Date post: | 02-Dec-2014 |
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Getting Traction for “Process” What the Experts Forget
Prepared for Dafna Levy’s blog BPM Intro
Alec SharpConsultantClariteq Systems Consulting Ltd.West Vancouver, BC, [email protected]
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Traction for “Process” Speaker background
Alec Sharp, Clariteq Systems Consulting25 years consulting and facilitation experience:• Business Process Redesign / Improvement
(discover, model, analyze, improve processes)• Application Requirements Definition
(Use Cases and Service Specifications)• Data Modeling and Management
Consulting and instruction worldwide
Principal author –“Workflow Modeling” (Artech House 2001) (second edition Fall 2008)
The point……I spend a lot of time working with “process” – often with people who don’t know, don’t want to know, or actively dislike it.
Applications
Data
Process
3
Traction for “Process” From an August WfMC newsletter…
Dear Colleague,
Despite decades of theories and methodologies from BPR to Six Sigma, the rise of Business Process Maturity Models, and a wide variety of technical standards for Business Process Management, many organizations still find that processes are unowned, unmanaged, and out of control - in short, many organizations are "process ignorant."• Theories and methodologies – exactly… theories!• BPR – “bastards planning redundancies”• Six Sigma – the “Six Stigma” phenomenon• BP Maturity Models – “Who says?” “Who cares?”• Technical standards – BPMN, and what it’s for and not for• BPM – see “BPR” above…
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Traction for “Process” Factors to consider to gain traction for “process”
1 – Reactions to “process” – not what we’d hope
2 – Total lack of clarity on what constitutes a “business process”
3 – “Process improvement” means someone is doing a bad job
4 – Use of methods that are unsuitable for mere mortals
5 – Not applying the new mantras of “conceptual thinking” and “simplicity” to the world of business processes
Disclaimer: Not exhaustive,not a methodology – a 30 minute
mix of:• observations and ideas• examples• tips and techniques
5
Traction for “Process”
Strange but true…Many people do not find “process” a fascinating topic!
Quiz: what words or phrases come to mind for most people when the topic is “process?”
What I wanted to hear…• Eliminate friction• Work together / pulling together• Cooperation• Alignment (my favourite term when discussing “process”)• Working to our potential• Free up time for value-added work• Higher job satisfaction• etc.
1 – What they think when they hear “process”
6
Traction for “Process”
What I actually heard…• Downsizing or outsourcing• Fix the process, lose my job• Boring• Dehumanizing• Efficiency experts• Dumbing-down• Stifle creativity• Bureaucracy and red tape• “How will I get around the process?”• “It won’t work for us – we’re different!”• “Process, process, process – I am so sick of process!”• “Ewww – the P word.”
So…be careful how much you talk about “process,” avoid labels
1 – What they think when they hear “process”
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Traction for “Process” 2 – Clarify what is / is not a “business process”
True, but useless…
“A business process is a linked set of activities
that collectively deliver value to the customer of the process.”
“A business process can be decomposed into a hierarchy of processes.”
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Traction for “Process” 2 – Acknowledge varying opinions on what a “process” is
Bigger than a business process:- Customer Relationship Management - A “process area” or “process family” (a related set of business processes)
Smaller than a business process:- Identify Prospect or Set Up Customer- A sub-process or activity or fragment
Differences around size
Confused with systems:- Our Oracle CRM process
Confused with organisations:- Our Customer Service process
Confused with technology:- Our e-Business process
Differences around concept
Just right:- Acquire Customer- A true business process
If you can’t get agreement on what a business process is, you’ll have a hard time modeling, improving, or managing one!
Much smaller than a business process:- Calculate Credit Limit or Create Customer Account- A procedure or use case
9
Traction for “Process”
Process: a defined sequence of steps and decisions, to achieve a particular result
Problem: diving too quickly into the work – the “how” –before clarifying the result – the “what”
A simple method for clarifying “what”1. Name potential process in “verb – noun” format2. Flip name into “noun is verbed” format3. Ensure this is the intended result of the process
- each instance must be discrete and identifiable - instances must be “countable”
4. No mushy verbs! Manage, monitor, administer, handle, track, support, maintain, etc
2 – What does a good process look like?
Steps and decisions(“work”)Event Result
Action or decisionTime (temporal event)Condition
Workflow models showthe flow of work:who, does what, when
ProductServiceInformation
AcquireCustomer
Customer is Acquired
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Traction for “Process” 2 – Example: how big or small is a business process?
Telecom company redesigns Service Provisioning processes, makes things worse!
