Business Process Improvement

Today, more than ever before, using technology to improve your business processes is paramount to business success. Luckily, there is a simple approach that can help you determine how to go about planning your improvements - and accomplishing this as efficiently as possible.

So, how do you go about improving your business processes -- particularly in tough economic times? We suggest that you begin with a thorough look at each of your processes, and the people and technology that are involved with each one of them. We refer to this process as a "Technology Roadmap." A Technology Roadmap is actually just that - a very detailed document that maps out exactly where you are today from a technology perspective (your "As Is" state), where you desire to be technologically (your "To Be" state), and the resulting gap that exists between these two states.

Once you have your Technology Roadmap clearly defined, you can then assess the best way to prioritize the resulting tasks or projects that will bridge that identified gap. You will examine your budget and your human resources, and then develop a project plan to prioritize the projects based upon those two constraints. Once you've done this, you will be well on your way to improving your business processes. And, you'll be able to do it in a timeframe that fits with your existing resources or determine what resources that you may need to bring in to help you accomplish your business goals.

A word on resources . . . sometimes in order to improve your business, an outside perspective is necessary. This is true no matter what business you are in. Because we love what we do for a living, we can sometimes become too inwardly focused when examining our own businesses. Despite our best intentions, we tend to want to do things the same way because we are inherently averse to change. It's simply human nature. As you are considering your business and improving your business processes, take a hard look at your internal capabilities to thoroughly examine the processes and poke holes in them to cause change.

Once you've done some soul searching you may well determine that you can effectively build your Technology Roadmap internally. However, if you get the feeling that having an outside consultant to manage the process, by all means do it. Simply select a consultant who you trust (and be sure to check references) and who has a specific background in business process improvement.

When looking externally, an additional factor to consider is the consultant's ability to pay attention to the details. We've found that many consulting firms take a purely strategic approach - providing a high-level overview of how to positively impact your business processes. While this isn't bad, we've found that in order to positively change your business processes for the better, attention to detail is paramount to your project's success. Accordingly, select a consulting firm that can help you with strategy but also work through the details and tasks to get each project done on-time and on budget.

Fundamental Rethinking And Radical Redesign Of Business Process Through Process Modeling Software

Every business requires starting anywhere, and one of the things we require to do when modeling processes is to determine how your business processes get kicked off. To create a model, you need to start by defining what the process is aiming to achieve, and how it fits with other processes. The modeling software / tools are the best to recognize and handling for business models. The key concepts for modeling software are as follows:

• Recognizing process beginning points • Recognizing touch points with other systems - for example, how BPM and SOA interact • Simulating a new business process • Follow the industry Business Process modeling notation and standards • Identifying changing job roles • generating a structured model for execution • Recognizing where ROI will be generated and how to track it

Modeling tools in short process drastically improves the business productivity for process modeling and analysis. These tools are designed for BPR and IT experts of industrial and service enterprises who require decreasing the time and risk it takes to service customers, fulfill demand, and develop new products. mapping is another advanced features of modeling software allows enterprises to visually map their current businesses, allowing them a comprehensive overview of what actually happens. This allows users to look at design from an objective point of view and enables them to identify areas of concern and possible methods of improvement.

Modeler builds it simple for business and operations managers to map and document their business processes easily. With the Process Modeler, creating high-value models that are used in tactical and calculated decision-making is now within the reach of any company. Solution-specific forms, pattern and reports assist the capture and maintenance of process knowledge in a way that lets business users, regardless of technology aptitude, produce information-rich models with the same or less efforts used to generate static flowcharts and narratives.