Business Process Automation (BPA)
Business process management is the professional discipline that professionals use to manage and enhance an organization’s processes in order to accomplish goal-driven strategies, performance-driven working, optimal resource utilization, and standardization in daily operations.
A number of stakeholders are involved in achieving the organization’s goals as each business activity proceeds. The actions of clients, staff members, suppliers, partners, and others must be tracked at every stage of the business’s operations.
Business Process Management is a defined approach to accomplish one-time as well as recurring activities in a format to be able to ensure its consistency and targeted results. BPM involves concerted, technologically competent systems that create value within the organization and enable organization to achieve excellence and agility.
Every department or function in the company has an obligation to meet its KRAs in a predetermined amount of time, with the highest level of accuracy and resource efficiency. A specified set of business procedures would be followed in order to accomplish these KRAs. To guarantee that these procedures are completed accurately, on schedule, and with the appropriate resources, business process management records them and connects them with IT systems.
Business processes: what are they?
A business process is a series of steps or assignments that must be completed by designated roles and functions within an organization within a given time limit in order to produce a specific result. A "Process" is a grouping of multiple procedures.
Hundreds of business processes with various inputs and outputs are continuously conducted throughout the organization. Every one of these procedures is always working to move the business closer to its goal.
There are recurring and non-recurring business processes. While some are system-dependent, others are people-dependent.
Ineffective BPM is an indication of a disorganized company. Although a variety of individuals within the business carry out each process, if the process is poorly defined, it is carried out in an unstructured manner, lacking consistency, and producing ineffective and unquantifiable results.
When procedures are carried out in an unorganized manner, the organization experiences the following symptoms:
Absence of Responsibility
Because the roles and duties are not clearly defined, the processes are not mapped, and the reporting structures are not carved, there will be no accountability observed throughout the organization, whether an executive or a manager.
Insufficient Performance Management
Without organized procedures, an individual's performance could only be evaluated by their judgment and gut feelings. There wouldn't be any criteria without BPM that would allow us to fairly evaluate the performance and elevate them from the team.
Individual-Reliant Work
The organization becomes people-dependent rather than system-dependent when BPM is absent. What occurs when a new employee joins the company? What occurs if the newly hired employee does not download the process? In the absence of BPM, senior management becomes entirely dependent on the individual holding that position rather than the system, endangering the organization's ability to expand.
Ineffective Time Management
When procedures are not clearly defined, the optimum situation is to spend too much time on low-importance tasks and not enough time on high-importance tasks. The process's efficacy and the duration of its execution are not quantified by any criterion.
Insufficient Productivity
It is impossible to evaluate the team's production because the procedures are not clear. This results in disparities in productivity, motivation, and output and pay.
Lack of Accountability
Be it an executive or a manager, there will not be any accountability witnessed across the organization as the roles and responsibilities are ill-defined, the processes are not mapped and the reporting structures are not carved.
Lack of Performance Management
Without structured processes, the only way to measure the performance of an individual would be based on instincts and judgement. Without BPM, there would not be any parameters through which we can give justice to the performers and pull up the performers from the team.
People-Dependant working
Lack of BPM makes the organization people-dependant and not system-dependant. What happens when a new person joins the organization? What happens when the way of carrying out the process is not downloaded to the new joinee? Lack of BPM makes the top management completely dependant on the person in that position rather than the system, which poses threat to the growth of the organization.
Lack of Effective Time Management
Spending excessive time on activities of lower importance and spending no time for activities of most importance is an ideal scenario when the processes are not chalked out. There is no parameter to measure the effectiveness of the process and the time frame in which it is carried out.
Lack of Productivity
Since the processes are not defined, the productivity of the team cannot be assessed. This leads to discrepancies in the output & compensation, motivation & productivity.
THE ADVANTAGES OF MANAGING BUSINESS PROCESSES
Making the Best Use of Available Resources
The most crucial element that need ongoing attention from the organization's middle to upper levels of management is resource planning. Every resource in the company, both moving and non-moving, can be optimized with the aid of BPM. BPM aids in making the greatest use of abilities and knowledge, guaranteeing optimal productivity and cost control.
Process-Oriented Business
BPM assists the organization in becoming process-driven rather than people-driven. By using software to handle job profiles, authorities, and responsibilities, it lowers the learning curve for new hires and speeds up productivity. Instead of being person-driven, the approvals and escalations are position-driven.
Management of Compliance
The majority of industries find it difficult to monitor weekly, biweekly, monthly, or annual compliances. Following up with them and completing it on time becomes the most difficult task because compliance data is connected to several departments. BPM maps the flow of processes with designations and timelines and constructs the flow of processes necessary to meet compliances. This streamlines the follow-up procedure and counts the individuals or functions that aren't working up to par.
Obtaining Approvals is Simple
Getting the proper person's approval at the right time is the biggest obstacle to process implementation. In the majority of organizations, the approving authority is either unaware of the permissions that need to be granted or is not intimidated in time. To make sure that approvals don't cause delays in the processes, BPM maps the processes and promptly notifies the authorizing authority.
