Process Automation

Problem

In the Eighties we attend a "Revolution of the Quality". The companies had spent many millions of dollars and hours in Total Quality Management (TQM) and Continuous Improvement.

In the decade of ninety, the reengineering of processes started to be popular, being wide promoted by gurus as Michael Hammer and James Champy.

The efforts of reengineering had placed the companies in persecution of promises of dramatically improvements in quality terms, service, productivity and profit. The organizations had continued to invest of significant form; some had reached the improvements that they had been promised, but many others had not obtained it. The effect most significant of the " Reengineering Revolution " was the attention given to the business processes - with one consequent increase of the knowledge on the same ones.

Never the less, during this period, little attention was given relatively to that it could be faced as the main base: the improvement or optimisation of processes is dependent not only of the form in witch a process is drawn, but over all, of the form as it is managed.

Nowadays, the worldwide economic slowdown preceded by the fall of the companies “dot-com”, gave to the companies the possibility of concentrating in the best way to save money becoming the processes most efficient. Also in many cases, the companies had been forced to excuse diligent workers, collating now with the question how to make what they need with little resources.

In consequence, the majority of the companies of our days had realised that to remain competitive, to assure its survival and to be developed in the global economy, would have to map and manage its processes of business, making possible of this way a continued improvement.

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Solution

Any organization is composed of a set of processes - as much of nature technique as social. These processes are the typical activities of business that the company develops to generate value, to satisfy the necessities of its customers and to create income.

It must not have doubts of that the management of the processes of a company is the key for the success of the organization. Such as it happens in cooking, until the best prescription book is useless if the execution fails.

David A. Garvin, professor in Harvard Business School, thought about the subject in a recent article, “When a company defines its processes through the TQM or through reengineering, intends to get better processes. But these processes still have to be managed to allow more improvements. The way as is managed will determinate if the company carries through its all potential.” A successful management of processes requires documentation, analysis and continuous efforts of improvement to optimise and to redesign the form to keep the company competitive in a very dynamic environment business-oriented.

Innumerable sophisticated tools of modelling and simulation exist available to evaluate, to manage and to improve the processes of an organization, but all they must start with an understanding of the basic concepts: inputs, transactions and outputs of the process and relations between these.

Once defined, is possible:

·          Understand the way the processes interacts in “proper system business-oriented” of the company;

·          Localize defects in the processes that are to create problems in the system

·          Determine processes technician faults that are caused by imperfections in the social system;

·          Evaluate the activities that add value for the customers;

·          Optimise and improve workflows;

·          Identify processes that need be redesigned and/or areas that must be reorganized;

·          Improve the customer efficiency and satisfaction.

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Description

Management of Processes: Three Steps for an Improved Performance

When a process does not work as gliding a gap, a crisis, a fire happens. All these terms imply an urgency direction. The trend of the majority of the people who decide problems is to look the flame and to implement the necessary actions to extinguish. By this, they are praised and rewarded; there for, they had become efficient firemen.

Unhappily, erase the flame does not necessarily eliminate the fuel flow that took the fire to come out. The fast action decides the immediate crisis, but adds one ‘shunting line’ or one   ‘band aids’ to the process. These steps without added value fix the gap, but they leave its cause unbroken. With the time and exposed to the pressure, os ‘band aids’ tend to fall, placing in risk the organization. The fire returns and probably when is unexpected.

There his three steps to improve the process:

·          Mapping the System

·          Definition the Process Flows

·          Definition of the Source of the Gap and Fulfilling of the Gap.

1        - Mapping the System

When the results do not meet the expectations, there is a gap. In a competitive world, a small gap in the customer satisfaction can quickly be changed into a great gap in terms of share or market. Instead of making a constant management of the crises, the alternative is to isolate the causes. This step offers this possibility. As part of the first step of the Mapping System, the scope is widened to include all the business system - the combination of the processes of the company with the ones of its suppliers will have as resulted outputs desired by the customers.

When collated with one puzzle, the majority of the people look to the frame and the corners to establish the borders before seeing the details. There for, the methodology consists of following the typical process of problems resolution:

·          Identify existing and/or potential gaps of performance;

·          Determine its origin;

·          Attribute them the priority consonant the risk or potential chance that they offer;

·          Develop solutions that or minimizes or eliminates of time the gaps;

·          Implement the solutions;

·          Verify the successful fulfilling of the gap.

Before entering in a detailed decomposition of the processes, it is necessary to know where to explore - the System Mapping gives the structure and disciplines it is necessary to look at of holistic form before diving in the details. The System Mapping can be so including as an evaluation of all a company or so narrow as an only department or individual. The methods and the purpose are the same ones - to create a clear understanding of the reasons that take the system to behave of definitive form and which the actions to implement to optimise its performance.

From this step forward, the approach will have to be in the identification of the cause of the gap. The source can be internal of the company due to the drawing or execution of the process or until the organizational structure, forced for its suppliers, or until a combination of both. It is necessary to carry an analysis step by step; the definition of the flows of the process appears then as the second step in the Processes Management.

