Neomind

Author: Juan Carlos C. de Souza

  • 10 Q&A about BPM

    10 Q&A about BPM

    We’ve already learned in another article that BPM (Business Process Management) is an adjustable management methodology developed to organize and facilitate organizational processes. However, there are doubts still involving the subject.

    Considering this, we have prepared a special article to clarify the main definitions and concepts related to BPM in 10 questions and answers:

    1. What is a BPM framework?
    2. What is BPMs?
    3. What are the advantages of using BPM?
    4. Can I obtain gains in agility or efficiency by using BPM?
    5. Why automate business processes?
    6. What is process mapping?
    7. What are the most used types of process mapping?
    8. What are the steps of BPM implementation?
    9. Why is business process management important?
    10. What is business process improvement?

    1. What is a BPM framework?

    A BPM framework consists of a process-centric management approach, in which structures and regulations applicable to your sector, policies and quality standards can be included.

    Below are the three main types of BPM structures:

    • Horizontal: deals with business process design and development and is generally focused on technology and reuse.
    • Vertical: focuses on a specific set of coordinated tasks, using models that can be easily deployed and configured.
    • BPM Suite: package that contains five components, including: process discovery and project scope; process modeling and design; business rules engine; workflow engine; simulation and testing.

    2. What is BPMS?

    BPMS (Business Process Management System) is a tool to design, implement and improve an activity or set of activities that will achieve a specific organizational goal.

    This way, a BPMS tool helps managers to continuously improve business processes through:

    • Process modeling tools;
    • Business rules and workflow mechanisms;
    • Simulation and testing tools.

    To get to know more, check out: What is BPMS and how can it add value to your business?

    3. What are the advantages of using BPM?

    Among the main advantages of using BPM, we can mention the significant improvement of processes, which allows the organization to be more efficient, assertive, and prone to change than those using a functional focus with a traditional management approach.

    The main benefits of BPM adhesion in organizations are:

    • Increased transparency
    • Performance control
    • More productivity
    • Increased agility and efficiency
    • Less costs

    If you need more details about the advantages of using BPM, be sure to read this article.

    4. Can I obtain gains in agility or efficiency by using BPM?

    Absolutely! BPM allows you to have fluid workflows and more agile processes, reducing the response time to the market. A BPM solution allows the automation of processes, eliminating the need for human intervention, promoting more agility with reduced execution time and improving working conditions.

    In addition, computerization and a better understanding of how these processes should be conducted brings efficiency to the work team and, consequently, to a more efficient company in the face of market challenges.

    5. Why automate business processes?

    The automation procedure is part of process management and consists basically in the use of technology and the integration of systems and data to improve and control the workflow. It is a strategy for structural optimization of a company. It can be used in several situations and ensures that work methods become easier, reducing the need for manual tasks.

    The benefits that automation can bring to an organization are:

    • Identification of bottlenecks
    • Workforce reduction
    • More agile service
    • Better quality of analysis
    • It assists managers

    On this post we explain more about the need to automate processes.

    6. What is process mapping?

    We can understand that process mapping is the graphical representation with illustrative descriptions of how things are done. Through it, all those involved (from managers to collaborators) get an overview of how the processes are executed, how they can be improved and how many steps are necessary to lead them to the end.

    Therefore, essentially a process mapping identifies all steps, parts involved, objectives, decisions and flows of an existing process. More specifically, it:

    • Presents the various activities contained in a process;
    • Clearly shows how each activity transforms inputs into outputs;
    • Describes the activity flow;
    • Indicates the decisions that must be made along the flow;
    • Demonstrates the interrelationships and interdependencies between the stages of the process.

    Get to know more in Process Mapping: where to start?

    7. What are the most used types of process mapping?

    The main types of process mapping are:

    • Flowchart
    • Horizontal flowchart
    • Mapfluxogram
    • UML – Unified Modeling Language
    • BPMN – Business Process Model and Notation

    For details about each type, we recommend this post.

    8. What are the steps of BPM implementation?

    BPM is a flexible approach. Therefore, it can adapt to any company, of any segment and size. Thus, depending on the maturity of the business where it will be applied, some aspects may change. However, basically the life cycle of BPM is composed of six phases:

    1. Planning and identification (As Is);
    2. Process analysis (To Be);
    3. Design (To Be);
    4. Simulating flows and checking adherence (To Be);
    5. Monitoring and control;
    6. Refinement (improvement of flows).

    The details of each phase are in this article: How do the phases of BPM implementation in companies work?

    7 common mistakes in Process Management

    9. Why is business process management important?

    BPM has great importance to organizations. Its proposal is precisely to offer a set of management practices allied to systems, with the objective of making business processes more efficient and effective, thus achieving competitive advantages in the market.

    And, as you might imagine, getting competitive advantages can help a company in any sector to stay in the leadership of its segment.

