Business Process – Definition, Types, Importance, Characteristics and Steps

A business process revolves around collecting linked tasks crucial for offering products or services to the clientele in exchange for money.

Business processes are essential for a country’s economy as it keeps the money flowing in the market. If there is no cash flow in the markets, the country’s economy will be in crisis. Businesses create job opportunities and also provide jobs to people.

They also provide people with what they need by way of products and services. Constant upgrades and improvements are essential factors for the growth of the business. Carrying out a business successfully may look easy. But the steps involved in achieving the most crucial goals are cumbersome.

This post will uncover all the key steps involved in the successful channelization of a business process, so let us get started-

Business Process Definition

A business process is a set of tasks linked with each other to achieve a common goal.

This set of tasks is called a business process.

Different business processes take place in an organization. All these business processes should sync with each other for the smooth and successful running of an organization.

There are various ways of carrying out these processes. The business process’s goal should be achievable, and it requires an effort of every team member involved.

Analyzing the target, improving work efficiency, and producing a satisfactory output are examples of business processes carried out daily by any organization.

Types of Business Processes

1. Operational

It includes the core business and involves streams such as orders from customers, manufacturing, etc.

2. Management

Processes such as budget, employee management, etc. fall under this type of business process.

3. Supporting

Processes that support other processes like accounting, and recruitment, fall under this type of business process.

As the world and technology are evolving rapidly, business processes also need to be updated accordingly. Business processes also need to improve and grow as technology evolves.

Importance 

All business processes are made with the single goal of maximizing the efficiency of the way each team works.

When everyone is aware of the process and the workflow, there is a lesser frequency of errors and delays, and there is no effort wasted by different individuals for doing the same work. There are more clarity and transparency in each person’s role in the process and less wastage of effort and time.

A proper business process in place will help you get rid of:

1. Customer Complaints About Poor Quality Product or Service
2. Employee Frustration
3. Duplication of Work
4. Increased Costs
5. Wastage of Resources
6. Missing Deadlines

Characteristics 

The most important characteristics of a business process are:

1. Has Definite Boundaries, Inputs, and Outputs
2. Has a List of Activities in a Predefined Order
3. How to Best Service a Customer
4. How to Add Value for the Customer
5. Embedded in the Organizational Process
6. It covers Different Functions.

5 Steps in a Business Process

A business process has to be continuously reviewed, and improvisations should also be done in time. There is more than one step involved in the business process improvement.

A few steps that help in creating an improved business process are:

1. Mapping Change or Outlining the Process

Firstly, the current process should be revisited, and how things are being done in the process should be mapped. It will help identify the areas that need improvement.

It is a good idea to talk to people working in each phase of the process to get a first-hand idea of details and areas where improvements can be brought in.

2. Analyzing the Process

An analysis can be done, and problems in the process can be identified in the process. The following are the questions that can answer where and why there are problems and how they can be sorted.

1. Where in the process do members of the team get frustrated?
2. Which step in the process creates a bottleneck?
3. How do costs go up, and why does quality come down?
4. Where does the process encounter the most delay, or which phase is most time-consuming?

3. Redesign the Process

This step is self-explanatory. Once the existing business process problems have been identified, they should be redesigned to include improvements to the problems detected.

Enlisting the help of people involved in these phases of work will help find better ways of doing these works. Once you have a list of possible solutions to the problem, narrow it down by considering how they will translate into a real-life scenario.

Once a process has been agreed upon within the team, document the new process, integrating each new step.

4. Acquire Resources

More often than not, people resist change, but change can be brought about with effective communication and reasoning. This can get you the resources you need to put the new process in place.

Testing small portions of the changing process is something that will help reduce additional risk.

5. Review

The importance of reviewing cannot be stressed enough. Each process requires constant reviewing, as this helps to better the process by integrating internal and external changes in the business.

What are the benefits of BPI (Business Process Improvement)?

Business Process Improvement is a growing field in the business sector. The businesses’ load is too much, as it has to look after the customer, the finances, the resources, and, most importantly, the employees.

The question is, what are the benefits that are gained after implementing the BPI? Well, the BPI has a lot of advantages that will make the business flourish. So here is a summarized list of the benefits provided by Business Process Improvement:

1. BPI increases production capacity and gives a better yield.
2. The performance of each employee is improved subsequently, and the work environment becomes healthier.
3. A better working environment saves a lot of time, and lesser time means more efficiency.
4. It helps provide better services, which leads to customer satisfaction and hence lesser complaints.
5. Improving the product’s quality will make the company successful, leading to the eradication of many competitors.
6. The BPI analysis procedure will help the company figure out its drawbacks, and eventually, they will solve it.
7. The BPI involves no blame game, but instead, it encourages the employee not to repeat the same mistake. Hence it ensures learning of new things along with employee satisfaction.
8. It gives scope for implementing alternatives, and this can help in reducing any extra cost.
9. BPI helps to renovate all the aspects of your business, as it guides you about the pros and cons of every decision taken.