2        - Definition of the Process Flows

Also called Mapping Processes, the purpose here is to define clearly how the process works: who makes what, and when. The processes diverge inside of the company due to a variety of factors: different people with distinct aptitudes to work under instructions of different managers with different suppliers. The variation of inputs carries the variations in outputs.

Exist three main processes categories:

·          Central Process: The main activity that produces output that it is bought by the customers;

·          Process of Support Technician: It includes the activities that influence the performance of the central process;

·          Process of Social Support: The activities that influence the performance of the work force.

The support processes function as the foundations of a building, they tend to operate in the backstage, literally support the central work that generates the product or service for which the customer is willing to pay, but generally they are considered in one another level, not owners, many times are neglected and frequent undertaken. Examples of support processes include: accounting, human resources, systems of information and maintenance. They are essential for the success of the organization, but the customer does not identify them or its outputs as part of its specifications.

Independently of the central process be very to be well drawn and kept, a system of support badly constructed and kept, will eventually enter in collapse, dragging with it the central process.

An analysis and deeper understanding of these segments of process will help to determine the phase or where it finds an organization. In specific, these phases include:

·          As Is - the current process, including all its inefficiencies and the steps without added value;

·          Should Be - the original intention of the drawing, an exempt process of all the activities without added value;

·          Could Be - the theoretically possible one, using a "able to do" and admitting partial improvements.

3        - Definition of the Origin of the Gap and Fulfilling

The desired final result of this activity of improvement of processes includes been able to fill the gap.

Select a strategy of success to fill the gaps is a decision has as much of critic as of difficult.

In this phase, the strategic options of the company are the following ones:

·          Improve in a continuous form the existing operations, taking the company of the phase "As Is" for the phase "Should Be" of the process;

·          Redesign the operations, modifying radically the form as the work is made. This will take the company of the phase "Should Be" for the phase "Could Be" of the process.

With these steps complete, the true question is changed – the company needs Continues Improvement or needs a Progress (Redesign/Reorganization of the Processes of Business) in its performance?

The reply it will be given by the customers and the competition of the company. The customers can be unreasonable and to want the world, but if it is physically impossible then the attempts to satisfy will finish with its business. If its competition is able to satisfy these requirements, then it does not have choice.

Strategies of Improvement of Processes and "S-Curves"

When the purpose is to capitalize the available total chances, it is necessary to lead in account not only what it is theoretically possible, but what it is obtainable in accordance with the actual technological, cultural restrictions, of resources and capital. In its book “Innovation: The Aggressor Advantage”, Richard Foster describes a technology "S-Curve", that reflects the benefit generated in comparison with the spent effort when initiatives of improvement of processes are adopted.  He suggests that, at least partially, the action appropriate to take is dependent of the position of the S-Curve of the company, as well as of its operational and organizational restrictions.

In the top of the curve, the benefit generated for a continuous improvement is marginal when compared with the spent effort. Due to the limited profit, the redesign or the reorganization starts to be the recommendable action. However, the redesign of a process has value limited in the bottom of the curve. In this case, the continuous improvement will bring a bigger return of the investment.

Obviously, the challenge is in knowing when the company finds it self in the top of its "S-Curve." The majority of the success companies in such a way undertake

 in a competing form the continuous improvement as the redesign it of business processes.  This due to the fact of never knowing itself when it is that the competition goes to innovate and to jump for a completely new technological curve, modifying the measures for which the customers measure the performance gaps.

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Benefits

An effective improvement of the processes requires a clear appreciation of the gaps of existing processes or performance in a widened base of systems. A map of the system gives this perspective to us and is the first start to identify the gaps. Once identified, the gaps are prioritised on base of the risk that represent or in the existing chance. The origins of the gaps are defined as part of the definition of process flows or process mapping. The choice of the action appropriate to take to fill the gaps depends on technical and social restrictions.

The potential of processes improvement of a company reflects in the position of its "S-Curve" of technology. Depending on this position, the redesign of technician processes can also require the concentration in the continuous improvement of the social systems. The companies most succeeded are doing simultaneously these projects.

It exists a variety of tools and techniques of mapping of processes that facilitate for responsible of the processes the visualization in its different states: "As Is," "Should Be" or "Could Be". The challenge is in knowing the purposes and abilities of the form hearing to select "the better" tool for visualization of the processes. The selection of the adequate tools places in prominence the critical gaps of processes and performance, minimizes the unexpected ones in the beginning of the process and in last analysis it leads to the successful fulfilling of the gaps.

The toggle effect given for the economic slow down, mapping of processes and - when necessary - for the redesign of business processes, can help a company to:

·          Understand all its potential;

·          Business processes optimisation;

·          Reduce costs due to efficiency improvement;

·          Do more with less.

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Techonoly

Related Information

Reengineering the Corporation: A Manifesto for Business Revolution - Michael Hammer & James Champy