| Businesses worldwide would need to automate their | | | | would come up during implementation. Drafting a |
| processes not only to cut costs but also to provide | | | | flow chart would be an easy way to graphically |
| Customer Satisfaction which will be the eventual | | | | represent the work flow, but various elements and |
| differentiator in a fiercely competitive environment. | | | | decision points need to be clearly marked out and |
| Unless you are from technical background, it can get | | | | noted. |
| dicey grasping the fundamentals involved under | | | | Once processes are broken into activities, each |
| Business Process Management and how it can be | | | | activity needs to be taken up in detail, defining the |
| beneficial for your organization. This article touches | | | | 'role' that will execute the action, the 'items' that |
| the basics of Business process management in terms | | | | need to be captured in the activity, whether the |
| of what it is and how it can benefit an organization. | | | | data will be manually entered or electronically picked |
| Business process management (BPM) is a systematic | | | | up. Some activities could be mandatory for the |
| approach to improving an organization's End to End | | | | commencement of subsequent activities while some |
| performance. BPM activities seek to make business | | | | may not and some branches of a process may need |
| processes more effective, more efficient, and more | | | | to trigger exception reporting which cannot be |
| capable of adapting to an ever-changing environment. | | | | foreseen in advance and might crop up during |
| BPM is a subset of infrastructure management, the | | | | implementation stage. |
| administrative area of concern dealing with | | | | BPM thus in a nutshell means systematization of |
| maintenance and optimization of an organization's | | | | various manual time consuming repetitive processes |
| equipment and core operations. | | | | into automated process using BPM software |
| BPM solutions can be broadly classified under 2 basic | | | | customized as per individual organization needs and |
| categories: | | | | goals to reduce time involved in work flow and |
| 1) Front-Office BPM (FO-BPM) | | | | improve overall efficiency by automating the same. |
| 2) Back-Office BPM (BO-BPM) | | | | Benefits of Business Process Management |
| Under the IT service management plan of your | | | | There are three key advantages that BPM can bring |
| organization you need to define whether you want | | | | to the table: |
| more human-centric workflow products (i.e. FO-BPM) | | | | 1. Transparency |
| or system-centric workflow products (i.e. BO-BPM). | | | | BPM makes a business process absolutely |
| Different business life cycle will involve various | | | | transparent, greatly improving visibility and efficiency. |
| combinations of the above two. | | | | Bottlenecks can literally be seen, and removed. It can |
| BPM requires a clear understanding of the existing | | | | show where the most delays are occurring, and |
| processes in an organization that would be later on | | | | where is each transaction stuck as it passes from |
| automated by implementing business service | | | | one stage to another. |
| management strategy. Those organizations who | | | | 2. Process refinement |
| want to automate processes, should initially take up | | | | The initial configuration and design exercise coupled |
| any transactional process that requires the | | | | with the data that emerges after running processes |
| involvement of many people in a sequential (not | | | | for some time can allow refinement. This allows |
| compulsory) fashion with approvals and possible | | | | testing of application performance and application |
| movement of paper from one desk to another. | | | | monitoring ensures improved efficiency in overall |
| Once an entire business process cycle is identified, it | | | | infrastructure management. |
| needs to be documented accurately with a definite | | | | 3. Centralization of Data |
| beginning and an end. This is an important step and | | | | Data about each and every transaction is logged and |
| often determines the success during implementation | | | | can be retrieved as and when required. Therefore, it |
| stage. While the documentation can be done by any | | | | is possible to analyze accurately what happened. |
| one, it is best that this be done by somebody who is | | | | Referencing is also easier as embedded searches |
| thoroughly familiar with the process. At this point of | | | | allow for data to be picked up as required for study. |
| time, the organization could also take a decision on | | | | BPM leads to IT monitoring at different phases of |
| whether to automate the process as it is or to | | | | business process cycle and creates better, faster |
| introduce improvements. (This is a fundamental | | | | sub-processes which can trigger tremendous |
| difference with ERPs wherein changes are forced on | | | | efficiency gains as the technology does much of the |
| to the organization.) The documentation also needs | | | | hard work. |
| to be structured, so as to answer questions that | | | | |