BUSINESS PROCESS MANAGEMENT



THE CHALLENGE

Processes are the cornerstone of how you create and deliver value in any business, but when work is not performed in a standardized manner, processes don’t produce the results you expect.

Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) ensure that work is standardized, and knowledge is retained in the business, but SOPs alone don’t ensure that growth is sustainable. 

THE SOLUTION

To achieve scalability, processes must be actively managed across functions and departments, at all levels of the organization.

Business Process Management (BPM) provides the most comprehensive framework for effective cross-functional process management.  It includes four primary components:

  1. Process Architecture
  2. Process Documentation
  3. Process Governance
  4. Process Measurement

Process Architecture

Businesses fail to produce results when strategy is disconnected from the work that gets done. A process architecture serves as the glue between strategy and work, telling the end-to-end story of what you do in your business (value chains and value streams), and deconstructing it to a micro level of how you do it (procedures with work instructions).  Designed properly, a process architecture ensures your business processes create and deliver value to your customers based on the promises made in the growth strategy.

Process Documentation

Once a process architecture is in place, the most complete way to document processes is with swimlane diagrams and work instructions. We model business processes using Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) diagrams. BPMN diagrams communicate the complete process logic using a common language with clearly defined rules that can be understood by all who read them. Work instructions (text, images, or videos) are used to document the most granular levels of the process.

Process Governance

Process governance ensures that accountability is well-defined at all levels of the process architecture.  We work with teams to identify and select process owners who monitor process performance and facilitate improvement initiatives. 

Process Measurement

To know if processes in your architecture are performing as expected, they must be monitored and controlled with clearly defined performance measures.  But this could mean that hundreds – in extreme cases, thousands – of measures need to be tracked.  When resources are limited and conditions are changing rapidly, it is at best impractical and at worst impossible to track this many measures.

The solution is to measure performance of processes that are the target of improvement initiatives. This ensures that your resources are coordinated and focused on the areas of the business that are strategically most important at the given time.

OUR APPROACH

Through a series of workshops, we guide you and your leadership team to create and organize your core business processes into a fully documented, interdependent Process Architecture. This work will bring a new level of clarity to your organization by connecting your growth strategy with your business processes. When you are done, you and your entire team will understand precisely how your business creates and delivers customer value.

We then work with your team to document your Business Processes using BPMN (Business Process Model and Notation) for one complete value stream.  The output of this work is an organized set of flow charts, checklists and work instructions that ensure consistency across your organization. Priorities are dictated by their strategic relevance, in consultation with you and your team.  Simultaneously, we educate your team in BPMN best practices, empowering you to continue this work independently should you wish to do so.

Measures are identified as a team in conjunction with the relevant Process Owners to ensure their tight alignment with the company’s value creation and delivery objectives. Governance is implemented through the application of a set of rules that help identify the most suitable Process Owners for each Value Chain, Value Stream, and documented Process.  We also provide instructions for your team to monitor and improve your processes over time.

YOUR TEAM

Business Process Management is a transformative process that brings significant scalability to an organization.  To accomplish this as quickly and efficiently as possible, we assemble a team of four process experts dedicated to your project.

NEXT STEPS

If you would like more information, we would be happy to provide you a short workshop on Best Practices in Process Management at no charge, via video conference.