BUSINESS PROCESS RE-ENGINEERING & BENCHMARKING

Definition - Process: A continuous and regular action or succession of actions, taking place or carried on in a definite manner, and leading to the accomplishment of some result. A continuous operation or series of operations. In its simplest form, a process has an input and an output and is made up of a sequence of individual tasks through which this input passes to become an output. The process itself can be anything which transforms transfers or merely looks after the input and delivers it as output. A process focus means looking at the way a customer order is fulfilled, a new product is created or a market plan developed, without concern for functional boundaries or specialization. Definition - Business Process: Business Processes are the structure by which an organization does what is necessary to produce value for its customers. A business process or business method is a collection of related, structured activities or tasks that produce a specific service or product for a particular customer or customers. Business Process Fundamentals: A process is a system of activities that creates value for customers (these are activities that the customer is willing to pay for). A process is cross-departmental. Departments are functional towers of expertise, but processes cut across departments. Every process should be documented and fully understood by everyone participating in the process. In order to fully understand your processes, they should be mapped. Mainly 2 tools are used: flowcharts and process maps. Processes should be in statistical control.

 When processes are in statistical control, process capabilities can be calculated. These can be seen as performance measures, and as a basic for business improvement. Types Business processes: 1. Management processes: the processes that govern the operation of a system Typical management processes include "Corporate Governance" and "Strategic Management-strategic planning, product/service development and New Product Development processes 2. Operational processes: processes that constitute the core business and create the primary value stream. Typical operational processes are Purchasing, Manufacturing, Marketing, and Sales. 3. Supporting processes: which support the core processes. Examples include Accounting, Recruitment, and IT-support. Functional Processes: 1. A companys business processes end at its true customers E.g. The people paying the bills 2. There are, however, many internal processes that exist to support people within the company and are often performed within a single department E.g. Human resources, finance and accounting, travel, and services facilities 3. These internal processes are known as Functional processes E.g. When these functional processes are outsourced, along with the supporting technologies and supply chains that feed into them, it is referred to as functional process outsourcing.