Question

Polystar organization operates a large number of processes in various departments. The organization is embarking on its first Business Process Management (BPM) journey. You are appointed as the BPM project leader to plan and oversee Polystar organization's BPM journey. Your responsibilities are to advise the company on how to embark on their BPM journey and implement proper business process governance so that benefits to the organization are realized and risks are reduced.

a) What attributes would you consider and why when deciding on which process(es) to include for BPM in Polystar organization?

b) What does Business Process Improvement and Business Process Re-engineering mean in the context of working with Polystar’s processes?

c) What are the steps involved in setting up governance for Polystar’s customer service processes?

d) What are the benefits of operating a governance model at Polystar?

Answer 1

a) Below are the major attributes to be considered when deciding on the processes to include for BPM in Polystar.

• Disconnection: This attribute checks for the lack of integration or disconnect between processes. It reveals processes that operate in siloes, lacking measurements or not having measurements as per company objectives
• Functional integration: This attribute checks if the processes are functionally integrated, documented and measured in an uniform manner. It reveals processes that lack in cross-functional alignment.
• Intracompany integration: This attribute checks for processes that are cross-functionally aligned. It reveals processes that have limited external integration.

The corresponding information technology processes should also be considered to identify the below types. This would further contribute to decide the maturity of the business processes identified and their suitability for BPM.

• Batch processes and redundant data
• Processes using shared data
• Visibility of relevant data and processes to key suppliers and customers

b) In the context of working with Polystar's processes, Business Process Improvement and Business Process Re-engineering should cover the below:

• Identification of processes that can be improved, in keeping with the quality management approach. This would be a continuous process until the process no longer continues to be relevant or useful.
• Identify processes that have outlived their usefulness, for re-engineering, to create new processes through innovation. This would then lead to radically different processes that again need to be continually improved.

c) Below are the steps involved in setting up governance for Polystar’s customer service processes:

• Collate customer data from different channels, such as, social media, call centers, the CRM system, and customer surveys
• Create a group of senior managers to review the latest customer data and prioritize it based on the improvement of the customer's experience and the financial impact
• Provide inputs from the Business Process Improvement group to the senior management team on the progress of customer experience improvement initiatives
• Make an executive sponsor responsible to ensure that the customer experience improvement initiatives are being supported by the concerned teams and progressing as planned

d) Following are the benefits of operating a governance model at Polystar:

• Increased trust levels among stakeholders - leading to repeat business
• Better chance of resolving systemic issues in a timely manner
• Creation of a positive culture in the organization
• Reduction in capital costs - due to goodwill
• Increased levels of transparency - leading to reduced risks, higher levels of integrity and better management