BPM 1 of 2: Introducing An Awesome Day-To-Day Management Tool
Business Process Management is a way of thinking that provides perhaps the best day-to-day management tool for any organisation to become efficient & effective.
BPM is a method for getting organised and helping define how a specific business operates.
It’s about simple systems thinking.
Wikipedia… defines Business Process Management (BPM) as “a discipline in which people use various methods to discover, analyse, model, measure, improve, optimise, and automate business processes”.
Here I focus on developing and documenting simple systems for a small business in order to take advantage of the benefits of using a BPM mindset for day-to-day management.
What Is A Process?
Before getting into the value of processes and managing them, it’s worth briefly defining what a process is.
A business process coordinates the behaviour of people, systems, information, and business outcomes in support of a business strategy.
Processes can be structured and repeatable or unstructured and variable.
Clearly, it’s not just businesses that benefit from this thinking; it’s a beneficial feature of any organisation.
Before going further, it’s worth defining what is meant by the word “process” for our purposes.
A process is at a relatively high (macro) level and usually includes two or more action steps.
For example, a writing process might involve the following steps: research, drafting, editing, and publishing.
Each step consists of one or more, more detailed activities.
The overall process and each step in the process receive inputs from somewhere and deliver pre-defined outputs.
So it’s essential when defining a specific process (or workflow) to show where inputs come from, where outputs (deliverables) go and any quality requirements for them.
At the BPM Model level, this list of steps within a process does not, in itself, include the details of how to carry out each step.
It gives a name to each step but doesn’t provide what, where, or how the step is carried out.
Such a detailed (micro) level is often referred to as a procedure, although the dictionary definition of the differences between process and procedure is not clear.
To me, process and procedure are more or less the same, except that procedure implies a greater and more comprehensive level of detail.
“Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler” – Albert Einstein
A principle of defining a process is that every process:
- takes inputs (data and/or materials);
- acts upon those inputs in a logical flow;
- produces pre-defined outputs (data and materials).
Therefore, the quality of outputs from any process is determined by the quality of inputs, followed by the quality of actions taken within detailed procedures.
By defining the source and quality requirements of inputs and the destination and quality of outputs, a map of data and materials/work flow is created.
By including measurements (monitoring of analytics for inputs, outcomes, and deliverables), Business Process Management is able to help with the management of people, productive systems, information, and materials towards achieving optimum business outcomes.
BPM has been particularly useful over the years in the development and evolution of digital strategies and solutions.
Business Management…
Any business owner, whether a one-man band or employer, learns that repeatable processes and detailed procedures are key to maximising productivity and ultimately, profitability.
Or, put another way, it’s important to organise detailed procedures into logical workflows that become repeatable processes.
In reality, most new business owners get things done from the beginning with a detailed system of procedures, but often without documenting much, if anything.
In an ideal world, the entrepreneur develops a business plan that includes a strategy for delivering whatever is defined within it.
Once a decision is made to go ahead, the entrepreneur often hits the ground running; they dive deep into the details and often create chaos, at least in the short term.
The quicker a business becomes well organised, the better.
A Business Process Management Model (BPM Model, or BPMM) helps to keep that chaos under control.
Although not usually created until the business has been running for a little while, a BPM Model can be thought of as being the next level of management for the business alongside strategic planning, below the Business Plan.
Business Process Management provides a way of thinking about a business that helps with the creation and improvement of management systems.
In addition, a BPM Model can be used to show what and how systems are being used within that business.
In my experience, larger organisations take BPM more seriously than small organisations because they’re expected to gain more from investing time into getting better organised.
However, this assumption (although natural enough), despite the need for investment in time, can slow down and limit the growth of a small business.
Benefits of Business Process Management
There are many benefits to applying BPM to all businesses, such as:
- Greater efficiency and effectiveness.
- Being more at one with the business through involvement in focusing on processes;
- They are better able to describe how they operate.
- They are more able to deliver a good customer experience.
- They are more able to pass on responsibility to others when appropriate.
- Adding value to the business entity if sold.
In addition, the following added value for larger organisations can be helpful to smaller, growing organisations too:
- It is easier to figure out where automation can be used for productivity (efficiency and effectiveness) across a company.
- Processes become more scaleable and portable (for example, across borders).
- Provides materials to help train new starters more easily.
- Generally improved abilities to communicate and improve reliability.
- It is easier to employ and involve temporary or contract workers when needed.
- Enhanced stakeholder experience and confidence, especially among employees and customers.
So, the BPM Model for a business is a management tool that helps in many ways.
Above all, it provides a framework within which many day-to-day business decisions can be automatic and others easier to make, and if appropriate, can be more easily delegated.
BPM is often used to help define automated digital systems.
Sometimes business management appears overly complex.
With familiarity, they become simpler.
Involvement in implementing BPM helps to develop familiarity.
As Albert Einstein famously said of scientific experiments, “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler”.
This observation can be applied to more or less anything in life, and especially to how we run our businesses.
It’s the essence of the value of Business Process Management.
What is a Business Process Management Model (BPMM)?
In a nutshell, a BPM Model is a written definition of repeatable, structured processes for getting things done on a day-to-day basis in any organisation.
So it might be better referred to simply as an organisational process management model.
Similarly to the G.R.O.W.T.H. process, it reflects a way of thinking about how we get things done.
Although I tend to use running a blogging and affiliate marketing business as an example, it can be applied equally well to any kind of business, large or small.
It’s not a huge stretch to realise that a BPM mindset can be useful to any organisation.
Business Process Management is not the same as task management or project management.
BPM Versus Project and Task Management
You might choose to specify preferred methods for task and/or project management within a BPM Model, but the nature of tasks and projects is more variable and often requires one-off structuring.
As already implied, a BPM Model is about writing down clearly defined processes that we use day to day in such a way that they can be followed, are repeatable whenever appropriate, and provide a framework for managing what we do.
Above all, such processes, once written down, are more easily understood, used, evaluated, and improved through regular review.
With the development of business needs and technologies over time, business processes naturally evolve.
Once a BPM Model is in place, it can be easily updated to reflect updated methods for getting things done.
So a couple of key disciplines in relation to BPM are:
- to actually use the defined processes and capture any defined measurements;
- commitment to periodic review of the steps we take each day in order to improve them.
A BPM Project vs BPM Process?
Although the implementation of Business Process Management principles may start as a project, for it to be useful over time, it will become a BPM process in its own right, i.e., a periodically repeated process.
In general, a project is a one-off exercise, while a process is regularly repeatable.
It can also be said that the Business Process Management discipline is, in itself, a meta-process.
A process that is applied to itself and leads to improvements to itself over time…
After initially defining a model set of processes for a business, BPM becomes an ongoing exercise of gathering information, then periodically analysing, reviewing, and improving.
It’s a foundational management tool.
Summary
OK… so far, so good…
A Business Process Management Model includes documented descriptions of:
Inputs:
- Information, data, raw materials, etc.
- Customer/Client requirements
Process:
- How inputs are transformed into outputs through a series of activities, steps, and tasks.
- Documentation provides the benefits of the model for training, day-to-day management, and review of outputs so that management and optimisation of business processes can increase efficiency and effectiveness.
Outputs:
- Finished goods, products, services, reports, etc.
- Satisfied customers/clients
See this related article for more examples and details on how to create a Business Process Management Model.
If you have any questions or suggestions, please add any ideas to the comments…
🙂
RichardB
