Business process management: processes that belong to someone

Process management, also called business process management or BPM, is the systematic design, control and improvement of a company's processes. It covers identifying all important processes, modelling and documenting them, assigning owners, measuring them with key figures and reviewing them regularly. The aim is that workflows do not arise by chance but are deliberately designed and can be developed further. Process management is the framework; process optimisation is the concrete improvement within it.

The process map is the top level of process management: an overview of all of a company's processes on one page, divided into management processes (strategy, controlling), core processes (from order to delivery) and support processes (HR, IT, maintenance). It shows how the processes are connected and serves as the entry point to the detailed models. A good process map is so simple that every employee can find their own process on it. I create it with senior management in half a day.

A swimlane diagram shows a process in lanes, with each lane representing a role, a department or a system. The activities sit in the lane of whoever carries them out; arrows show the flow and the handovers between the lanes. The advantage: you see immediately how often a case changes department and where the interfaces are. Every handover is a potential source of errors and waiting time. I use swimlanes for recording the current state and designing the target state, because they can be understood without training.

First the process is delimited: where does it start, where does it end, who is the customer? Then I record the current flow with those involved, usually in a workshop of half a day to one day, as a swimlane diagram. In doing so I capture processing times, waiting times, systems used, queries and errors. In addition I walk the process on site and, where data is available, I pull the actual flow out of the system using process mining. The result is a current-state model with marked weak points, which forms the basis for the target process.

Detailed enough that a new employee can carry out the process consistently after induction, and concise enough that it is kept up to date. In practice that means: one process model (swimlane or BPMN), one page of process description with purpose, trigger, result, roles and key figures, and, where necessary, work instructions with pictures. Anything beyond that is neither read nor maintained. For certifications such as ISO 9001, this depth is usually sufficient, provided the processes are actually lived.

For most SMEs and mid-sized companies, a simple swimlane diagram with a few symbols is enough: activity, decision, handover, document, system. BPMN 2.0 is the standard if processes are later to be mapped in software or automated, because the notation is machine-readable. I recommend starting with the simple form and using BPMN only where it brings a concrete benefit. A notation that those involved cannot read prevents the discussion instead of enabling it.

Process management is the permanent organisation: map, owners, documentation, key figures, reviews. Process optimisation is the concrete improvement of a single workflow, such as shortening order clarification or the changeover time on a machine. Without process management, optimisation results are lost because nobody follows up. Without optimisation, process management merely administers the status quo. I usually recommend starting with the optimisation of one core process and building the framework from there, rather than writing a complete manual first.

Process mining reconstructs the actual flow of a process from the timestamps in your IT systems, such as the ERP. Instead of asking how an order should run, you see how it actually ran: with all its loops, waiting times and exceptions. It is worthwhile when a process runs through a system in high volumes, for example order processing, procurement or invoice processing. For processes with few cases or a lot of paper, classic recording on site remains the right tool. I'm certified as a data analyst for process mining and use it wherever the data allows.