TOP 10 BUSINESS PROCESS MANAGEMENT PRACTICES

Did you know that improper deployment of Business Process Management (BPM) can jeopardize the efficiency of your business? Now, you wouldn’t want any potential setbacks hindering your chances of achieving your business objectives, would you?

After years of successful and not-so-successful experiences in process management, we have arrived at some of the best practices. By following the given fundamental principles, you will be able to better optimize returns for your company, delivery business results to end-users and satisfy the needs of the stakeholders of your organization.

So, take a look at the top 10 Business Process Management practices. Here we go…

1. You must build your model on how your business actually works

As with everything else, you need to establish a clear-cut starting point. You need to identify benchmarks for how people are currently performing to achieve the best results. Based on your findings, you need to model the process. It can either in the form of graphics or narrative. By establishing benchmarks that are actually based on measurable performances, it will be easier for you to create a workflow model. Once the model has been validated, you can then begin to apply improvements.

2. Start Small but think big

Instead of forcing changes on all the interconnected processes at once, your approach must be incremental. When you begin with an easily manageable, small project, you are going to be able to produce quantifiable results that will help pave the way for a wider implementation. Do remember that your first implementation is important, even though it is small. This is because the results achieved on your first implementation are going to make a huge difference to your organization. Not a single person is going to appreciate or be impressed if your very first application of Business Process Management fails to handle unimportant or useless tasks. So, the key is to start small and then take on more complex projects.

3.Don’t forget to involve all the project stakeholders in the development and testing

You must encourage as much participation and collaboration as possible between the developers and the consumers, through every step of the project. During the process modeling phase, it is important that you try to involve the people who have an in-depth knowledge of how exactly the process works and those who are responsible for the effective use of the process. The IT department is equipped with the capability of transforming the process model into a user application. They will also be able to connect the process application with all your existing systems.  Your consumers will be able to make use of the deployed applications. It is always wise to conduct a quick test during the development of the applications so that you can get hands-on feedback from users. These tests can really make a difference between the deployment of BPM that is adopted quickly and one that is abandoned quickly.

4. BPM Applications come in varied forms, you need to select the tools based on your specific needs

BMP implementations must answer the demands of the corporate IT, executive suite and end-users. This is why there are different forms of BMP applications that are specifically designed to suit the needs of different audiences. For instance, developers usually prefer open-source BPM solutions due to the transparency of the code while business executives need to track their business processes and lays emphasis on visibility, control, and efficiency. On the other hand, end-users just want something that is easy to use and simple. Individual needs, as well as, budget requirements need to be taken into consideration when selection BPM tools.

5.Select a champion for managing the implementation process

It is not mandatory that the champion has to come from management, you just need to appoint someone with a strong technical knowledge. The primary role of the champion is going to be supporting the choice of routines that need to be included in the BPM and to take necessary measures to overcome resistance to such changes. The champion is also going to be responsible for protecting the BPM implementation and the staff who are involved in the process from outside interferences.

6. Set milestones

In order to address the goals and scope of using BPM in your company, you need to develop a really robust business case for both short and long-term implementation of BPM. It needs to have planned milestones and an achievable deadline for each one of the phases. By simplifying the implementation plan into a series of measurable steps, you are going to minimize the risks and also make it easier to adopt.

7.Quickly provide results

The benefits of BPM implementation must quickly show up. You need to define the deliverables based on the results and it must be something that people can see or observe.

8.Promote collaborations

You need to make sure that there is an adequate participation and communication among all the stakeholders during implementation. The champions must closely work with everyone who is involved in order to prevent management disconnect problems. it is important that the management will able to fully understand the day-to-day issues that the workers face in the process.

9.Step-by-step measurement of the results

In order to find out if the new procedures are functioning properly or they need adjustments, you need to measure the results at every step. Analyze the type of data that you need to gauge and how much value has been added. You need to have well-placed means to collect data, such as KPIs (key performance indicators).

10.Make use of professional services, if necessary

When you are in need of better results and faster, you must take help from outside experts. The main advantage of using external consultants is basically the experience that they bring with them. In the case of software implementation, this is especially more important.

Process change is a journey and to achieve success, you need to pay equal attention to each and every step of the process.

What are the steps that you have taken for BPM implementation in your organization? Please feel free to share your thoughts and suggestions.