Process

The fundamental belief that the business process is the focus of all our efforts dominates all our thinking. It is what delivers value to customers; value, the expectations of which, has to be managed in relation to what the customer is prepared to pay. Perceptions of value are just one of a wide range of issues under the “process” banner that we are setting out to explore in this part of the website.

For example:

1. AS-IS and/ or TO-BE

  • In some organisations the AS-IS mapping exercise has become the obsessive start point for process projects; but is this the most effective place to start?
  • “Detailed AS-IS can be a major restriction on forward thinking, encourages defensiveness and retrospective justification” - discuss
  • When designing a new process “don’t start where you are, start where you want to be” - what are the limitations and benefits of this approach?

2. Attitudes to Process: Obstacles to their Effective Definition

  • When people within an organisation talk among themselves about what they do, their internal focus usually ends up with them examining and justifying functions, not processes.
  • How difficult is it to get an organisation to start with the customer—and view themselves through the eyes of the customer—gives people an understanding of processes that serve the customer.
  • Are the problems that organisations experience in envisioning and implementing end-to-end processes more rooted in politics than practicalities? – is it possible to make process politically sexy

3. Categorisation of Processes

  • For all organisations the issues surrounding “which are the critical processes? … and how do we define and prioritise them?” are recurring and contentious ones.
  • It is necessary to know how to, and correctly, identify processes—critical or not
  • How well does the following generic categorisation work –
    • Core - cross-functional activities that have a profound impact on achieving strategic business objectives
    • Primary - touch the customer directly and failure will immediately impact that customer
    • Sub-processes - constituent parts of a core and/ or primary process
    • Support - provide professional and/ or developmental support for those involved in the daily routine delivery of a core/ primary process activity
    • Enabling - not permanently linked to a core/ support process, they only indirectly impact customer satisfaction, but are essential for the business
    • Management - required to coordinate the activities of support and primary processes.
  • What experience do organisations have of types of process and their definition?

4. How Easy is it to Design Processes to Support the Strategy?

  • Clear identification and categorisation of the processes of an organisation should enable prioritisation and goal setting to support the strategies – how well are those strategies articulated to allow this to happen?
  • How do we go about selecting the critical processes that directly impact the achievement of strategies and goals—a combination of primary, core/primary, support, and management processes—that have to be selected
  • Definition of performance measures for critical processes to achieve the simultaneous goals of cost, quality, and time (especially in the eyes of the customer) is a challenge of balance – but what factors are we seeking to balance?