The cycle
- Describe the process as it is really done, not as the manual says: steps, owners, documents and decisions.
- Run it with a tool that does not let anyone skip steps.
- Measure it: how long each stage takes, where it gets stuck and how often it goes backward.
- Improve it with that data, and start again.
An example
Onboarding a new employee. Written down, it is twelve tasks split between HR, IT and the new hire’s manager. Run in stages, the laptop is not handed over until IT closes its task. Measured, it turns out the slowest stage is signing the contract, and that is where to act.
BPM and BPM software
BPM is the way of working. BPM software is the tool that supports it: it models the process, runs it with its approvals and keeps a trail of every case. Without the discipline, the tool just automates the mess.
The usual mistake
Starting with the biggest process in the company. The first one should be small and painful: a purchase request, an onboarding or a nonconformity. If it works within weeks, the rest follows; if it takes a year, nobody believes in the next one.