Are your processes a business asset or business liability?
Your clients/ service consumers, employee's and competition will evaluate you by how effective and efficient you perform them, so treat them as an important part of your balance sheet.
However, many organisations start process mapping in a piecemeal fashion without really planning how this technique will develop over time or what the longer term benefits may be if the activity is thought through in advance.
In many instances, mapping is often carried out reluctantly and then often as a result of regulatory requirements or compulsion i.e. the requirement to demonstrate financial control. Secondly, there may be existing sets of maps that have come out of I.T. projects, where business analysts have tried to define business requirements by mapping the process.
When you consider your processes as a business asset your approach to how they are defined and implemented changes.
Case studies relating to common scenarios encountered
It is understandable that many organisations have complexities within their operations and based on our experience, here are just a few examples of the typical scenarios we've encountered and case studies to show how these may be overcome:
- Colt Telecoms - Generic tools
- Hampshire Constabulary - Ease of use
- Xchanging - Modelling complexity
- Service Birmingham - Finding efficiencies
When Colt Telecoms began it's initiative to document it's processes, their challenge was:
"To consolidate a myriad and diverse collection of company wide process documentation into a central repository under a standard methodology to ensure continued delivery of a first class service."
In order to achieve its vision, the team knew that COLT needed to implement a single tool across the entire business that would standardise process maps, as well as create a central repository of all linked documentation that would be accessible to whoever needed it within the company.
To find out how they managed meet their challenge read their case study now.
There are numerous tools available to help your organisation to document processes, however, the key is to being successful is in choosing that will enable non-specialist users to document their activities.
Hampshire Constabulary's Business Improvement team evaluated many of them and decided to use iGrafx FlowCharter because it offers the ability to quickly and easily create process maps across the force. In addition to this, the capability to drill-down and analyse individual elements in detail, without the requirement for in-depth training made the selection all the easier.
To find out how they managed to achieve up to 75% improvement in certain key processes, download their case study now.
The challenges faced by any organisation undertaking any business initiative will inevitably encounter a requirement to understand what exactly are the processes necessary to deliver a service or produce goods. The question is where does one start?
One of the reasons why many consider process mapping as complex is because what they are documenting is by its very nature, complex. The issue here is the need to document not only a graphical representation of a workflow but also to capture and define the activities and resources consumed when performing the activity, something that non-specialist tools are not equipped to do.
To find out how Xchanging's team managed to quickly and easily understand the highest-level processes of a customer's business and its interaction with functions, departments, customers and suppliers to achieve 30% improvement in just 6 months, download their case study now.
The challenges faced by Public Sector organisations today are not new, just more severe than previouse years.
The need to identify efficiencies that will fundamentally change the manner in which your organisation delivers it's services are paramount. The question is where does one start?
Birmingham City Council began their journey in April 2006 and have since been able to radically change it's service delivery whilst reducing the cost of their operational programs. They embarked on a 10 year strategy and continue to drive efficiencies into the organisation.
To find out how Service Birmingham's Corporate Services Transformation (CST) programme has already delivered savings of £9.6m in 2006/07 and £26.1m in 2007/08 download their case study now.
