BA Perspectives - BPM

#BusinessProcessManagement #ContinuousImprovement #RiskManagement #Compliance #Standardization #Transformation #BusinessAnalysis #ProcessModeling #Value #BusinessOutcomes

Business Process Management is a management discipline and a set of technologies that focuses on how the organization performs work, its value delivery, and views of the organization through a process-centric lens.

A BPM initiative delivers value by implementing improvements in the way work is performed in an organization. BPM is an ongoing effort and an integral part of the ongoing management and operation of the organization.

The BPM Lifecycle generally includes the following activities:

• Designing involves the identification of processes of the current state or as-is and the future state or to-be state modeling is a graphical representation of as-is and to-be processes, performs what-if analysis and compares the various simulations or process options to determine the optimal improvements and the potential value.

• Executing and monitoring involve the data collected as a result of the actual business process. Flow and recommending alternatives for design improvements. Periodically monitor the process against established metrics such as SLS or defect rates.

• Optimizing includes iterating on previous phases for continuous improvement.

Delivery Approach

• Business Process Re-engineering

  • Major process re-design across the enterprises

• Evolutionary Change

  • Overall objectives of the process

  • Individual changes at sub-process level in line with process goals

• Substantial Discovery

  • Methods used when processes are undefined

  • When the documented version is different from actual process in use

• Process Benchmarking

  • Comparison of the organization's processes and performance metrics to the industry best practices

• Specialized BPMS Applications

  • Designed to support BPM initiatives and execute the process models directly

Process Improvement Approaches

• Top down

  • Orchestrated by Senior Management

  • Spanning end-to-end processes

• Bottom-up

  • Tactical approaches to improve the individual processes or sub-processes

• People-centric: Change is related to the activities and workflows in an organization

• IT-centric: Initiatives are focused on process automation

Business Analysis Work

• Major assumptions

  • Processes are generally supported by IT systems. Development of IT systems are not covered under BPM.

  • BPM initiatives have senior management support.

  • BPM system requires a tight integration with organizational strategy.

  • BPM initiatives are cross functional.

  • BPM initiatives are end-to-end processes in the organization.

• Change Sponsors

  • Executive

    • Focus on value and outcomes

    • BA practices applied to BPM initiatives

  • Process Manager

    • Initiate and manage process improvements

• Change Targets

  • Customer

  • Regulator

  • Process Owner

  • Process Participants

  • Process Manager

  • Implementation Team

• Position of a Business Analyst

  • Process Architect

    • Modeling, analyzing, deploying, monitoring, and continuously improving business processes

    • Developing and maintaining standards and repository of reference models for products, services, business processes, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and Critical Success Factors (CSF)

  • Process Analyst or Designer

    • Documenting process design along with performance trends

    • Performing analysis and assessment of As-is process, evaluating process design options, and making recommendations for change

  • Process Modeler

    • Capturing As-Is and To-Be processes

    • Documenting a process for implementation

• BPM Techniques

  • Define Measure Analyze Improve Control (DMAIC)

  • Drum-Buffer-Rope (DBR)

  • Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA)

  • House of Quality / Voice of Consumers (VOC)

• Underlying Competencies

  • Needs to challenge the status quo, understand the root cause of a problem and encourage SMEs to consider new ideas and approaches

  • Understand and articulates internal and external views of the processes under analysis

  • A neutral and independent facilitator of the change and frequently involved in negotiation, conflict resolution between individuals with different opinions

  • Needs to communicate across organizational boundaries as well as outside the organization

---

The Story

Let us assume that you are the owner of a small business that has one or two of these BPM Drivers:

• Cost reduction initiatives

• Increase in quality

• Increase in productivity

• Emerging competition

• Risk management

• Compliance initiatives

• Process automation

• Core system implementation

• Post merger and acquisition rationalization

• Standardization of initiatives

• Major transformations

• Establishment of BPM Center of Excellence

• Increase agility

• Faster processes

As a business analyst and also a business owner, you find yourself very motivated. You will work to decide if there is a problem / process to start working on, then identify the overall goals that you and your business want to achieve. For that to happen, you can create a macro map of core processes and support processes, then build the charter with improvement targets in mind.

So now, you help the team see the process from end to end and clarify each person's role and contribution to the outcome of the process. This means a stronger solution will be identified, one that the team and sponsor are motivated to implement.