Business Process Improvement Methodologies and Tools

2021.09.19 10:06 PM By Joshua Taddeo, Principal Consultant
explaining business methodologies

Business Process Improvements (BPI)  is the process of evaluating and redesigning existing business strategies to improve efficiency and workflow, and increase productivity. First of all, business operations must be part of a company’s overall business strategy, not just its operations. If you employ business process improvements, you can find gaps in your process chain that you can correct to make your work easier.

There are many business processes that are all about tasks that employees and teams of service providers perform to deliver results to customers, stakeholders, and sponsors, whether they are products or services.  This includes procedures, supervision, budgeting, communication, and the management of business processes such as planning and execution. The process is carried out by a team that supports accounting, technical support, and recruitment. The entire process can be automated with process automation software that ensures compliance to be met as quickly as possible. Knowing how reporting works can help streamline processes and can always be managed carefully with the right compliance methods.

Six Sigma

Six Sigma uses a statistical approach and requires using a process known as DMAIC (definition, measurement, analysis, improvement and control).

It works best when the process has a defined input and output. If you can control the input, you can control the output.

Lean management

Lean management is a unique approach for waste identification; employees are involved and should be committed to continually improving to maximize customer benefits and minimize waste.

Agile management

Agile management is at the root of our software development organization, but it also extends to other companies. We must not fail quickly but rather strive for perfection and be ready to uncover problems before addressing them. Rapid improvement of business processes requires rapid changes in the environment to be identified and responded to.

business process management

Total Quality Management

Although it seems less popular than other methods today, Total Quality Management (TQM) is still essential to achieving long-term satisfaction through customer satisfaction. It is a robust approach that requires a customer-focused, process-driven, evidence-based decision based on customer feedback, customer engagement and customer service.

business operations

Kaizen

Kaizen means “continuous improvement” in Japanese, and as such, the method focuses on consistent, small changes to make improvements. This is a bottom-up approach: redesign an inadequate part of the process and apply any improvements we deem necessary to increase efficiency. Kaizen works because everyone feels they can make small changes to contribute to the whole business or organization to function better.

The Improvement Process

You want to explore the business process first, then the design, and finally the implementation of the new design in your company.

Brainstorming

The best way to do this is to work with a group of people who are involved in the part you are focusing on. Be clear about what you want to change, and then work through brainstorming and other group activities to gather ideas. They will continue to receive input as part of the redesign and offer suggestions. What you have learned from this process is the importance of communication with other people and the need to cooperate.

Documentation

Once the group has established that a realistic approach has been agreed upon, you want to create a new chart documenting all the steps involved. You can then narrow the solution down by looking at the idea in a realistic context and identifying the risks and possible omissions to help you better understand the full impact of the proposal you are making.

Resource Management

Now that you have a plan, you need to identify the resources needed to implement it and what needs to be done. Your business case could be the best way to justify your request and clearly communicate why the resource is necessary to refine and improve the process. Go through the right channels to approve the resources and present what you are doing and why it is needed. This could mean changing an existing system, team, or process, but taking the risk into account and behaving as you are. If it sounds like a project, you need to allocate time and resources, assemble a team to do the work, organize the units, and take risks.

Monitoring Progress

Stay in touch with your team all the time, monitor progress, and make sure you meet the milestones you set. Be prepared to adapt your plan if problems arise and stay connected with the team throughout the process. 

Review

Get input from your team on how the new process works and ask for feedback on what you find frustrating or not - level. Take this information and tweak your plan to ensure that your process actually makes improvements, not pointless changes.

monitoring business progress

After you have reviewed your existing process to see where improvements can be made, you will want to review these improvements too:

Implementation

Implementing a BPI can take a lot of preparation and management. Here are some tools that can help you along the way. 

Kanban

Kanban is a visual tool that helps you analyze your current progress in the current business process. It is very flexible and allows you to visualize your work and share your “Kanban boards” if you want. By visualizing your processes, you can quickly identify and eliminate bottlenecks in your process.

You can split your Kanban boards into business processes and business logic as much as you like. The Kanban establishes visibility and creates clarity so that you can develop the process to increase efficiency if necessary. The Kanban software is collaborative and improves process productivity, so everyone on your team can see processes at a glance and collaborate more to improve them.

managing business processes

Mind Mapping

Mind Mapping is a visual representation of information involving a hierarchical diagram that depicts relationships between parts of a larger picture that offers better organization of information to improve performance. This graphical technique  is a great way to gather the information relevant to your process. You can use this process to create a structure for the division of labor. You can link important information, add summaries of data, link it to documents, and use it to facilitate brainstorming. Using mind maps will also help you capture and organize the insights you gain about your new process. Preview the results, summaries of information, logical organization of your work, and clearer information about summaries.

Project Management Software

As you work to redesign your process, you want to have tasks and deadlines set on your schedule to ensure that you plan your project as efficiently as possible. Project management software has a wide range of features that can help you improve your business process. All you have to do is take your to-do list and import it into the platform or software, and it will give you the ability to see how your resources are allocated. This is where the online Gantt chart comes in. You can adjust your resource allocation so that everyone has a clear picture of how the project is moving forward in the (Business Process Improvement) BPI execution. The timeline is filled with tasks that can be linked – it is something that can track your progress.


Therefore, the real-time dashboard provides a screen where you can see all the data collected as well as the progress, cost, and workload associated with the process. You can start the reporting software and see how the workload is distributed among the team and find out if balance is established within or that projects are evenly distributed or not. Because most project management software and systems are cloud-based, you can track your progress and work in real-time. You can stay on top of everything, as well as your team within your organization.

business management

Improving Business Processes 

Whether you are a new business or you’ve been around for a long time, it is useful to analyze, evaluate and improve the daily work of your company. CFOs deal with these pain points when it comes to business processes and their impact on the overall performance of their company. With this overview, the problems that prevent you from improving your productivity often quickly come into focus. Improving business processes is about keeping your team productive and aligning your projects with the overall organizational strategy of your company. Fortunately, there are tools available to help you plan, implement, and monitor your business process improvement plan.

In essence, managing and simplifying workflows saves money and can lead to higher customer satisfaction. Improve your business processes and product quality, and always ensure the best customer experience to increase customer satisfaction and loyalty. e. At Universal Creative Solutions, we understand the importance of business process improvements. The business world is constantly evolving and you will need to start on your business improvement plans to cope up. Through our operations consulting services, we can help you move forward by focusing on your systems.