What is BPM?
Process in business life mostly means a "Business Process". The lexical meaning of the word business is "work, effort to achieve a result, to create a value". The meaning of the business process consists of the combination of these two words; It is the whole group of organized and activities related to each other end-to-end, creating value for the customers of an organization, producing results. All these activities should be organized, repeatable and target-oriented, that is, customer-oriented. The internal or customer an external customer can be. Every department, from sales to human resources, manages data, documents, and other inputs to fulfill their job responsibilities.
Passion and courage in business life can only drive you to a limited level of success. You must have calculated processes to move your company forward. These are the points that will help you control your costs, keep your productivity levels consistent, and maintain the quality of the customer experience you provide. Business process management is a discipline in which various methods are used to discover, model, analyze, measure, improve and optimize business processes.
Process Management systematizes and automates repeatable tasks that block your productivity line. Business process management is a window open to all these different activities, bringing together all the functions of your organization under a single, automated and process-oriented umbrella. Process Management is a way of improving and standardizing processes in an organization. It can eliminate human error and process gaps while increasing efficiency and compatibility. If the processes are briefly expressed;
1- Inputs
2- Transactions Performed as a Result of Inputs
3- Outputs (Outputs Offered to Our Internal and External Customers).
The word "process" and "process perspective", which has been in business for many years, originally emerged with the Total Quality Management philosophy. TQM, which was put forward after World War II by American scientists named Joseph Juran and William Edwards Deming, was adopted especially in Japan and became Toyota’s main strategy and drove it to great success. It was born in America, but it has gained tremendous popularity in Japan in the sense that it has made Japanese companies take a big leap forward. Process Management has been accepted and implemented in almost all large corporate companies that have achieved sustainable leadership towards the end of the 1990s. Thanks to the practice, companies have grown further.
World-renowned management guru Michael Hammer says that "Without the process, companies move towards collapse in a spiral of turmoil and infighting." It emphasizes that the process-oriented perspective is very important and that process management should be accepted and adopted in companies in the form of a "continuous life philosophy" and "organizational structuring". Since process management is very important for companies, it must be a structure that forms the backbone of the company. All structures arise in line with this process management.
In process management, companies mainly aim at:
- Increasing customer satisfaction Increasing
- Productivity Increasing
- Efficiency Increasing
- Efficiency
- Providing more transparency
A little and quick reminder: You can use Prosoftly Business Management Software to optimize your business processes.
Business Process Management
Business process management starts with exploring the company's business processes. Certain processes exist in every company; such as sales and marketing processes.
One of the first points in business process management is to be able to transcribe and model these processes. In other words, business processes manage data, documents, and other inputs to fulfill the job responsibilities of departments ranging from sales to human resources to sales. Business process management (or BPM) systematizes and automates repeatable tasks that are blocking your productivity line.
Business process management is a window open to all these different activities, bringing together all the functions of your organization under a single, automated, process-oriented umbrella.
Process Management and Process Optimization
As a result of the calculation and measurement of each step taken in the departments during the business process management, all processes from the proposal file to the customer are developed. Eliminating the wrong steps in the company and replacing the necessary steps is also called business process optimization.
Business processes can be streamlined and repeatable. For example; It is a regular and repetitive process for an accounting department to prepare statements. There may also be irregular and non-repetitive processes.
For example; project-based studies. There are subtle differences between business process management and project management. When a company purchases ERP software, the adaptation of the software to the company is a one-time and non-repetitive process, and this is a project concept. Business processes make various conditions and rules identifiable. For instance, if the feasibility does not yield 30% profit and the return on investment is below 20%, decisions such as making are definable.
Steps in Business Process Management
We can handle business processes in two different ways: Managing the existing business processes and managing the new processes.
For existing processes, first of all, the design of these processes is assessed. Business analysts review current business rules, meet with various stakeholders and discuss desired results with business management. The purpose of the process design phase is to understand business rules and to ensure that the results are in line with organizational goals.
In the second step, modeling is introduced and new processes are defined to support existing business rules for various stakeholders. Afterward, the business process is tested live with a small group of users, then the process is opened to all users. When it comes to further automated workflows, the process is artificially throttled to minimize errors. In the next step, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are created using their reports or dashboards and the related metrics are monitored. It is essential to focus on the macro or micro indicators and process segments versus an entire process.
