Business Process Management and Compliance

Business Process Management and Improvement

Business Process Management (BPM) is receiving increasing attention in many organisations. On the one hand CIO's are required to show demonstrable benefits from the substantial investment in IT, evidenced by improved operational efficiency, customer service and readily available business intelligence. On the other hand compliance with new legislation requires documentation of processes and transparency of data management and decision making.

These requirements imply much more focus and better common understanding of business operations and processes than is prevalent in most organisations and call for approaches to business process optimisation and improvement much more effective than that demonstrated by traditional ERP and BPR methodologies based on 'as is' and 'to be' work-breakdown structure analysis.

Our BPM approach and methodology emphasises the need for a sound conceptual basis for business process analysis and design on the one hand, and a pragmatic approach that produces outcomes in the shortest time possible, on the other.

We have recognised some time ago the lack of effectiveness of conventional BPR and system implementation methodologies, which usually get terminally bogged down in a sea of intractable detail, and have developed our own innovative approaches which avoid such pitfalls.

Our consultants have designed and managed to successful outcomes major change programs, enhancing and streamlining business operations, in some cases utilising an approach which combines innovative business process transformation with fast-track project management.

The following are some key features of our approach:

A High-level Process Model of the Business Operation
A set of 5-15 core business processes may be used as the characteristic descriptor of any line-of-business such as banking or insurance. As a first step we develop and gain agreement for such a high-level conceptual process reference model, viewed as a value chain.

This model provides a common understanding of what the business is about and what the business operation will look like at the highest level. The descriptor, key characteristics and performance criteria associated with each high-level process in this conceptual model provide benchmarks against which real business operations can be assessed.

Business process design as roles, responsibilities and technology
Unlike the traditional BPR approaches which in the first instance view business processes in terms of workflows, our approach regards the design of business processes in the first instance as a combination of people with certain roles and given technologies. The technologies employed will to some extent shape the roles and responsibilities of the various parties involved. For example banking operations have been implemented using branches, ATMs, telephone voice response, the Internet and supermarket EFT terminals. These represent alternative solutions for banking operations and provide essentially equivalent functionality using different technologies that imply different roles and responsibilities for the various parties involved.

High level process design, described in terms of the roles, responsibilities and the technologies involved, represent a powerful and tractable approach that identifies accountabilities and can be readily assessed against requirements related to practicability and compliance.

In addition this high-level business process description provides a sound fast-track basis for a business operation health-check that identifies the strengths and weaknesses of the prevailing operation. The ISDE approach to business process improvement encompasses both a 'bottom-up re-engineering' to improve existing processes and a top-down transformational redesign of operations often through the adopting of new technologies.

Bottom-up business process re-engineering
Bottom-up business process re-engineering is the traditional process of continuous improvement starting with the detailed modelling, analysis and measuring the prevailing implementation of the processes and assessing the implementation against desired performance criteria. Improvement is brought about through process simplification, and through the incremental and continuous improvement of procedures and in the use of prevailing technology. Re-engineering is carried out with the close co-operation of those who are involved in carrying out the business process on a day-to-day basis.

Here the R in BPR means re-engineering in the conventional sense of the word. It is the equivalent of re-developing a current model car into the next model, by improving the suspension, the fuel injection system, the brakes etc.

ISDE has extensive experience and well developed methodologies in conventional bottom-up process re-engineering and in most situations this is an appropriate approach that can bring about significant improvements in process efficiency and quality.

Top-down business process re-design
The alternative approach, advocated by most BPR gurus, is to get a blank sheet of paper and to re-think the organisation and the fundamental business processes from scratch. Here the R in BPR really means innovative re-design, like designing the next generation car from the ground up.

In this case, the question really is:

"How would we set up a superior business, (or a particular business process), if we started from scratch today, given the opportunities presented by the technologies now available?"

The benefits of such fundamental organisational or process re-design may be far reaching and may involve substantial technical, organisational, people and commercial change.

However, in the absence of better understanding of the nature of top-down business process re-design it is understandable that the approach is often regarded as unpredictable and high risk. Unfortunately BPR gurus seem to offer few suggestions, apart from brainstorming, about what to do after one gets hold of the proverbial blank sheet of paper.

We have also developed, and proven in practice, a methodology for effective top-down business process design, that is based on the proven conceptual framework of engineering design and principles. This seven step approach starts with defining the business process in an implementation independent fashion, in terms of its objectives, trigger, completion criteria and desired performance criteria, including service levels, completion time and cost.

Top down business process design then focuses on the parties who need to be involved in the process, their roles and responsibilities and on the use of technology. Once these questions have been answered, the development of procedures and the specification of supporting software usually follow in a straightforward fashion.

Whether using bottom-up process improvement or top-down process redesign, our objective is to deliver demonstrable benefits for your organisation.