The Reality of Business Process Analysis
That’s right…Business Process Sherpa. That’s really my title. People always ask me why a Sherpa? For those of you who don’t know, the Sherpa is the Himalayan mountain guide that takes those crazy Westerners on the trek of a lifetime up impossible terrain that the Sherpas travel every day. Process analysis is a very similar expedition for most companies.
Knowing versus Execution
The difference with business process analysis is that the process team, especially the team leaders, is already convinced that they know their processes. The reality that surfaces, however, is that the team knows how the process is supposed to work, but not necessarily how the process is actually carried out. Now this doesn’t always mean ISO non-conformance reports. In some cases, it leads to process improvements once the light is shone in the right direction.
The Difference is Scope
Process, as defined by Hammer and Champy of Reengineering fame, is a complete series of tasks from initiating trigger to customer. Business process mapping and analysis exercises typically force people to face the reality that they are only a part of the true process. Finally, understanding the upstream and downstream components of the process is a revelation not unlike a child finally understanding that apples don’t originally come from the grocery store. This realization is usually followed by valuable process improvements wherein small upstream changes yield dramatic time and money savings further along the process.
Tags: business process analysis, business processes, process, process analysis, process improvement, process management, process mapping, scope, Sherpa
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