Business Process Management: Process Identification prof.dr.ir. Hajo Reijers

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

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

Agenda Identification phase The link with process modeling

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

Identification phase

Key activities 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 See Davenport (1993) Process selection

What is a process?

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)

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

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

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.

Issues

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

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

Process selection Four criteria: 1.Assess strategic relevance of each process 2.Render high-level judgments of the “health” of each process 3.Qualify the culture and politics of each process 4.Define manageable process innovation scope

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

The link with process modeling

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

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