Automation of Workflow
Easy pick-and-click process display is made possible by workflow automation, which also monitors each step and incorporates escalations, deviations, and exceptions as needed. Through the system that makes it easier to create, evaluate, and audit documents in compliance with process criteria, BPM assists in developing forms, formats, and supporting documentation. BPM sends emails to all of its users informing them of the tasks assigned to the workflows. Workflow automation tracks success and integrates business operations with organizational goals.
Benefits of Business Process Management
Optimum Utilization of Resources
Resource Planning is the most important aspect which requires constant attention from the middle to top level management of the organization. BPM helps in optimizing every resource within the organization, from the moving to the non-moving ones. BPM helps in best use of skills & knowledge which ensures controlled cost and maximum output.
Process-Driven Company
BPM helps to make the organization process driven & not people driven. It manages the job profiles, authorities & responsibilities through the software so even if a new person joins in, his learning curve is reduced and the output is faster. The approvals and escalations are position-driven & not person-driven.
Compliance Management
Most industries struggle to keep a track on the weekly, fortnightly, monthly or yearly compliances. As compliance data is linked with multiple departments, following up with them and getting it done in time becomes the biggest challenge. BPM structures the flow of processes required to fulfil the compliances along with mapping it with the designations and time-lines. This not only eases out the follow-up process but also quantifies the non-performing functions/ people.
Ease of getting Approvals
The biggesthurdle when it comes to execution of processes is getting approvals at the right time from the right person. In most organizations, approving authority is either not aware or not intimidated in time about the approvals to be given. BPM maps the processes and an intimation is sent to the approving authority in time to ensure the processes are not delayed due to approvals.
Workflow Automation
Workflow automation enables easy, pick and click process display with monitoring of each procedure and incorporating escalations, deviations & exceptions if any. BPM helps in creating forms, formats & supporting documents through the system which facilitates creating, reviewing & auditing documents in accordance to the process requirements. BPM notifies the assigned tasks of the workflows, via email to all its users. Workflow Automation aligns the business processes with the goals of the organisation & tracks the achievement.
The following method of process definition is important to BPM implementation:
- The Process Trigger
- Process Input
- Participating Departments
- The Process’s Output
- Lead Time for the Process
- Owner of the Process
For optimal results, organizing should be centered on process outcomes rather than tasks. Only when all processes are system-driven rather than people-driven can BPM operate at its best; otherwise, we can only accomplish speed at the expense of accuracy.
When evaluating the effectiveness of BPM implementation, assigning procedure owners and escalations is crucial. Prior to implementing Business Process Management (BPM), Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) must be developed. For these procedures to be simply understood, effectively managed, quickly followed, and evaluated on a regular basis, they must be written in black and white.
BPM must be a discipline that is adhered to and continuously enhanced; it is not a one-time event. Regular SOP upgrades in terms of people, technology, flow, and resource use are necessary to allow the business to continuously analyze and improve its operations.
A never-ending PLAN-DO-IMPROVE cycle results from this activity.
One component of process automation is information flow. Accurate information on the necessary when, for what purpose, at what time, how, and why of the process is gathered with the use of BPM. One of the most crucial elements for improving the effectiveness and precision of organizational procedures is IT integration. BPM is inevitably preceded by IT integration.
In addition to helping with process design and automation, BPM also assists with obtaining the best data analytics reports. These reports support decision-making at all levels of authority and across a range of responsibilities. Data is made actionable and usable via BPM. Your input methods must be very accurate and quantifiable in order to produce these outcomes.
Real-time process tracking, pinpointing the precise cause of delays, and identifying the accountable party are all possible with BPM.
BPM makes it possible to integrate workflows in which many process steps are being completed concurrently. The massive movement of data and documents across different functions when done manually results in a great deal of implementation delay, blame-game, lack of accountability, and time loss.
Workflow links several organizational functions and flows from one person, location, or document to another; only once “A” has finished a task may “B” start it. We work on making the best use of our resources because B will be notified in real time via the BPM when A completes a task.
BPM ensures that your strategy is in accordance with your goals by assisting you in tracking every activity that takes place within the firm, within each function, and across other organizations. BPM improves both the quantitative and qualitative performance of the company.
Workflow connects several functions across the organization and moves from one person, place or document to another, when a task is completed by “A” only then can it be begun by “B”. The intimation of task completion by A shall be given through the BPM real time to B, so we work on optimum utilization of resources.
There are processes where parallelly multiple tasks are carried out by multiple functions & it gets manually impossible to monitor, BPM can send trigger to all of these functions simultaneously with the lead time to complete the said task. It can also pull out data from Software/ERP at whichever stage required.
BPM itself is a “SOP Improvement” tool as it overtly expresses the intricacy of cross-function, inter-function & intra-function processes, along with their supporting forms & formats, on a continuous basis.
These business processes involves a lot of operational charting, analysis and review management. SOPs ease out the application of these processes into BPM as SOPs are elaborate enough to consider different permutations and combinations, which are going to be most suitable for the existing infrastructure.
BPM ensures your strategy is aligned with your goals and helps you monitor every activity within the organization, within each function and across various organizations. BPM makes the organization achieve more qualitatively and quantitatively.
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