1. Introduction to the Process efficiency widget
2. How to configure your Board settings to measure efficiency?
3. How to mark a column as "activity" or "queue"?
4. What is the process efficiency formula?
5. How to add the process efficiency widget?
6. How to improve your efficiency?
1. Introduction to the Process efficiency metric
The Process Efficiency metric allows you to keep an eye on how efficient your process is.
Measuring efficiency in your Kanban process helps teams to analyze performance, identify bottlenecks, remove waste and improve their flows.
In Kanbanize, you can easily measure efficiency via the predefined Process efficiency Widget.
The widget calculates the ratio between the actual value-adding time, during which a team member actively works towards completing a task, and the entire lead time required to complete the task.
In other words, the widget separates between value-adding time and non-value-adding time (wait time + blocked time) in order to produce the efficiency metric (%).
Moreover, the widget indicates efficiency improvement or efficiency regression compared to the previous period of time. 
2. How to measure efficiency?
Getting accurate efficiency metrics requires an initial system configuration and a good understanding of the Kanban concept. If you want to track efficiency as well as other time-related metrics, there are two major things that you need to take into consideration during the Kanban board setup process:
- The Board Cycle time configuration (2.1)
- Mark columns in your workflow as "activity" and "queue" (2.2)
2.1 The cycle time is configured per board. The system tracks the time that cards spend in each column, then it adds those values together to form the cycle time of the card. You can select which columns in your workflow will be included for the cycle time calculation.
The cycle time metric has a major impact on the process efficiency calculation. To learn more about the cycle time configuration, check the dedicated article.
2.2 When you create your workflow, make sure that each column is marked as "activity" or a "queue" column. What is the difference?
The example below illustrates a simplified product development process:
All columns where tasks are actively worked on towards completion of a given goal generate value-adding time and should be marked as "activity" columns. Such columns are “Development” and "Verification". When cards are in the "Development" column, team members are working on implementing the code. Cards in the "Verification" column indicate that the senior team member is reviewing the code.
For the rest of the time, the cards are waiting in the columns marked as Queue and generate non-value added time. Such columns are "Ready to start" and "Ready for verification".
Kanbanize automatically records the time each card has spent along the process: from the initial phase until delivery (lead time) and separates value-adding time and non-value added time.
Note: In Kanbanize, non-value added time is generated not only when cards are waiting in the Queue columns, but also when cards are in a blocked state.
When users block cards in the Requested area or in Queue columns, they will get a Kanbanize message notifying them that this action will decrease the efficiency.
If cards, which already accumulate "wait" time gets blocked, their non-value added time doubles.
It is recommended to block cards in "Active" columns only and resolve them as soon as possible.
3. How to mark a column as "activity" or "queue"?
Open the Edit workflow designer of the respective board and use the gear icon that belongs to every column. In the Edit column panel, checkmark if the column is "activity" or "queue" and save your changes. 
4. What is the Process efficiency formula?
This is the process efficiency formula:
Process Efficiency[%] = (Value-added Time / Cycle Time) * 100
where:
Value added time = Cycle Time - Non-value added time
Non-value added time = Wait time + Block Time
Cycle time accumulation depends on your workflow's configuration and is accumulated only in columns that belong to that configuration.
Value-adding is the time the card spends in activity columns such as "Development" and "Verification" = 5 days.
Non-value adding is the time spent in queue columns like "waiting for review" or blocked = 5 days 
When developing a new feature, a programmer needs 10 days to move a card through the process from "Requested" to "Done", during which the card spends 5 of the ten days in columns where the activity takes place (development, verification) and 5 of those ten days in queues (4 days: bus. requirements, ready to start, ready for review) and block status (1 day).
When you calculate the ratio between value-adding and lead time in the scenario described above [(5/10)x100] your resulting percentage will represent the efficiency of the process of completing the given task - in this case, 50%.
TIP: If you manage to decrease the time each card spends in the "Queue" columns, your team will improve the efficiency results.
5. How to add the process efficiency widget?
The Process Efficiency Widget is a predefined widget, which is available in the dedicated Widgets panel. Open a custom Dashboard of your choice and select Add Widget (2) to open the corresponding widgets panel. Select the Process Efficiency widget. To learn more about the widget setup, please check the dedicated article.
6. How to improve your efficiency?
The Kanban method aims to support the development of a smooth workflow that delivers value to the customers. Therefore, processes should be constantly optimized and polished.
One of the main telltales for a problematic area in the process is the presence of buffers i.e. "Queue" columns with a large number of cards. This means that the column gets more work items that the team can process.
There are many reasons that stand behind such a bottleneck: lack of human capacity, a bad work estimation or a business environment that allows "work context switching", etc.
The work items get stuck for a variety of reasons, which always leads to longer delivery times and lower efficiency.
- To minimize your delivery time start searching for the reasons that cause "Queues" in your process and analyze cards that accumulate more "waiting" or "blocked" time.
This proves how important it is to create "queue" columns prior to each "activity" stage in your flow. If the tasks in the "queue" column grow significantly compared to the cards in the "activity" column, then you have found your bottleneck.
TIP: Use the analytics modules in Kanbanize to monitor your workflow and analyze the cycle time of your cards. - Start using the Work in Progress Limits (WIPs) to keep a steady rhythm of your flow.
WIP means the allowed number of items that a stage can hold or a team member can work on at the same time. This lean principle embedded in the software prevents the accumulation of too many cards in a given stage and helps team members to minimize context switching and deliver faster.
For example, if your WIP limit is set to "3" and the given column already holds three cards, the system will not allow adding a new card (i.e. exceeded the limit).
Recommended articles:
To learn more about the efficiency concept, please visit our blog and check the dedicated articles.
- The Art of Lean - monitoring flow efficiency.
- The Soft spot between personal and process efficiency.