A process is a combination of steps and activities that creates some output or result. It represents the flow of work and information through an organization. It is the mechanism for creating and delivering value to a customer.
Process and Department
Millions of dollars spent, countless hours wasted, and frustrated business users seem to be fairly standard outcomes when IT and business try to work together. While this problem seems apparent, little progress has been made. What is happening?I believe two key factors are in play. First both the IT and business folks are operating under a number of faulty assumptions. Here are some flawed assumptions from the IT perspective.
How do you manage the risk and uncertainty concerning a new process design? Below are five options ranging from low-risk suggestions to ones that imply higher risks.
The least risky option is to role-play, practice, or simulate the new design. To use a military metaphor, you wouldn’t be using live ammunition in this option. A professional football team employs this option (and calls it practice) Monday through Saturday. There’s no risk in role-playing, practice, or simulation.
The frustration lens diagnoses the process from the perspective of those who work in it. The purpose is to learn what frustrations people experience when doing their work. You can ask people about these as you create the as-is-flowchart, or you can complete the chart first and ask later. Use the first method if the process is relatively short and there aren’t many frustrations.
In most organizations no one oversees the performance and improvement of cross-departmental processes. Management books often assign the title “process owner” to this role. However, “owner” implies authority, which is usually missing in organizations that include this position. “Process advisor” or “process consultant” are more accurate, in that they reflect this reality. Usually, authority pertains to resources, staffing, and prioritizing projects.
The process advisor or consultant’s role is to monitor the performance of a process and continually improve it.
Process management is comprised of end-to-end documentation, improvement (from radical to continuous), and management of organizational processes. Decisions are data-driven and based on customer satisfaction metrics, quality, timeliness, and cost. The responsibility of monitoring process performance and facilitating process changes belongs to a process advisor or manager. Administering processes is dramatically enabled by business process management technology.
Taiichi Ohno, a major contributor to the Toyota Production System, identified seven wastes that can exist in processes. Jeffery Liker, a professor at the University of Michigan added an eighth. If the wastes are removed or reduced, significant benefits can be realized. These benefits are:
As each of the wastes are explained, look for examples in your own organization.
Dan Madison is a principal in Value Creation Partners. He facilitates process improvement using lean, six sigma, reengineering, and continuous improvement techniques. Dan is the author of Process Mapping, Process Improvement, and Process Management.
Dan Madison has studied what a business process should look like for fifteen years. He studied what major corporations did in process improvement that made them successful and distilled his findings into design principles that anyone can use. He has come up with 38 design principles that apply to all business processes.
Dan Madison is a principal in Value Creation Partners. He facilitates process improvement using lean, six sigma, reengineering, and continuous improvement techniques. Dan is the author of Process Mapping, Process Improvement, and Process Management.
Time is a critical dimension of customer satisfaction and cost reduction. Getting products and services to customers in a speedy fashion is a value-adding activity. By beating your competitors to market, you gain sales and market share.
As a cost-reduction strategy, time reduction can be very effective. Inspection, moving, setup, rework, and waiting all add costs. The amount of time in these areas can be staggering.
Changing a process and the relevant jobs, structure, and controls presents unique challenges, so a process redesign project will almost always encounter obstacles, barriers, and pitfalls.
Changing a process and the relevant jobs, structure, and controls presents unique challenges, so a process redesign project will almost always encounter obstacles, barriers, and pitfalls. Research conducted on reengineering projects has uncovered the barriers listed in Table 1.
Table 1: Barriers to Process Redesign
Everyone starts here.
You're looking for a way to improve your process improvement skills, but you're not sure where to start.
Earning your Business Process Management Specialist (BPMS) Certificate will give you the competitive advantage you need in today's world. Our courses help you deliver faster and makes projects easier.
Your skills will include building hierarchical process models, using tools to analyze and assess process performance, defining critical process metrics, using best practice principles to redesign processes, developing process improvement project plans, building a center of excellence, and establishing process governance.
The BPMS Certificate is the perfect way to show employers that you are serious about business process management. With in-depth knowledge of process improvement and management, you'll be able to take your business career to the next level.
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