1. The Traits of BPM: Six Fundamentals
Necessary for Successful Process
Improvement Initiatives
Gaining A New Awareness of Your
Business…
Howard Webb
Director, Advisory & Consulting
Prolifics

2. ABOUT PROLIFICS ADVISORY
AND CONSULTING SERVICE
2

3. Advisory & Consulting Services
3
The purpose of Advisory & Consulting is to help guide, coach and
equip our clients to succeed in improving their business processes
through the discipline of Business Process Management.
 BPM Readiness Assessments (1 to 2 weeks)
 Establishment of BPM Centers of Excellence (Office of BPM)
 Strategic BPM Planning (Business and IT)
 Facilitated Process Improvement Workshops
 Business Analysis in the context of process improvement
 Training and guidance in the use of Blueworks Live
 Identification and definition of business rules
 Data Architecture and Business Process alignment
 Ongoing, longer-term BPM consulting/mentoring engagements
 Industry-specific expertise
Services We Provide

4. WHAT IS BUSINESS PROCESS
MANAGEMENT?
4

5. Business Process Management
5
BPM is Not a Methodology, a Standard or a Technology,
nor is it a Project with a discrete start and stop.
Six Sigma
Lean
Lean Sigma
Balanced Scorecard
Kaizen
Rummler-Brache
TQM
Etc…
Etc…
ISO 9000
Websphere BPM 8.0
Pega
Aris

6. Business Process Management
6
“Business Process Management (BPM) is a holistic management approach
that encompasses all aspects of a business including Strategy, People,
Processes and Technology, in order to deliver value to customers and other
stakeholders.”
BPM is about fundamentally changing the way
you view and manage your business
“Operational Transformation is the next frontier of business advantage.”
Peter Fingar and Joseph Bellini

7. Current Trends
7
“Broadly speaking, investing in better coordination and management of process work
has been on the rise, while incremental approaches are slowly declining, or at least
being integrated into larger, organization-wide BPM initiatives..” *
bpm
six sigma Lean six sigma
Enterprise architectureService oriented architecture
*BPTrends, The State of Business Process Management, Celia Wolf, Paul Harmon : www.bptrends.com

8. Challenges
 Limited resources
 Competing priorities
 Standardization (methods, technologies)
 Increasing demands from both the business and customers
 Management demand to show ROI
 Gain process maturity and foster an environment of continuous
improvement
 Struggling with complexity and change
8

9. Realizing Your Business Strategy
 The only way organizations can deliver value to their customers is
via cross-organizational business processes
 How well we execute our business strategy is determined by how
well we manage and execute our business processes
9

10. Traditional Management Model  Redundant activities/duties
 Misaligned incentives/
compensation
 Isolated measurement
model
 Limited reuse
 Multiple breakpoints
 Multiple moments of truth
 No cross-organization
controlCorporate
Dept A Etc.Dept B
Departmental Silo
Perspective
Traditional
Hierarchical
Management
Customer Customer

11. The Customer Experience
11
 Discontinuous thinking leads to disjointed customer
experiences…
How many people or departments did I have to talk to just to get
my issue resolved?
“Before I transfer you, is
there anything else I
can help you with?”

12. Process-Oriented Model  Begin and end with the
customer experience in mind
 Incentives based on end-to-
end process performance
 Fewer handoffs, fewer
breakpoints
 Few moments of truth
 Process measures providing
visibility
Corporate
Function A Etc.Function B
Cross-Departmental
Perspective
Customer
Process 1
Process 2
Process 3Customer

13. “At the heart of business process change is the notion
of discontinuous thinking – of breaking away from the
outdated rules and fundamental assumptions that
underlie operations. Unless we change these rules, we
are merely re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.”
Mike Hammer
Changing the Business Model

14. Recognize the Signs of Process Failure
 Even the best of processes become out of date and require
modification
 Strategy not embraced, not clearly articulated
 Unclear, limited communication mechanisms
 Top down and bottom up
 Functional metrics (or none at all)
 Manual controls (checking and re-checking)
 Personal systems – Technology not keeping pace
 Spreadsheets
 Desktop databases
 Process workflow implemented through email systems
 Staff working excessive overtime
 Poorly or non-integrated systems
 Frequent reorganizations