Business Process Improvement Methodologies – Business Process Management

1. Six Sigma

Six Sigma is used to check the level of efficiency of a business process. It is used to determine the defects or inconsistencies in business processes. The methodology uses statistics to analyze all the aspects and solve the issues.

The core tools used by Six Sigma to determine process efficiency is DMAIC, which is:

• Define
• Measure
• Analyze
• Improve
• Control

2. Lean

This method aims at optimizing the process rather than finding defects and measuring efficacy. It focuses on customer needs and reduces the wastage of resources. Steps taken to optimize the business process according to the Lean process are:

• Defining What an End Customer Values
• Mapping and Identifying Processes that do not Add value
• Eliminating Steps that don’t Add value
• Repeat the Three Earlier Steps in All Business Processes

3. Total Quality Management

Total Quality Management focuses on delivering quality services and products to the customers. End value to the customer is considered of utmost importance in this method, like in the Lean method. This method, however, focuses on the organization in its entirety than individual processes.

The key here is that it involves all the organization’s employees in the change and not just the top-level employees. It distributes the responsibility of bringing in end-customer value among all the employees of the organization.

Business processes need constant monitoring, reviewing, and redesigning to suit the requirements of changing times and changing business needs. An understanding of the business process and how to improve business processes is essential.

There is also a vast set of automated tools that help business process improvement. Technology has made it easier to redesign and readapt to new processes, but understanding how to improve business processes remains essential.

4. Agile Management

This is a project management methodology that emphasizes on the development produced by uninterrupted upgrades. This improvement and changes that occur are quick, so there should be good coordination without any adjustment issues.

The relationship with customers should be interactive. Based on customer feedback, the yield is accordingly produced faster.

The advantages of this methodology are that it strengthens employee benefits. There is no restriction, and the process does not hide anything.

5. Kaizen

Improving a particular aspect is not possible until there is a consistent change seen. The compatibility of the work is determined by the limited and active procedures followed. Hence the changes are carried out via small developments.

In case there is a fault in the process, there are no negative reinforcements like punishing the employee who did it. Instead, it is ensured that the mistake is not repeated. This is done to enhance work efficiency and to achieve a better output.

6. Kanban

In Kanban, all the steps that are going to be carried out are visualized.

The Business process improvement is kept as a priority, and all the components involved are going in the same direction.

Right from the management to the employee performance, every aspect has an equal role to play.

7. 5S

The 5S represents principles of both the Lean methodology and Kaizen methodology. Constant changes accompany continuous improvement. The factor that highlights it is the consistency involved in the methods.

The five ‘S’ methodology is called so because of the steps involved in it:

1. Seiri – which means sorting and separating the requirements
2. Seiton – which means to straighten or to place everything in order
3. Seiso – which means to shine or to keep clean
4. Seiketsu – which means standardize and implementing consistent methods
5. Shitsuke – which means to sustain or to maintain the quality of improvement

8. RAPID Process Improvement Methodology

This methodology acts as a useful tool in analyzing all the business processes. The analysis provides ideas and suggestions to improve your business. The efficiency of this methodology is proven to be quite effective.

The word ‘RAPID’ represents the five phases involved in the process:

• ‘R’ stands for Reviewing the issue.
• ‘A’ stands for Assessment of the present status.
• ‘P’ stands for Planning the development.
• ‘I’ stands for Implementation of development.
• ‘D’ stands for the Determination of achievement.

What are the jobs that come under BPI

Business Processes need improvement from time to time. The company’s target is just increasing their profits by enhancing work efficiency. So to achieve that goal, they need to hire people who will look after the BPI sector.

Due to the increasing demand of BPI in the market, the business world has many slots open in the form of jobs. The jobs which come under Business Process Improvement have good pay, and there is a lot of scope in the field.

Here are some basic job profiles which are wanted by businesses to look after their business processes:

• Business process analyst
• Business process technology analyst
• Process analyst
• Process engineer
• Process improvement engineer
• Lean process improvement manager
• Operation excellence manager
• Business process manager
• Process architect
• Process improvement program manager
• Business development executive
• Continuous improvement specialist

There are specific specialization courses available online and offline. Those particular certifications are necessary to get a job in the field of business processes.

Conclusion

A business process involves a lot of steps that will help the business become better.

The BPI (Business Process Improvement) is a way to analyze the business and deduce various outcomes. The outcomes can be positive or negative.

The methods and tools used in BPI are of different types. Based on the problem faced, the methodology is accordingly implemented. The BPI acts as a source of job opportunities for analysts specializing in the field of business processes.

Still, having any confusion about the business process? Feel free to ask us in the comments.

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