    10. What is business process improvement?

    The improvement of business processes is a methodology defined to develop, test, approve, implement and evaluate changes in the processes. Its objective is to constantly evaluate, improve and evolve business operations so that it is possible to:

    • Make changes in strategy and in the market;
    • Gain competitive advantage over the competition.

    Knowing all these answers, the only question left is: why haven’t you adopted a BPMs for your company yet? Don’t wait longer and Try it for 15 days free right now! Or, if you prefer, request a demonstration from our consultants. Count on us to answer all your doubts and help your company!

  • What is Business Process Management (BPM) and what are its benefits?

    What is Business Process Management (BPM) and what are its benefits?

    Showing relevant information on how the processes are executed, making improvements, making processes manageable, in addition to enabling better decision making and business vision. These are some of the characteristics of Business Process Management (BPM).

    BPM is an adjustable management methodology developed to organize and facilitate  internal or external organizational processes of low or high complexity in corporations.

    The goal of this type of solution is to achieve the objectives of companies, regardless of size, whether small, medium or large. This occurs through optimization in the management and control of methods, techniques and tools to analyze, model, improve, publish and control processes involving all sectors.

    Among the main advantages we can mention in using BPM is the significant improvement of processes, which allows the organization to be more efficient, assertive and prone to change than those using a functional focus, with a traditional management approach.

    What does Business Process Management (BPM) involve?

    • Organizing around results – not tasks – to ensure that the focus is maintained;
    • Correcting and improving processes before automation;
    • Standardizing processes throughout the company so that they can be more easily understood and managed, as well as have their errors and risks reduced;
    • Enable continuous improvement so that changes can be extended and propagated over time;
    • Improving existing processes, instead of creating new ones.

    Notice that Process Management should not be a single action. Beyond that, it should involve a continuous evaluation of processes and include actions to improve process flow.

    The steps that can be recognized in BPM are:

    • Analyze;
    • Design and model;
    • Deploying;
    • Monitoring;
    • Managing;
    • Automating.

    What are the benefits of using BPM?

    We have listed below the main benefits of adhering to BPM in organizations, since it promotes continuous improvement and facilitates the monitoring of activities.

    Among the improvements that we can mention when BPM is effectively deployed are:

    • Increased transparency: with adherence to BPM, all employees become aware of the processes with the culture of “pushing” the processes(instead of pulling), allowing them to perform their activities with more efficiency and business traceability.
    • Performance control: BPM allows the definition of performance indicators that facilitate the visualization of the company progress regarding its processes, improving control over quality.
    • More productivity: the elimination of barriers facilitates workflows and employee awareness. This makes it possible to increase team productivity.
    • Increased agility and efficiency: with more fluid workflows, the company processes become agile, reducing the response time to the market. This occurs because a BPM solution allows the automation of processes, eliminating the need for human intervention, promoting more agility with the reduction of execution time and improving working conditions (Learn more about the benefits of process automation).

    In addition, computerization and a better understanding of how these processes should be conducted brings efficiency to the work team and, consequently, to a more efficient company in the face of market challenges.

    • Fewer costs: as processes become more efficient, results become more frequent, reducing operating costs.

    And what is BPMS? Why automating with BPMS?

    Once the Process Management is matured in an organization, it is possible to move on to the next step: automation, which is performed by tools and applications known as BPMS (Business Process Management System).

    Explaining the term, BPMS is a tool to design, implement and improve an activity or set of activities that will achieve a specific organizational goal.

    A great advantage of automation is the exact fulfillment of the process in the way it was stipulated, in order to end the possibility of disagreements with the business rules. However, automation is not limited simply to the execution of automatic activities by computers; it is also related to the participation of different users involved, such as employees, customers and partners.

    Another good reason to use automation is the management of the indicators pointed out by BPMS. These indicators allow you to know, for example, the total time a process is taking and any interference that resulted in partial paralysis.

    A BPMS can include the following items:

    • Workflow design
    • Workflow automation
    • Business rules
    • Indicators
    • Real-time monitoring
    • ECM – Enterprise Content Management

    With these items, a BPMS is able to issue lots of information due to the control obtained, helping managers to monitor processes in real time.

    Conclusion

    According to Muehlen (2005), the central task of BPM is to create an alignment among the individual elements of the processes:

    • Inputs (information and resources),
    • Outputs,
    • Structure, and
    • Objectives.

    If alignment among these components is achieved, the total performance of all processes could be increased in qualitative terms (e.g., quick adaptation to environmental changes) and quantitative factors (such as shorter cycles, less waste, shorter idle times and elimination of rework).

    In conclusion, we can say that process management is the mapping of a company daily activities. However, the truth is that its objective is much greater than this and involves providing significant improvement in all sectors, including and privileging the operational and financial areas. When effectively implemented, great benefits are obtained, such as transparency in processes, control, productivity, automation, agility, efficiency, cost reduction and safety.

    Try it for 15 days free right now! Or, if you prefer, request a demonstration from our consultants. Count on us to answer all your doubts and help your company!

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