how site work turns into money.
Why does case matter?
Most arguments about a process map are really arguments about the case. Two teams looking at the same delay from different case IDs will describe two different problems.
Which case id should you follow?
| If you want to understand | Follow |
|---|---|
| Why cash arrives late | The RA bill, from execution to receipt |
| Why material arrives late | The requisition, not the purchase order |
| Why vendors are paid early or late | The vendor invoice |
| Why a claim is unpaid | The variation, from the instruction |
Each row is the case whose journey contains the delay being asked about. Choose the other one and the delay sits outside the map.
Where does case mislead?
A case that changes identity mid-flight — a requisition that becomes a PO with a new number — breaks the trail, and the journey appears as two short processes instead of one long one. The join has to be made explicitly or the waiting time in between simply disappears.
What do people get wrong about case?
- Picking the case that is easiest to export
- The purchase order is usually the tidiest record and usually the wrong case, because the delay everyone is complaining about happened before the PO existed.
- Letting the id change mid-journey
- A requisition that becomes a PO with a new number breaks the trail in two. Both halves look fast, and the wait between them belongs to neither.
How does Crestline measure case?
Crestline runs several case views over the same project — the RA bill, the purchase order, the vendor invoice — so a delay can be read from whichever end it is being argued about.