Service Order
Managementprocess
FacilitiesManagement
process
Service Assurance
process
Installationprocess
Customer Updateprocess
Customer Service
Network Monitoring
Installation &
Repair
Customer Records &
Billing
Facilities Management
Process: Move Telephone Service
Process: Move Telephone ServiceTrigger:Customer wants telephone service moved.
Customer result:Telephone service is moved
1:1 1:1 1:1 1:1
Telco result:Active account with receivable posted
Capture Service Order
Confirm Service Quality
Install Premise
Equipment
Activate Customer Account
Assign Network Facilities
Vague process naming, confusing process with organization, not focusing on what the client wanted from the triggering event
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Traction for “Process” 2 – Be prepared to deal with objections
VP of Workflow at banking organization:“Typical consultant – that’s just semantics”
First principle – “demonstrate, not convince”
Me:“That’s fair –
let’s try it with your processes…”
“Oh-oh… this isn’t going the
way I planned”
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Traction for “Process”
2 – Discover, sequence, link “Commercial Loans” processes
IdentifyProspect
QualifyProspect
SolicitProspect
RegisterCustomer
AcceptLoan
Application
AssessLoan
Application
FundLoan
SettleLoan
SolicitPayment
ReceivePayment
DistributePayment
BookLoan
IdentifyProspect
QualifyProspect
SolicitProspect
RegisterCustomer
AcceptLoan
Application
AssessLoan
Application
FundLoan
SettleLoan
SolicitPayment
ReceivePayment
DistributePayment
BookLoan
1:1 1:1 1:1 1:1 1:1 M:1
1:1 1:M 1:1 1:M 1:1
IdentifyProspect
QualifyProspect
SolicitProspect
RegisterCustomer
AcceptLoan
Application AssessLoan
Application
FundLoan
SettleLoan
SolicitPayment
ReceivePayment
DistributePayment
BookLoan
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Traction for “Process”
Settle Loan
Collect PaymentGrant Loan
2 – Process Area, Business Processes, Subprocesses
M:1
1:M
1:M
Acquire Customer
IdentifyProspect
QualifyProspect
SolicitProspect
RegisterCustomer
1:1 1:1 1:1
AcceptLoan
Application
AssessLoan
Application
FundLoan
BookLoan
1:1 1:1 1:1 SolicitPayment
ReceivePayment
DistributePayment
1:1 1:1
No sub- processes
identified yet
Commercial Loans Management
• Process Area• Business Process• Subprocess
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Traction for “Process”
Grant Loan
2 – Five sensible guidelines for “business process”
1. Activities linked 1:1 are probably part of the same process2. “Action verb – noun” naming that indicates primary result3. Generally triggered by an event (action or time) outside your control4. At the end is a result that makes a stakeholder happy5. The same “token” or “work item” moves through the whole process,
although it will be transformed (e.g., “loan application” -> “loan”)
AcceptLoan
Application
AssessLoan
Application
FundLoan
BookLoan
Trigger:Customer submits loan application
Customer result:Loan funds are received
Bank result:Loan asset on books
Token: A loan, from application to booked loan
1:1 1:1 1:1
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Traction for “Process” 2 – Summary: what is a business process?
Clear, defensible, understandable guidelines:Naming in “action verb – noun” formatDiscrete, countable results
Logisticsprocess
Salesprocess
Productionprocess
Accounts Receivable
process
Ultimately, business processes are all about alignment
LogisticsSales Production Accounts Receivable
Fulfill Order: an end-to-end business process
Capture order
Build order
Transport WIP
Collect payment
1 triggering event: Customer signals demand
1 result for each stakeholderCustomer: Goods acceptedOwner: Payment receivedPerformer: Commission creditAssociation: Order statistics
Eliyahu Goldratt: “Local optimization yields global suboptimization.”Local (functional or departmental) improvement is often achieved by adding constraints that hurt the wholeProcess focus: shift from task efficiency to outcomes
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Traction for “Process”
Sales Production Accounts Receivable
Logistics
3 – Let’s agree – functions are not bad!
