BPI or business process improvement is a systematic approach of helping organizations to attain effective and efficient results within the business model. This method works by deciding on the purpose and goal of a company. In using BPI method, it is essential to know the existing structure of a firm, its current procedures and other concerns.
Managerial, production and support activities are all under the category of business processes. They involve a series of steps to generate a perfect output. Knowing the conditions and activities of every step allows business experts to enhance organizational performance.
They do this through eliminating unnecessary and merging steps. To help businessmen to be more capable in their processes, tools for business process improvement must be used.
These tools can help in identifying the weakness and strength of the business.
Tools for Business Process Improvement
Most businessmen know the different tools for business process improvement. For those who are not aware of these tools, here they are:
• Process Charting –In 1921, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers introduced this tool. It was used in the observing and tracking process. As stated by Ben B. Grahams, these set of symbols alone are not enough. Therefore, it should be supplemented with specific instruction or technique.
• Basic Flow-Charting – This tool offers different applications or approaches. The typical example of this is a swim lane diagram. It divides the flowchart into distinct rows. Every row has its own representation. It can be either a people or location involved in the business processes.
• IDEF Standards – IDEF is a hierarchical modeling method. It means that it can be applied to numerous organizations. It is also used for visualizing and modeling methods within a firm to make and apply decisions.
• Detail Process Charting – This was developed by Ben S. Graham in 1940. This business process improvement tool enables you to avoid confusion. It also secures you against loose ends.
Effective Steps to Business Process Improvement
For additional information about the topic, understanding the top five steps to business process improvement is a must. These steps are the following:
1. Identify and Grab Opportunities and Create Performance Measure – During this step, business process auditing is very essential. It provides a fast and affordable way of recognizing processes. It also helps the team to know where they will focus their attention and utilize efforts.
After deciding on the exact business method that needs some changes, your next move is to create a target performance for the process. As advised, your objectives need to be realistic to have an ideal framework.
2. Classify and Validate the Existing Process and Ask for Support– After setting up your objective, it is a must to find out how far you will go to reach that goal.
You also need to know some possible obstacles that may stand in your way while reaching your objective. This can be done through explaining why you want improvement. Every business process improvement team requires being cautious. They should also avoid suggesting selections for a change during this stage.
3. Collect, Analyze Data and Make a Change – Strategies in collecting data depend on your needed process. Methods of data collection often involve interviews, questionnaires, focus group meetings, measurement and observation. To analyze the data, you can use the different BPI tools.
In making a change, the business process improvement team needs to make an option. Techniques like nominal group, paired comparison and multi-voting can be ideal options. Your option should be certified to guarantee the acceptance of stakeholder and risk mitigation.
4. Re-define the Process and Plan Implementation – After settling the required changes, you need to illustrate the revised process. During implementation, you need to employ different activities. The typical examples of these are automation of parts of the business method, relocation of responsibilities, outsourcing and more.
5. Gain Approval and Evaluate Success – To gain an approval for your plan, you need to explain why changes are necessary. You also need to collect the feedback of the stakeholders. Once the plan has been implemented, it is best to evaluate them.
Business process improvement emphasizes measureable outcomes in your company. With company statistics, you can easily track things that need to be improved and maintained. Since the numbers always give accurate results, you can take advantage of them.
As compared to other procedures, business process improvement aims to modify and enhance your company practices. It focuses more on the actual makeover that can help in refining the qualities of your business establishment.
Once you subject your company to this process improvement method, it would be easy for you to achieve great success. Do you want to make your business stand out among the rest? Then, learn how to make improvements and see how it can change your business operations now!