Process

The fundamental belief that the business process is the focus of all our efforts dominates all our thinking. It is what delivers value to customers; value, the expectations of which, has to be managed in relation to what the customer is prepared to pay. Perceptions of value are just one of a wide range of issues under the “process” banner that we are setting out to explore in this part of the website.

For example:

1. AS-IS and/ or TO-BE

• In some organisations the AS-IS mapping exercise has become the obsessive start point for process projects; but is this the most effective place to start?
• “Detailed AS-IS can be a major restriction on forward thinking, encourages defensiveness and retrospective justification” - discuss
• When designing a new process “don’t start where you are, start where you want to be” - what are the limitations and benefits of this approach?

2. Attitudes to Process: Obstacles to their Effective Definition

• When people within an organisation talk among themselves about what they do, their internal focus usually ends up with them examining and justifying functions, not processes.
• How difficult is it to get an organisation to start with the customer—and view themselves through the eyes of the customer—gives people an understanding of processes that serve the customer.
• Are the problems that organisations experience in envisioning and implementing end-to-end processes more rooted in politics than practicalities? – is it possible to make process politically sexy

3. Categorisation of Processes

• For all organisations the issues surrounding “which are the critical processes? … and how do we define and prioritise them?” are recurring and contentious ones.
• It is necessary to know how to, and correctly, identify processes—critical or not
• How well does the following generic categorisation work –
  • Core - cross-functional activities that have a profound impact on achieving strategic business objectives
  • Primary - touch the customer directly and failure will immediately impact that customer
  • Sub-processes - constituent parts of a core and/ or primary process
  • Support - provide professional and/ or developmental support for those involved in the daily routine delivery of a core/ primary process activity
  • Enabling - not permanently linked to a core/ support process, they only indirectly impact customer satisfaction, but are essential for the business
  • Management - required to coordinate the activities of support and primary processes.
• What experience do organisations have of types of process and their definition?

4. How Easy is it to Design Processes to Support the Strategy?

• Clear identification and categorisation of the processes of an organisation should enable prioritisation and goal setting to support the strategies – how well are those strategies articulated to allow this to happen?
• How do we go about selecting the critical processes that directly impact the achievement of strategies and goals—a combination of primary, core/primary, support, and management processes—that have to be selected
• Definition of performance measures for critical processes to achieve the simultaneous goals of cost, quality, and time (especially in the eyes of the customer) is a challenge of balance – but what factors are we seeking to balance?

Please join us in this part of the BPTGroup website to discuss the issues around Process. Your articles, case studies, concerns, observations are all welcome. Help us evolve this website to serve your needs.

Send in your contribution

To send in your contribution, simply follow these instructions:

• Select the button below.
• Fill in the document with your contribution, including the word 'strategy' for the website section.
• Email the completed document to bptg.webmaster@bptg.org.