For all its apparent self-explanatory nature, the phrase “business process” encompasses a great deal of underlying information and can be regarded as defining one of the core concepts of modern business management. As such, the syntagm business process refers to an almost umbrella-like concept whose layers of meaning essentially describe the string of structured actions, activities and assigned tasks involved in achieving a particular objective.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
In this Advisor, I want to review the public business process methodologies. There is a lot of talk about methodologies, but a real methodology you can use in your organization is a bit harder to find. First, some ground rules: When I refer to a methodology, I mean a comprehensive and specific set of instructions for accomplishing a task - in this case, redesigning or improving a business process. The complexities are such that no methodology can ever be an algorithm. At best, a methodology provides an overall approach and a collection of heuristics. But it can provide lots of heuristics, a precise vocabulary, checklists and worksheets, and specific procedures for accomplishing particular tasks that guarantee that trained teams will approach projects in a reasonably consistent manner and usually achieve the same results.
I define a public methodology as a methodology that is described in a book, taught in available courses and used by at least one company. This excludes the methodologies offered by some consulting companies that are delivered as a part of a larger consulting engagement. Similarly, it excludes the various methodologies that people write about in articles that never get beyond a general description, and it excludes the various vendor methodologies that are delivered in support of a software product. None of the methodologies described below require the use of a software tool. Thus, these are methodologies that any organization can adopt and use enterprise-wide. I have included all the public methodologies I am aware of that are actively being marketed today.
Second, a qualification: In fact, I'll begin by describing the Business Process methodology and go on to use it as a reference point for the subsequent discussion. My methodology is, in fact, two methodologies: one for the enterprise level and one for the process level. We discriminate between enterprise level activities that create tools to enable executives and BPM centers of excellence to manage the enterprise, and the process level activities required to redesign specific processes.
As a generalization, in terms of CMM (Capability Maturity Model), which ranks companies on a scale of 1-5, Level 2 companies focus on process redesign and improvement, while Level 3-4 companies focus on creating a business process architecture that can be used to help manage and prioritize the entire enterprise's process effort. It's best to have an enterprise process architecture in place to help select processes for redesign, but most organizations haven't matured to that level, so we treat the two issues more or less, dependently.
I define a public methodology as a methodology that is described in a book, taught in available courses and used by at least one company. This excludes the methodologies offered by some consulting companies that are delivered as a part of a larger consulting engagement. Similarly, it excludes the various methodologies that people write about in articles that never get beyond a general description, and it excludes the various vendor methodologies that are delivered in support of a software product. None of the methodologies described below require the use of a software tool. Thus, these are methodologies that any organization can adopt and use enterprise-wide. I have included all the public methodologies I am aware of that are actively being marketed today.
Second, a qualification: In fact, I'll begin by describing the Business Process methodology and go on to use it as a reference point for the subsequent discussion. My methodology is, in fact, two methodologies: one for the enterprise level and one for the process level. We discriminate between enterprise level activities that create tools to enable executives and BPM centers of excellence to manage the enterprise, and the process level activities required to redesign specific processes.
As a generalization, in terms of CMM (Capability Maturity Model), which ranks companies on a scale of 1-5, Level 2 companies focus on process redesign and improvement, while Level 3-4 companies focus on creating a business process architecture that can be used to help manage and prioritize the entire enterprise's process effort. It's best to have an enterprise process architecture in place to help select processes for redesign, but most organizations haven't matured to that level, so we treat the two issues more or less, dependently.
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