Business Process Management

The long-term strategy of analyzing and improving processes

Business Process Management (BPM) is the long-term strategy of analyzing and improving processes within a company to improve the organization’s efficiency, effectiveness, and overall performance. It studies, identifies, changes, and monitors business processes to ensure that they are running optimally within the organization’s workflow.

It is an ongoing activity that often involves automating tasks, but does not always require automation or the use of technology. Ultimately, business process management is about institutionalizing better ways to get work done, using whichever method is most appropriate.

zenkit bpm checklist

Processes vs. Projects

So, what’s a process? A business process can be defined as a repeatable set of activities that help accomplish a specific organizational goal. “Repeatable” is the key term, and a business process is something that an organization regularly does, like onboarding new employees or shipping a product.

A process is not a project or a task. A project is usually a one-off activity, such as creating a webpage for a client or planning an event. Even though you may follow the same steps as you would for any other project, the end result is unique and the project will close once the product has been delivered. A task is a specific step involved in a project or process.

Business process management therefore focuses on improving the performance of your company by managing business processes: a “process optimization process”, if you prefer.

Benefits of BPM

The goal of business process management is to allow the organization to gain a better understanding of the processes that occur within the organization, as well as analyze them from end-to-end in order to make continual improvements.

The benefits of continual improvement of business processes are manyfold. If executed well, BPM can:

Improve alignment of processes with customer requirements
Reduce waste and costs
Cut down on errors
Save time
Generate better services or products
Increase process transparency
Promote efficiency
Increase employee potential and morale
Better gather and leverage information
Improve business agility
Develop a culture of innovation
And much more…

Activities Involved

If you’re constantly analyzing and trying to improve business processes, that’s BPM. As it involves constant evaluation and action-taking, organizational leaders are required to focus on finding new ways to optimize processes as industry advances and emerging technologies introduce new opportunities to support or automate different parts of the process. More formal definitions of BPM exist, and often a ‘business process management activities life-cycle’ is defined as design, modeling, execution, monitoring, and optimization.

Design

The first step involves the analysis of existing processes, identification of areas of improvement, and the design of the processes as it should ideally exist.

Model

Modeling considers how the theoretical improved business process operates in different scenarios by introducing various variables. It may also include running a “what-if analysis”.

Execute

Execution involves implementing the re-designed and modeled process either manually or automatically (manual processes are human-driven, automated processes are software-driven). At this stage you execute the improvements, which include standardization of business rules and automation.

Monitor

The process is monitored as it runs through the workflow and previously determined metrics are used to identify progress, measure efficiency, and locate bottlenecks.

Optimize

As processes are monitored and analyzed, the information gained is used to identify areas of improvement (thus taking us back to step one - Design).

How to Use Zenkit for BPM

Business process management serves to improve processes. There are many different ways to do this. One of them is Lean or Six Sigma. This can be done with business process management software (BPMS). This is used for the independent administration of BPM. Zenkit is not designed directly as a BPMS. Nevertheless, every workflow can be supported in the following points:

Map Processes

Create digital models of business processes. The Mind Map and Kanban view are best suited for this. If there is a visual representation, a process can be analyzed more easily. Identify any bottlenecks that occur!

Gather Feedback

With Zenkit Collections you are able to get feedback from all stakeholders throughout the entire process. Don't overlook any detail while designing or analyzing a process!

Automate Repetitive Processes

Zenkit's duplicate function can be used to create templates. The responsible person is well informed about all relevant tasks and steps. Every time a new project or process begins, the procedure is known directly.