15. “We trained hard, but it seemed that every time we were beginning
to form up into teams, we would be reorganized.
I was to learn later in life that we tend to meet any new situation
by reorganizing; and a wonderful method it can be for creating
the illusion of progress while producing confusion, inefficiency,
and demoralization.”
Petronius (c. 27-66 AD)
• Aid to Nero - Emperor of Rome
Recognize the Signs of Process Failure

16. Business needs to become more ‘Self Aware’
16
In Psychology
The Gestalt ‘Cycle of Awareness’ is the notion that there is a process by which
people start with a PERCEPTION of their environment
This is followed by an AWARENESS of their actual needs and desires

17.  Business should be no different
 People have a PERCEPTION of how things (processes) are occurring within their
organizations
 AWARENESS comes when we begin to examine those processes and find that
they may not have been operating anything like our perceptions
 We were unaware:
 How long things were actually taking
 How much waste we were generating (time, cost, resources)
 The opportunities we were missing
 Our customers’ opinions of our products or services were not what we thought
 Our processes were not really aligned with our business strategy
 Losing a handful of key people could bring our business to a standstill
 How reliant we were on personal systems (e.g. spreadsheets, email)
Business ‘Awareness’

18. Business ‘Awareness’
 With new insights, business leaders can begin making decisions
with greater understanding, awareness and confidence
 Decisions about what needs to change to realize goals and objectives
 Which areas of the business are causing the greatest constraints on
performance
 How best to apply technology
 How to organize to achieve improved process execution
 What needs to be done to ensure customer satisfaction
 How to maintain a competitive advantage in today’s global market
 How to react quickly and efficiently to opportunities and external
threats

19. Six Key Areas of Business Awareness
19
Strategy
Process
Performance
Customer
Change
Technology

20.  Gain and share understanding of your business strategy, goals and
objectives
 Make strategy real from senior management through everyone in
the enterprise
 Clarify, Communicate, Execute
 When decisions are made whether it be a reorganization or
investment in new technology, FIRST understand how those
decisions:
 Fit into the business strategy
 Will help achieve the goals and objectives
 Strategy Awareness is when everyone in the organization can state
explicitly where you are going and:
 Why their role is important
 How they contribute to strategic success
Strategy Awareness

21.  Process Awareness is knowing how your processes ARE being
performed, not just how you THINK they are being performed
 How long they take
 How much they costs to execute
 How many people are needed
 What controls are in place
 How standard the tasks are
 Before making any business or technology decisions…
 Understand your processes
 Model (visualize) them for clarification and communication
 Verify what and how things are being done
Process Awareness

22. Process Models
 Processes are invisible
 They need to be modeled (visualized)
 For understanding and clarity
 To communicate what is actually happening
 As a baseline for change…where we are today
 To provide direction for where you want to go
 Process models are the blueprint of your business
 Would you build a house without a blueprint?
 Why would you attempt to run a multi-million dollar business without
one?

23. “Give the power to manage and change processes to your business
process owners …and focus on how to enable faster change.”
Business Process Management –The Third Wave By
Howard Smith and Peter Fingar
 Initiate, encourage and back process change
 Understand what the process should do
 Promote process value
 Define and monitor process performance
 Work for the best interest of the enterprise (end-to-end process)
not just the department
Process Owners

24. Organize Around Process Teams
 Fewer handoffs means fewer break points
 Teams cross-trained to support process activities vs. individual
‘heroic’ efforts
 Team responsibility vs. blaming individuals
 Process owner responsible for empowering teams
 Teams are rewarded based on process performance

25. Performance Awareness
 Performance Awareness is the discipline to identify key
performance indicators (KPI’s), actually measure process
performance AND tie it to continuous improvement
 A recent industry survey* revealed a shocking 50% of respondents
say they never or rarely define performance measurements
 A stunning 65% say that “dedicated” process managers never or
rarely use data to measure the success of their process execution!
*Source: BP Trends, February 2010: “The State of
Business Process Management 2010”.

