Business Process Management : Process Identification

1. Business Process Management:Process Identification prof.dr.ir. HajoReijers

2. BPM recap Michael Hammer (1948 – 2008) Any process is better than no process A good process is better than a bad process Even a good process can be improved

3. BPM life-cycle Planning Design Deployment Diagnosis Discovery Identification Control Execution

4. Agenda Identification phase The link with process modeling

5. Goal • Identify processes that are worthwhile to manage • e.g. to redesign or to support with workflow technology

6. Identification phase

7. Key activities Process selection See Davenport (1993) Enumerate major processes Determine process boundaries Assess strategic relevance of each process Render high-level judgments of the “health” of each process Qualify the culture and politics of each process Define manageable process innovation scope

8. What is a process?

10. Processes are not functions “Some people take the lazy way out. They use the term ‘process’ without really understanding it […]. A common indication of this occurs when we ask someone to identify the organization’s processes and the response is: ‘Sales, marketing, manufacturing, logistics, and finance.’ Simply calling your functions processes doesn’t make them processes.” Hammer and Stanton (1995)

11. Business process • “A set of logically related tasks performed to achieve a defined business outcome.”Davenport (1990) • Two important characteristics: • it has customers, either internal or external to a firm • it crosses organizational boundaries, i.e. it occurs across or between organizational subunits

13. Rule of thumb “If it does not make at least three people mad, it’s not a process.” Hammer and Stanton (1995)

14. Examples of business processes • Ordering goods from a supplier • customer: user of the good • involved parties: purchasing, receiving, accounts payable, supplier organizations • Developing a new product • Creating a marketing plan • Processing an insurance claim • Etc.

15. Issues

16. Process enumeration • Typical number of processes is unclear • Trade-off: • ensuring process scope is manageable • process scope determines potential impact • Rule of thumb: 10-20 main processes

17. Process boundaries • Processes are interdependent Insight into relations is required • main processes – subprocesses • upstream – downstream processes • Processes change over time • identification should be exploratory and iterative • improvement opportunities are time-constrained

18. Process selection Four criteria: • Assess strategic relevance of each process • Render high-level judgments of the “health” of each process • Qualify the culture and politics of each process • Define manageable process innovation scope

19. Process selection • Concurrent process initiatives • limited resources • coordination complexity • Limited number of “active” process management projects

20. The link with process modeling

21. Require detailed models of processes High-level process overview is sufficient Renders a detailed understanding BPM Life-cycle Planning Design Deployment Diagnosis Discovery Identification Control Execution

22. Conclusion Identification is a necessary first step Few strict rules, many issues Process modeling is required for all further phases of the BPM life-cycle