Dr. Bruce Silver defines Business Process Management as a better way to think about the business, seeing across functional and organizational lines. The existing structure of most businesses is a vertical stovepipe arrangement, which goes against this kind of thinking. Great benefits can be achieved from the technology through process automation when BPM is employed, particularly with the human tasks involved. This allows for integration and agility within the enterprise. Another benefit is the ability to monitor the process metrics.

Bob Curtice, Associate Researcher for the Institute for Process Management, Babson College and Vice President for Performance with Improvement Associates LLC. Bob Curtice is the author of books and articles on database management, systems planning, and process improvement, including “Fundamentals of Process Management” and “Role of the Process Owner”.

Curtice said that cross-functional business processes yield the most important business results. The processes need to be managed end-to-end in order to achieve benefits for the entire organization.

In 2004, Sears began a series of strategic projects to improve its operational effectiveness. One of the projects was to make process improvements at the Accounting Services Center. Dave Fleer, a Business Process Consultant for Sears, helped the Accounting Services Center improve its processes.

There are many approaches to documenting business processes. These include group and individual interviews, white boarding, reviewing existing documentation, and job shadowing.

Interviewing the people doing the job is an effective method to understanding how a business process is currently done. Whether you are documenting the current state or future state, successful interviews require planning, communication and a high-degree of people skills and intuition. Following are some ways to ensure that your interviews achieve the desired results.