Managing business processes is a huge challenge in most organizations. Businesses aren’t investing enough efforts in streamlining their business processes due to the lack of awareness about its repercussions.
Business Process Management is how a company creates, edits, and analyzes the predictable processes that make up the core of its business.
Each department in a company is responsible for taking some raw material or data and transforming it into something else. There may be a dozen or more core processes that each department handles.
With Business Process Management, a company takes a step back and looks at all of these processes in total and individually. It analyzes the current state and identifies areas of improvement to create a more efficient and effective organization.
A business process is any sequence of events or tasks that must be performed for a business to operate. For example, a customer’s purchase resulting in delivery is a key business process that exists in many organizations.
When left unorganized and unsystematized, poor business processes can lead to mayhem. At the individual level, people only see one part of a process, and very few can scan out and see the full effects of a process, where it starts and ends, the key data needed, and where potential bottlenecks and inefficiencies lie.
Unmanaged, chaotic processes hurt business and lead to one or more of these scenarios:
- Time wasted
- More errors
- Increased blame
- Lack of data
- Demoralized employees
Applying business process management organizations can improve their processes and keep all aspects of operations running optimally.
Business Process Management Life Cycle:
Step 1: Design
Most processes include a form to collect data and a workflow to process it. Build your form and identify who will own each task in the workflow.
Step 2: Model
Represent the process in a visual layout. Fix details like deadlines and conditions to give a clear idea of the sequence of events, and the flow of data through the process.
Step 3: Execute
Execute the process by testing it live with a small group first and then open it up to all users. Make sure you restrict access to sensitive information.
Step 4: Monitor
Keep an eye on the process as it runs through the workflow. Use the right metrics to identify progress, measure efficiency, and locate bottlenecks.
Step 5: Optimize
As you analyze, notice any changes that need to be done to your form or workflow to make them more efficient. Consider business process improvement steps.
Various Types of Business Process Management?
BPM systems can be categorized based on the purpose that they serve. Here are the three types of business process management:
Integration-Centric BPM:
This type of business process management system handles processes that primarily jump between your existing systems (e.g. HRMS, CRM, ERP) without much human involvement. Integration-centric business process management systems have extensive connectors and API access to be able to create processes that move fast.
Human-Centric BPM:
Human-centric BPM is for those processes that are primarily executed by humans. These often have a lot of approvals and tasks performed by individuals. These platforms excel at a friendly user interface, easy notifications, and quick tracking.
Document-Centric BPM:
These business process management solutions are required when a document (e.g. a contract or agreement) is at the heart of the process. They enable routing, formatting, verifying, and getting the document signed as the tasks pass along the workflow.
Most business process management systems will be able to incorporate elements of each of these, but each one will usually have one specialty.
Benefits of Incorporating Business Process Management
- Gain control of chaotic and unwieldy processes
- Create, map, analyze, and improve business processes
- Run everyday operations more efficiently
- Realize bigger organizational goals
- Move toward digital transformation
- Improve and optimize tangled operations
- Closely track individual items as they move through a workflow
One thought on “Business Process Management System”