26. Measure Success
“When you can measure what you are speaking about and
express it in numbers you know something about it ;
but when you cannot measure it, when you cannot express
it in numbers, your knowledge is of a meager and
unsatisfactory kind.”
Lord Kelvin

27. Individual Performance
27

28. Team Performance
28

29. Business Monitoring
29

30. What Should be Measured
 Your customer doesn’t care about
 Your production costs
 How many calls your call center can take per day
 About your cool new data warehouse
 They care about getting the products and services they
asked for, at a fair price, when they were told they
would get them…and when they need help, they get it
 Don’t ask me “Is there is anything else I can help you
with?” when you haven’t helped me at all!
 Start with the Customer… Measure results not activities

31. Customer Awareness
 Look at your business through the eyes of your
Customer…Would you want to do business with your
company?
 What is your organization’s definition of a Successful
Customer Experience…is it the same as your customer’s
definition?
 Design your process around your customer…they are the
reason you have a job

32. How we see ourselves is often different than how our customers see us…

33.  Start looking Outside In vs. Inside Out
 Outside In thinking gives a whole new perspective on your business
 Does the customer care that we are doing this?
Change Your Perspective
‘The Outside-In Corporation’ – Barbara Bund

34. Tear Down the Silos
Hours, Days, Weeks, Months?
Who is your Customer?
Sacred Cow

35. Simplify Business Processes
 Complexity leads to
 Us doing the wrong things
 Losing sight of the customer
 The customer losing interest in us
“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication” Leonardo da Vinci
 Simplifying business processes means enabling and
managing business decisions
 Extract business rules from business processes
 Encapsulate business rules in decision models
 Enable ownership of processes and decisions

36. Understand
what is
important to
your
Customers
Change Your Perspective

37.  Awareness that things over which you have no control are going to
change what you do
 No matter how good you think your business is today, things
change
 Market conditions change
 Political environments change
 Your processes become stale, under-performing
 Continually monitor your processes in the context of both
internal and external forces
 Your competition is not sitting still…do you want your customers as
badly as they do?
 Do you want someone else to take your job because the process needs
improving?
Change Awareness

38.  Recognizing the need to change is a first step in recognizing the need
for Business Process Management
The Need to Change
Internal Forces
External Forces

39. Take Action
39
 Take swift and informed action
 Show return and business value quickly
 Quick wins are essential
 Don’t fall into analysis paralysis and don’t get bogged down on
‘future state’ debates
 You don’t have to boil the ocean…Think big, act small
 Focus on the greatest constraint based on your process objectives
 Theory of Constraints
‘The Goal’ – Eli Goldratt
But…you Must understand your
processes for it to work.

40. Change and Decision Management
40

41. Technology Awareness
41

42. Key Components of Business Process Management
 Model Business Processes
 BLueWorks Live
• Scoping
• Visualize Processes
 Orchestrate Process Workflow
 Business Process Manager 8.x
• Adding execution components to business process models
• Implementing process workflow
 Externalize Business Rules
 WebSphere Operational Decision Manager (ODM)
• Implementation and management of business rules
 Monitor Performance
 Websphere Business Monitor
 Cognos
42

43. Typical Process Problems
43
Executive
Management
Customer
Service
Invoice
Reconciliation
Teams
Finance
and Ops
Account
Administration 1. Unstructured Tasks
and Communication
(ex: Paper or email)
2. Inefficient Working
Environment Spans
Systems
3. Inconsistent
Prioritization
4. Incomplete or
Inaccurate Data Flow
Between Systems
5. Lack of Control Over
System and Business
Events (Exceptions)
6. Poor Visibility into
Process Performance
1
2
3
5
4
6
1
2
3
4
5
6

44. BPM Brings Order to the Chaos
44
Executive
Management
Customer
Service
Risk Management
Teams
Finance
and Ops
Account
Administration 1. Automate workflow &
decision making
2. Reduce errors and
improve consistency
3. Standardize resolution
across geographies
4. Leverage existing
systems and data
5. Monitor for business
events and initiate actions
6. Real-time visibility and
process control
Customer Benefits:
• Huge Reduction in
Manual Work, Errors
• Faster, More Consistent
Issue Resolution
• Easier to Manage the
Business
• Consistent Case Handling
1
2
3
4
5
6

45. Parting Thoughts
 Processes are invisible, they need to be modeled to be understood
and communicated
 Process ownership is critical to success
 Externalize your business rules
 Measure and monitor process performance
 Manage business processes not departments
 Leverage BPM technologies for maximum process improvement
 BPM is a journey not a destination
 Always focus on the Customers Perspective
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46. Parting Thoughts
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“There is only one boss. The customer.
And he can fire everybody in the company from the
chairman on down, simply by spending his money
somewhere else.”
Sam Walton

47. 47
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Howard Webb
practice director, advisory & consulting
prolifics | office: (646) 380-2948| mobile: (314) 602-3341
Howard.webb@prolifics.com | yahoo IM: hwebb_prolifics