Why Don't My Business Processes Work?

Business process analysis (BPA) or business process management (BPM) is the new buzzword in IT consultancy. It's one of those things that most people can see a benefit from but they are also unsure about how to do it correctly. As a result of this there is a lot of confusion around the topic. One of the things that happens in consequence is that projects take place which effect processes in an organisation but, ultimately, end up causing more problems than they solve.

So how can we stop this happening? How can we create "The car insurance compare Process Project"

Well it's not easy. One reason is you don't know what the perfect process project looks like, do you? To be perfectly honest, the reason you don't know what your perfect process project looks like is because there is no such thing. There are the projects you've run before. There are the processes you've changed. There are the process projects that have accidentally fallen out of other bits of work you've been doing. There are even the Six Sigma or Lean projects that came down from corporate a year or two back but which seemed to be run by guys spouting terms such as 'Voice of the customer' or 'Voice of the process'. And to be fair, they didn't make much sense and you didn't really understand them. Am I right?

Why do projects that deal with processes not seem to work as well as they should? It's down to a number of reasons:

• The wrong people dealing with the processes: Usually some guy in accounting or some lady in HR is allocated the 'role' of owning the process. Or worse still it's member of the project team who will move on at the end of the project.
• The process management capability not being well established. process management has to be considered a capability rather than just a task. the ability to define, document, review improve and implement a process is not something that can be learned overnight, nor is it something that can be particularly well done without some sort of dedicated training or instruction. Yet many, many companies take someone from the mainline of their business and get them involved in process management. Either that or they give the role to an external consultant but don't allow him to transfer this knowledge internally at the end of the project
• Lack of understanding of how to measure the process. Measuring processes is difficult. Actually, that's not true. Measuring processes well is difficult. It's all to easy to slap a measure on a process and tell everyone "We're measuring the number of widgets we put through this process so it's fine". Is this an appropriate measure? What are you going to do with that data? Who is actually doing the measuring?All these questions need to be answered.

So what is "The Perfect Process Project"? Simply put it is the project which is run in the best way to maximise your chances of implementing a successful process (or modification of an existing process).

A Perfect Process project involves identifying several key items:

• Who owns a process once it is implemented?
• Who measures the process once it is implemented?
• Why are we modifying this process in the first place?
• Are we looking at 'functional' processes, or 'operational' processes?

Once these are identified it's then a case of understanding what an ideal process looks like:

• It reflects real life
• It is streamlined
• It is fully documented
• It is appropriately measured

Now put these two sets of criteria together and you can start to appreciate what needs to be in place to make a process project work.

You need well documented processes that are owned by someone (preferably someone high in the organisation) and that are measured appropriately and are managed using an appropriate methodology and change control system.

If anyone of these items is missing the chances of having a successful implementation are slim.

Process ownership is key and critical - and it has to be someone at the right level of the organisation to make a difference. Also, there should be one owner, no more, no less.

Having multiple owners is like having 2 fathers for a baby - it just doesn't work. You need to have a single identified individual who has ultimate responsibility for owning and managing the evolution of a given process. This should cover the whole of the process from Source to Sink, not just a part of it that resides in a particular business function.

Summary

Perfect process projects don't exist: Theoretically there's such a thing as a perfect project but politics, expediency and human nature always get in the way.

For a perfect process project to exist you need a process owner and appropriate governance: The owner needs to be at the right level, with the right authority and accountability. The project itself needs the appropriate governance processes to manage this.

Metrics are difficult but needed, and you're not going to get them right first time.

Gary Comerford works with GCP Consulting - a boutique Business Process Consultancy. His latest ebook "The Perfect Process Project" has just been released. It covers in more detail the items identified in this article and can be purchased at www.gcp-consulting.com/ebook.htmlhttp://www.gcp-consulting.com/ebook.html