Business process Free Essay Example

What role does process mapping play in business process improvement? Is there an advantage to using structured approach like IDS Scheer’s ARIS toolset? The objective of any organization is to enhance its shareholder value. The shareholder value is increased when the price of organization’s share increase, which is a function of profits. The profits can be increased either by increasing the revenues (Top line growth) or by reducing the cost (reducing the bottom line).

The cost reductions in an organization happens whenever the improvements in the business process takes place, as it cuts down on waste and optimizes the resources.

The business process improvement (BPI) can not happen unless organization is clear about its current processes. Thus, process mapping is the first step to BPI in any organization. As the organization becomes bigger, the standardization becomes the necessity as it reduces the learning curve for any new joiner or existing employees looking for the transition into a different function.

Thus, use of any process mapping tool like IDS Scheer’s ARIS toolset makes it possible to standardize the process mapping exercise across the organization. The case of NOVA chemicals exemplifies the smooth transition of the organization from a “function” orientation to “process” orientation. How would you form a team to improve a business process? How would you manage the project? What tools would you use? It is said that the knowledge of any organization resides with the tenured resources.

Thus, the core team for improving the business process would consist of tenured experts within the organization.

These experts would be the consultant and moderators, who would control the direction of process mapping discussions and keep the discussion on the right track. The effective management of this activity would also involve clear definition of the objectives and measurement of the performance of the team on those objectives.

The tools like SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, realistic, time) objectives, IDS Scheer’s ARIS toolset can be used to do the process mapping exercise. Can you think of any ways in which technology can contribute to further improvements in the process of improving business process? Technology is one of the enablers in the further improvement of the business process. As an initial exercise, the functional heads can create the mapping of the processes for the organization, while the continuation of the business improvement needs to be taken care of by effective use of technology.

Software programs can be purchased from the open market which can be used to access the process maps of the organization. These process maps can be updated by the people having the update access, while anyone in the organization should be able to raise change request to update the process maps, as it changes in the organization. Thus, technology can help in ensuring that the process mapping exercise for business process improvement (BPI) carries on in future. Another use of technology can be the design of new process maps by using appropriate tools.