What is your plan for Business Process Management?

BPM plans can be as simple as managing a single business process or as complex as managing all of your company’s processes or anywhere in between.

I contend that you would not take on a BPM project just to manage a single process.  Further, I don’t think it is reasonable to manage all of a company’s processes.

Implementing BPM initiatives is too big to fit into a 1 year plan.  It makes more sense to create a 5 year plan or a 10 year plan.

I like to think of business processes in terms of an 80/20 rule.  Managing 20% of your processes will provide 80% of the possible benefits.

Basic Plan Components…

• Identify the processes that make up the 20%.  Processes that touch your customer should be in that list.
• Identify a champion that can drive your process improvement initiatives.  That person will need to be able to manage ‘change’.  People are averse to change, they will need to be guided [persuaded, sold, cajoled, etc] through the change.
• Prioritize your list of processes that make up the 20%.

The first process that you tackle should have some visibility, but be small enough to accomplish in a short period of time.  Short term success will get more people on board with BPM; allow management to see results; help you with any needed funding; etc.  If your project takes more than a year, you will lose visibility and momentum.

Your Thoughts…

What has been your experience?

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