Earliesttriggering
event
FinalresultsProcess: Fulfill order
• Specialized skills, knowledge, tools• A centre of expertise – an efficient
way to provide resources across multiple processes
• Work is ongoing• Organizational design is usually
based on functional areas• We prefer not to use the somewhat
negative term “functional silos”
FunctionProcess• End-to-end business processes
deliver valued results by aligning the objectives and work effort of multiple functions
• Results are discrete – “countable”• Must be explicitly identified and
managed as a whole
The people who manage and work in these specialized areas often don’t like the term “functional silo”
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Traction for “Process” 3 – My favourite picture
Function 1
Function 2
Function 4
Function 3
Business Process
Under each function, list:
• Performance goals for each function
• Applications used by each function
• Data required by each function
• Technology platforms used by each function
• Core responsibilities by function
Nothing else seems to illustrate the disconnects as well
Criticalresults
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Traction for “Process”
Sales Production Accounts Receivable
Logistics
3 - Three common obstacles to performance
Process: Fulfill Order
1. Processes are not identified properly and made visible
2. No “process owner” to set overall direction and resolve conflict
3. The goals of the functions often conflict with the goals of the process
Who owns the process? Aprocess owner/steward/officer must be appointed
2
3Logistics goal:lower shipping costs
Process goal: Shortest cycle time
1If the process isn’t identified and managed as a whole, it will never get better on its own!
Sales goal:late-quarter sales
A/R goal:precision vs rapid collection
VP Production
VPFinance
VP Sales
VP Logistics
Production goal:minimize setup
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Traction for “Process” 3 – The process consultant’s philosophy
That’s why we must…• make it clear – what “processes” really are• make it visible – how their processes behave • make it blame-free – because everyone’s working hard…and then, let the facts speak for themselves
We must also help everyone understand that…• there’s more to improvement than “faster and cheaper”• what matters the most are the human factors
“Honest criticism is hard to take, especially from a relative, friend, acquaintance, or stranger.”
Franklin P. Jones
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Traction for “Process” 3 – Process goals: not always “faster and cheaper”
Great processes don’t try to be all things to all people – strive to be great at one differentiator, and good at the other two…
OperationalExcellence
ProductLeadership
CustomerIntimacy
Consistent, predictable, error-free, and efficient.
More efficient, but less flexible in changing direction or meeting needs of individual customers.
Tailors service delivery to the processes of individual customers.
More flexible for adapting to needs of individual customers, but less efficient.
Continuous and rapid introduction of new
products and services.
More flexible for adapting to needs of
new offerings, but less efficient. The original reference:
The Discipline of Market Leaders Michael Treacy and Fred Wiersma Addison-Wesley 1995
Too often, companies lack focus, or focus on the wrong discipline.
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Traction for “Process” 3 – Critical factors: more than just workflow and IT
Business Process
enables enables enables enables enables enables
WorkflowDesign
Information Systems
Motivation & Measurement
Human Resources
Policies and Rules
Facilities (or other)
Business mission, strategy, goals, & objectives
Culture, core competencies, and management style
drives drives
Process ownership, objectives, & differentiator
drives*
• Actors• Steps &
decisions• Flow -
sequence and handoffs
• Applications• Data• Information• Integration
• Employee assessment and incentives
• “Reward and punishment”
• Process performance indicators
• Constraints• Business
rules that the process enforces
• External & internal
• Workplace layout
• Equipment• Furnishings
• Skills• Matching
actors to tasks
• Recruitment, selection and placement
Enabler – A factor that can be adjusted to impact process performance.
* *
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Traction for “Process” 3 – Assess process by all enablers
• Mismatch of work needs and facility
• No support for team work
• Layout that impedes flow of people or material
• Unavailable information
• Re-keying of data
• Missing functionality
• Awkward interfaces
• Lack of support for workflow
Business Process
enables enables enables enables enables enables
• Too many actors
• Non-value - added steps
• Duplicate steps
• Delays and bottlenecks
• Excessively sequential
• Inappropriate performer or process measures
• Internal rather than customer focus
• Measures of tasks vs. outcomes
• Mismatches between task value and performer
• Inappropriate recruiting and placement
• Too little empowerment
WorkflowDesign
Information Systems
Motivation & Measurement
Human Resources
Policies and Rules
Facilities (or other)
• Out-of-date policies or numerical limits
• Excessive review or approval steps
• Restrictive labor contracts
• Overly complex coding
Business mission, strategy, goals, & objectives
Culture, core competencies, and management style
drives drives
Process ownership, objectives, & differentiator
drives*
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Traction for “Process”
Many techniques to choose from…• Simple swimlane diagram• Traditional ANSI flowchart• Data Flow Diagram (DFD)• Process action diagram• IDEF0 diagram• ARIS EPC -
Event-response Process Chain)• Business Interaction Model • OMG BPMN BPD -
Business Process Modeling Not’n Business Process Diagram
• OMG UML Activity Diagram• and many more…
4 – Make it visible: choose appropriate techniques
Challenge – Showing how the process really works, in a way that everyone can understand, highlighting what matters.