The last step is optimization. When an effective reporting system is implemented, an organization can effectively drive operations towards optimization of process improvement. Business Process Optimization (BPO) is the redesign of business processes to streamline and improve process efficiency and strengthen the alignment of individual business processes with a comprehensive strategy.
In summary, business process management stages are very important for employees to provide more added value to the company. It is the best start to reveal working models starting from small to these studies.
BPM Requirements
- Process management and organizational design should be carried out together.
- It should be designed in accordance with corporate strategies. First of all, company strategies and target markets must be determined. Organizations should also be created in accordance with the strategies. For example; Company X has a growth target of up to 5 years in its target market, country Y. The creation of an organization or sales team there goes into the organization design.
- The organizational evaluation, which is the preliminary stage of an effective organizational design process, the effectiveness of key factors affecting organizational performance in areas such as strategy, structure, human resources, performance tracking, process, and technology should be examined in detail and followed.
- Key activities and decision points should be determined with the analysis made; "What will be the key activities?", "Who will be the decision-makers of the activities?" and "What will the powers of these people be limited to?" The questions should be determined clearly. One of the problems we usually see in companies is authorization confusion. "Who will power this?" or "How much is my authority?" such questions arise. For example; training will be purchased in the Human Resources department, where there is a human resources manager and manager. If the training is worth 1000 TL, the manager; “I should not give consent to this. Up to 1000 TL of training, the manager should be able to give approval. I should be able to approve higher purchases. " can say, and confusion arises. Authorities need to be clearly defined in order to avoid confusion.
- The principle of separation of powers in organization design is a very important issue to be considered. The Board of Directors and the Executive Board are two separate structures in companies where the structure is implemented. The Executive Board takes over the management of the operations, while the Board of Directors undertakes the high-level decisions and approvals. The Executive Board reports to the Board of Directors. Boards of directors mostly follow the company's top-level strategies, KPIs, and indicators. The executive committee reports to the board of directors and follows the operational processes of the whole company in detail. Many companies have their own methods in terms of settling these structures.. The authority gap should never arise, which can be achieved by clearly identifying key activities and decision points.
- Organizations should be able to make quick decisions. It is not good for companies to have too many hierarchies and decision points because the world is changing so fast. Quick decision making is very important in order to stand out from competitors. While designing the building, care should be taken to have as many dynamic and few decision points as possible.
Why BPM?
- Corporate strategies should be determined.
- Long-term company goals should be determined.
- The sales channels of the target countries should be determined. (“Will there be a change in 5-10 years or will it continue in the same way?” The question should be answered.) It is not enough just to determine the targets of the companies. It is required to be regularly followed up by the process owners. If the corporate strategy is determined, an accurate organizational design and process management are achieved.
- Best practices should be followed closely.
- The sector and competitors should be followed.
- The best / most common practices in the industry and beyond should be followed. At this point, competitor analysis is of great importance. We recommend companies to do competitor analysis. All departments such as human resources, IT, and supply chain must examine their competitors from their own perspective. The inspection should be done at least once a year.
- We see many good practices in terms of digitization. It is also necessary to provide digital follow-up. New structures such as “digital experts” related to digitalization in organizations and processes can be included.
- Internal competencies and dynamics should be well understood.
- People should be closely known, known, and spoken to.
- It is necessary to have information about the history and culture of the institution.
- The organization should be designed according to merit.
- An attractive structure should be designed.
- A motivating and attractive structure should be designed for both employees and potential candidates. Candidates should be drawn to the institution.
- Strong brand ambassadors should be created.
- Employees are brand ambassadors. Potential candidates whom we are trying to attract from outside and promoting the brand and the institution are also brand ambassadors. If the brand is praised and explained outside, the embassy is made. Institutions cannot make progress by acting as brand ambassadors alone. Strong brand ambassadors should be created within the company.
- Performance should be monitored continuously and actions should be taken regarding the failing aspects.
- Performance measurement should be made with individual performance management.
- Career and development programs should be associated with performance.
- Change management should be provided.
- It is important to ensure that it is embraced, accepted, and continuously implemented, and developed within the company. It is very difficult to bring it to life with direction and designs from above. Structures such as quality assurance systems, human resources, department managers and senior management should deal with change management. Senior management should stay on track, support and sponsor.
