Business Process Management
An Overview
Operational Governance White Paper
July 2015
Depending on who you ask, you may get different opinions about what Business Process Management (BPM) is and what it isn’t.
For example, the C-Suite may look at BPM as an organization-wide methodology to control, manage and measure the organization’s core processes, with a goal of breaking down silos that separate disparate
operations.
Operations managers may see BPM as a
systematic approach to analyze, redesign and improve a specific process that they are responsible for.
The IT department may understand BPM as the software technologies designed to manage, measure and analyze business process workflows. They’ll often refer to the collective software tools as a Business Process Management Suite.
As you might expect, all these perspectives on BPM are valid.
AIIM, the Association for Information and Image Management, best captures these related viewpoints by defining BPM as: “how we study, identify, change and
monitor business processes to ensure they run smoothly and can be improved over time.”
Defining BPM
Why BPM?
The top business driver for BPM is the need to save money by reducing costs and/or improving productivity, according to survey results from
“The State of the BPM Market - 2014,” published by analyst firm Business Process Trends.
Business drivers rounding out the top 5 (listed in order of importance), include:
•The need to improve customer satisfaction to remain competitive.
•The need to improve management coordination or organizational responsiveness.
•The need to improve existing products, create new products or enter new lines of business to remain competitive.
•The need to improve management of IT resources (enterprise resource planning (ERP) applications).
As a provider of outsourced business services, DATAMARK transitions clients’
processes to on-site or off-site locations operated, managed and staffed by DATAMARK employees.
Often, these back-office functions (mail intake and distribution, document processing and management, and contact center services, to name a few), when operated by the client, may not have attained a desired level of “process maturity.”
For example, the workflow may not be fully documented, and there may be wasteful steps that incur unnecessary costs and lengthen turnaround time. The end result is a detrimental effect on customer service.
Hence, the client’s desire to turn the back-office function to a service provider who will re-design
and optimize the process.
When DATAMARK manages a client’s back-office operations, the company aims to raise the maturity level of the process by applying its BPM system, formally known as DATAMARK BPMS.
A mature process is identified by a number of characteristics, each delivering tangible benefits:
•
It is supported by documentation including flow charts and detailed Standard Operating Procedures. This documentation improves the process’s reliability, repeatability and output quality.•
It is data-driven. The BPMS team identifies what data to measure and collect. A robust datacollection plan serves as the cornerstone for process improvement methodologies such as Six Sigma, Lean and Value Stream Mapping.
•
It provides performance visibility. With the identification of process inputs, outputs andmeasures of cost, productivity and quality, the BPMS delivers performance dashboards that allow for monitoring, analysis and decision-making.
DATAMARK’s BPM Philosophy:
Delivering Process Maturity
According to AIIM, BPM consists of four high-level steps:
•Analyze
•Re-design and model
•Implement
•Monitor
These elements are found in DATAMARK’s BPMS, which consists of nine steps.
It must be pointed out that completion of the steps does not mean the BPMS project is finished. In fact, BPMS is not a one-time event. It is a continuous cycle, meant to drive constant improvement in a process. After implementation and monitoring, the team responsible for BPMS will again analyze the process to identify areas for improvement.
DATAMARK’s BPMS:
A Nine-Step, Continuous Cycle
Step 1: Create Process Mission
Step 2: Document Process Steps
Step 3: Document Customer and
Process Goals
Step 4: Identify Process Measures
Step 5: Create Process Management SOPs Step 6: Establish
Data Collection Plan Step 7: Monitor
Process Performance Step 8: Develop
Dashboards
Step 9: Identify Improvement Opportunities
Business Process Management
System
1. Create Process Mission: A mission statement
establishes the reason the process exists, the rationale for implementing a BPMS project, and a high-level overview of the goals to be accomplished.
2. Document Process Steps: Flow charts and other
documentation are created to understand the elements that influence and contribute to the process.
3. Document Customer and Process Goals: For all
process customers--both internal and external-- requirements such as turnaround time, quality and productivity are identified.
4. Identify Process Measurements: Stakeholders
agree upon relevant, effective and consistent metrics for the process.
5. Create Process Management SOPs: Standard
Operating Procedures are developed for each step of the process workflow, including change management procedures.
BPMS Steps Defined
6. Establish Data Collection Plan: The plan identifies what to measure and how to measure it. It
ensures the collection method is accurate and consistent, no matter who conducts it.
7. Monitor Process Performance: The process is stabilized and variation is reduced.
8. Develop Dashboards: Analytical tools are developed so managers can monitor the process and
identify bottlenecks or defects.
9. Identify Improvement Opportunities: With the process stabilized, managers will apply process improvement methodologies such as Six Sigma, Lean, and Value Stream Mapping.
In a hyper-competitive global business environment, organizations must move quickly to seize market opportunities.
Often, back-office business processes that support companies’ core functions are developed on the fly.
Organizations that “build the airplane while in flight” may somehow get the job done, but the process produces
excessive cost, waste and inefficiencies.
Carnegie Mellon University’s Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) describes these as “Level 1”
organizations--their business processes are poorly controlled and unpredictable. Process teams are reactive rather than proactive.
In a 2014 survey conducted by Business Process Trends, researchers found that most companies are at CMMI Level 2--they have organized processes at the work group or department level, but haven’t connected processes across the enterprise, nor have they established robust systems for measurement and continuous improvement.
As a BPO service provider, DATAMARK recognizes that it is not sufficient to take over a client’s process with a goal of maintaining the status quo process maturity. Our BPM methodology seeks to move processes up the maturity scale, from Level 1 to CMMI Level 5.
At Level 5, not only are processes systematically measured and managed, but they are placed in a cycle of BPM that delivers cost reduction, improvements in quality, accuracy and TAT, and continuous improvement.
Conclusion:
Climbing the Process Maturity Scale
About DATAMARK
Celebrating its 25th year in business in 2015, DATAMARK, Inc. is a leading business process outsourcing company specializing in high-volume digital mailroom management, document processing, process
improvement consulting, and bilingual (English/Spanish) contact center services.
www.datamark.net
Contact Us to Learn More
To learn more how a business process management system can improve your organization’s back-office operations, contact us at 1.800.477.1944 or email [email protected].