Process Area
Process Process Process Process
Sub- Process
Sub- Process
Sub- Process
Decomposition
We use decomposition to clarify scope
Workflow Model (Swimlane Diagram)
Initially, use simple swimlane diagrams to show the reality of process workflow.
Later!
Initially!
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Traction for “Process” 4 – Graphic principles for involvement & understanding
Abstracting
Using visual cuesconsistently
Maskingunnecessary detail
Highlightingwhat matters
Keeping implementation-level widgets out of business-level diagrams
Models should aid understanding by:
Practice voluntary simplicity!
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Traction for “Process”
Complete semester enrollment (partial)
Prepareenrollmentpackage
Submitenrollmentpackage
Decide ifsupporting
documentationneeded
Decide toproceed
Note - This is simplified - we haven'tshown the "transport mechanisms."
Confirmcourse
prerequisites
yes
no
Decide ifwaiver
required
Give upno
Providesupporting
documentation
no
Approve orreject waiver
request
Enroll studentper
instructions
Prepareconfirmation
yes Must be printedand signed.
yes
days later!
GrantFinancial Aid
Submitenrollmentpackage
Etc.
4 – Simple swimlane diagrams support understanding
• Simple – easy to read• Shows all actors and
therefore all handoffs• Shows sequence and
dependency left to right• Shows reality –
not “sugar-coated”
Key points!
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Traction for “Process” 4 - Detail and complexity impede understanding
Might be a fine system or data flow diagrams, but from a business perspective…
• Visually intimidating (too many symbols)
• Hard to follow (left to right flow?)
• Doesn’t illuminate what matters to the business (who, what, when)
And so…, It may be inaccurate because the client can’t verify it, so it probably misses a lot of “interesting” human activity
“Complexity is
for amateurs,
simplici
ty is fo
r exp
erts.”
27
Traction for “Process” 4 – Comparison - a “great” workflow model
!
!“Order and simplification are the first steps to mastery of a subject.”
Thomas Mann
28
Traction for “Process”
1) Visual – show sequence and dependency: flow lines strictly go in from the left, out from the right
2) Accessible – use the simplest possible set of symbols
3) Honest – no “deception by sanitization”: shows every actor that holds the work
4 – Three keys to keeping workflow models relevant
Wrong!
Sorry – maybe it’s time to get rid of the old flowchart template, and re-think your tools !
Right!
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Traction for “Process” An ongoing issue
Sharp’s postulate: Implementation-level techniques will always swim upstream into the domain of business analysis• Relational Database Design –> data modeling
(and most data modeling tools were at least originally thinly disguised physical DB design tools)
• O-O technologies –> OOAD• UML –> E-R modeling, workflow modeling, etc.• BPMN –> business process workflow modeling
Corollary: Any successful technique will be applied outside the domain for which it is suitable• “Everything’s an object!”• “A business process is simply a very large use case!”
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Traction for “Process” 5 – Simplicity matters!
There just isn’t time anymore for unnecessary complexity
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Traction for “Process” 5 – The lost art of progressive detail
Scope Concept Detail
• Planning• A “context diagram”• Clarify boundaries,
process vs. organization• Decomposition• Boxes
• Understanding • “Business-oriented”
overview of concepts• Maximize participation• The “flow of work,” case
by case (“tell a story”)• Boxes and lines
• Specification• All detail needed for
implementation• Completeness and rigor• Detailed flow (perhaps in
BPMN form) plus “out of context” rules, procedures, logic, etc.
• Boxes, lines, operators, …
Key points!• Multiple diagrams for each process – “one process, one case, one scenario” per diagram.
• Possibly two levels of detail – “handoff” & “service”
Org.Org. Org. Org.Org.
Process
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Traction for “Process” 5 – Progressive detail – the key points
All types of modeling should progress through three well defined levels of detail, each providing a different perspective for different audiences
Key Point! Getting through the “concept” level • takes approximately 20% of the effort• delivers very high business value
The level of precision and rigor that you need in order to build something is far greater than that which is necessary for the business to understandif they’re going to like what you build.
Scope
Concept
Detail
*** Finalist – run-on sentence of the year ***
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Traction for “Process” Key points
The products
SimplicityConsistency and repetition
Attitude“It’s a privilege to learn about your business!”“It’s new to me!”“Seek first to understand”Business first, technology later
1. Recognize that not everyone is thrilled by “process”
2. Provide clarity on what a “business process” is
3. Address cross-functional issues, and make it blame free
4. Avoid the deep dive into detailed and complex models
5. Simplicity and conceptual thinking
Thanks!Alec [email protected]