Business Process

What is a business process?

• A business process is a series of steps performed by a group
of stakeholders to achieve a concrete goal.
• Each step in a business process denotes a task that is
assigned to a participant.
• It is the fundamental building block for several related ideas
such as Business Process Management, Process Automation,
etc.
The importance of business processes

• The need for and advantages of a business process are quite apparent
in large organizations. A process forms the lifeline for any business
and helps it streamline individual activities, making sure that
resources are put to optimal use.
Some of the key reasons to have well-defined
business processes in place are to:
• identify what tasks are important to your larger business goals
• Improve efficiency
• streamline communication between people/functions/departments
• set approvals to ensure accountability and an optimum use of
resources
• keep chaos from creeping into your day-to-day operations
• standardize a set of procedures to complete tasks that really matter
to your business
The 7 steps of business process
• Define your goals:What is the purpose of the process? Why was it created? How
will you know if it is successful?
• Plan and map your process: What are the strategies needed to achieve the
goals? This is the broad roadmap for the process.
• Set actions and assign stakeholders: Identify the individual tasks your teams and
machines need to do in order to execute the plan.
• Test the process:Run the process on a small scale to see how it performs.
Observe any gaps and make adjustments.
• Implement the process: Start running the process in a live environment. Properly
communicate and train all stakeholders.
• Monitor the results: Review the process and analyze its patterns. Document the
process history.
• Repeat: If the process is able to achieve the goals set for it, replicate it for future
processes.
An example of a business process
• As an example, let’s consider the content marketing process. You’ll find it in
every marketing department. The issue is, it can be rather hectic and
chaotic unless you know the process. There will be writers, designers, SEO
experts, and web designers, all working together to create a single piece of
content.
• Naturally, this involves a lot of steps and communication.
• Although this can vary from organization to organization, a simple
workflow might look like this:
• The content writer receives the brief and writes a first draft.
• The draft is reviewed by an editor and sent back for any corrections
• The designer takes the content and adds any infographics or images
• The SEO expert reviews the article to ensure that keywords are correct
• The article is published and promotion begins
What are the essential attributes of an ideal
business process?
• There are 4 essential attributes that constitute an ideal business process:
• Finite – A good business process has a well-defined starting point and
ending point. It also has a finite number of steps.
• Repeatable – A good business process can be run an indefinite number of
times.
• Creates value – It ultimately aims at translating creation of value into
executable tasks and does not have any step in the process just for the sake
of it. In other words, if any step in the process isn’t adding value, it should
not exist.
• Flexibility – It has an in-built nature to be flexible to change and is not rigid.
When there is any scope for improvement that is identified, the process
allows that change to be absorbed within itself without operationally
affecting its stakeholders as much.
What are some of the terms related to
business process?
• Business Process Automation
• Business Process Improvement
• Business Process Reengineering
• Business process optimization
• Business process mapping