The cornerstones of any organisation are its people and its processes and the technologies that support the people and processes. Business Process Management ensures that the processes are documented, agreed, as efficient as possible (integrated and automated) and are delivered consistently. But to achieve this state of “process perfection”, (if that is possible!) it is useful to define where you are today and map the process changes. These process definition tools will provide the ability to analyse, improve and re-engineer the business towards process automation.

At the outset then Business Process Management projects will start with mapping the processes. The "as-is". The "what do we do?" The "how do we do it?" The customers of C I Systems can confirm the premise that “any organisation which documents its business processes will improve its organisational efficiency by 10%”. There are many customer experiences to show that what appears to be minor changes in processes can have dramatic effects on cash flow, service delivery and customer satisfaction.

Business Process Mapping should not take place in isolation. The C I Systems top down approach to process improvement involves understanding the project objectives of the management team. Process efficiency can be won in many ways but should be determined by the culture of the organisation. This may well start with mission statements which define the purpose of the organisation and describe what sets it apart from others in its sector or industry. Beyond this there may be vision statements which define where the organisation is going to provide a clear picture of the desired future position.

In this way the business strategy can be broken down in to the project objectives. It is these objectives that are the core from which your organisation can define the behaviours that will enable it to achieve its aims. They identify the measures that your organization will use to track its progress, and help identify the initiatives that will improve your performance.

With these building blocks in place, C I Systems would commence the BPR exercise. As a product led consultancy we have selected PROTOS as the software of choice. The PROTOS graphical interface allows for fast production of documentation, maps organisational and data objects to the process and incorporates meta data fields to measure activities. Analysis views of swim lanes or detailed CRUD or RACI reports provide the evidence for process improvement. Where the data is known PROTOS incorporates simulation software for “what-if” analysis.

When looking at business processes for an organisation it is important to look at the complete organisation, and the full end to end processes. Departmental process improvement can improve the efficiency and gain cost savings locally, but this rarely has an impact on service delivery and enterprise advantage. A top-down root and branch analysis is required to appreciate the interfaces between all departments. This starts by looking at the processes from the customer’s viewpoint: What is required of the organisation, from whom and in what time-frame. The interface between front and back office and a co-ordinated approach to service delivery

In manufacturing PROTOS has been used by CI Systems to deliver LEAN process improvement and incorporate Value Stream mapping. In Local Government we are working with a number of organisations seeking process change for e-government and the need to move service delivery to a new front office environment.

In all Business Process Management projects the careful definition of the requirements has delivered process efficiencies, complete understanding of the business and a route map to future success. Business Process Management may need investment in workflow technologies, or they may require better use of existing systems. Corporate Information Systems have delivered the justification for both.

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