WORK FLOW AND BUSINESS PROCESS

Business process Definition

A business process has also been defined as a set of activities and tasks that, once
completed, will accomplish an organizational goal. The process must involve clearly
defined inputs and a single output. These inputs are made up of all of the factors which
contribute (either directly or indirectly) to the added value of a service or product. These
factors can be categorized into management processes, operational processes and
supporting business processes.

Management processes, that govern the operation of a system. Typical management

processes include corporate governance and strategic management.

Operational processes, that constitute the core business and create the primary value
stream. Typical operational processes are purchasing, manufacturing, marketing,
and sales. , Supporting processes, that support the core processes. Examples
include accounting, recruitment, and technical support.

A business process consultant is someone you can hire to help document and
format your workflows into repeatable systems and processes. They may also
advise you on how to improve your processes, help get your business process
management (BPM) program running smoothly, and so on.

This usually involves coming into your organization (either onsite or

through digital meetings) and getting to know how your tasks are currently
performed. By speaking to managers and regular employees they can start to build
up an accurate picture of what your workflows look like, rather than an idealized
process that isn’t actually followed.

Why should you use a business process consultant?

 Document workflows and processes accurately

 Make your business more efficient and consistent
 Give an accurate picture of your current operations
 Display gaps in your current processes
 See where the easiest improvements to make are
 See redundant processes that can be eliminated
  Note processes that are better starting from scratch with business process
reengineering
 Find tasks that can be automated with process automation.

Tools
 Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN) ...
 UML Diagrams. ...
 Flowcharts. ...
 Yourdon's Data Flow Diagrams (DFDs) ...
 Gantt Charts. ...
 PERT Diagrams. ...
 Functional Flow Block Diagrams. ...
 Integrated Definition for Function Modeling (IDEF)

A workflow is a depiction of a sequence of operations, declared as work of a person,

of a simple or complex mechanism, of a group of persons of an organization of staff, or
of machines. Workflow may be seen as any abstraction of real work, segregated into
workshare, work split or other types of ordering. For control purposes, workflow may
be a view of real work under a chosen aspect.

Workflow Techniques

Every business has its own way of executing tasks and maintaining processes. But the
way these tasks and processes are done differs from company to company. That means
that you’ll need workflow techniques that give you an edge over your competition.
However, there’s a problem with having customized workflows: a solution that works
for another business won’t necessarily work for you. That means you need some
inventive ideas.

1. Automate repetitive tasks

According to a survey by The Alternative Board, business owners spend 68

percent of their time managing day to day business tasks and handling issues in the
workplace. Only the remaining 31.9 percent is spent making actual business decisions
that affect the growth and direction of the company.
The average person spends 8 hours in the office, and 68.1 percent over a week is
almost 28 hours wasted doing things that don’t bring them any revenue. This doesn’t
just apply to business owners, but also your employees. There’s time wasted in
answering emails, taking calls, responding to messages and queries, etc.
Automating repetitive tasks can decrease the time it takes to execute workflows. The
time saved in that is substantial and can be used to make actual business decisions that
affect the growth of your company.

2. Streamline existing processes

When the process was first launched, it might have been perfectly suited to what you
were hoping to achieve. But as time goes by, processes need to be updated. There could
be a lot of time wasted that could be saved and used on other processes.
Here are a few things that you can do to make sure your processes are running as you
need them to be:
Make an inventory
Make a complete list of all the business workflows that are operating in your
organization. This gives you an idea of how many workflows you have, and how many
you’ll need to revisit to check on their performance.
Rank workflows
It doesn’t make sense to try and optimize every workflow since there’s bound to be
certain processes that rank a lot more on priority than others. So, rank all your
workflows according to how important they are to your business. Once you’ve done
that, you can work on streamlining them based on the importance they hold.
Take a closer look
Understand what each step of the workflows does, and see which areas can be improved.
This gives you a microscopic perspective into the workings of each process. Once
you’ve done that, implement the new changes in a test environment and see if the
changes have the effect that you desire on them.
Ask for feedback
The people involved in the process are the ones who know the workflows from up-
close. You’ll get good feedback from them, since they’re going to find which features
and processes are easier to work with than others. They can clearly see which aspects
of the workflows impact them the most.
Ask for feedback because it helps you to further optimize and streamline your processes.
A good start is to document process performance so that you can use the information to
improve it later.
Automating these tasks can help you save time that your staff would need to dedicate
to this. You can automate this through form automation as well.

3. Integrate your team

We’ve been talking about workflows and your business operations all this time, but
there’s an aspect that we’re forgetting. Apart from all of these mechanical aspects, your
team members are the ones that are actually going to be down on the ground and
executing everything.
How they interact and work with each other will ensure how effective the process is.
If your team doesn’t work as a single unit and has issues working seamlessly together,
then they won’t be as productive and efficient as you need them to be.
Employee engagement and satisfaction is key to any happy and productive work
environment, and understanding and connecting with fellow team members will ensure
you can achieve that.

4. Test out new additions in workflow models

Whether you’re developing a new module for an existing workflow or a new workflow
entirely for a process that you’re about to implement, it’s always a good idea to test out
a new addition before you roll it out.
There’s a lot more to this than just testing for potential flaws. You also get an idea of
how efficient it is, and get feedback from the testing staff about if it could be improved
further. It could show how you improve your model so there are less resources used and
more time saved.

5. Analyze how your improvements have made a difference

It’s great to test and implement new additions to your processes, but it’s also important
to know if they have made a difference. So, analyze and inspect on how the workflow
enhancements have made a difference.
Have they improved the productivity of your staff? Have they brought the returns that
they promised? Have they reduced the overheads that were present before?
For example, Adam owns a factory where cars are manufactured. He’s optimized the
painting section of his factory, so that they take less time to finish painting a car. Sure,
that saves time. But how has that time saved made a difference in terms of revenue? He
can find out if he’s shipped more cars to the customers. That directly translates to
revenue for the company.

6. Ensure that your customers get the experience they deserve

Your customers are keeping you in business, and your top priority should be to make
sure that you’re doing everything in your power to make sure that their concerns are
addressed and they’re satisfied with the service you’re giving them.
See what processes you have in place for customer service. Do they make a difference
in how fast and effectively their issues are resolved? See if your workflows can make a
change in how your customers view your service towards them. A single customer who
has a good experience with you is a lot more powerful than marketing campaigns trying
to win over new customers. Their words are raw and honest. This can be a lot more
convincing for other people to become your customer.
You’ll need to constantly work on your workflows to make sure that they’re performing
according to how your business is growing. What worked for your organization when
it was fledgling could be woefully outdated as time goes by. Workflow software can
help create workflows and have them updated as you keep your business growing.
BOTTLE NECK

A bottleneck is a phenomenon by which the performance or capacity of an entire

system is severely limited by a single component. The component is sometimes called
a bottleneck point.

FIG :FISHBONE DIAGRAM

Even the very best consulting businesses get stuck sometimes. The common
bottlenecks in a consulting company are typically in one of three places.

 Lead generation (the constant grind of hunting down new clients)

 Client services (expanding scope creep killing the project's profit margin)
 Referrals and recurring revenue (no strategy for how to turn one project into
many projects)

 BOTTLENECK #1: YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE IS TOO BROAD

 BOTTLENECK #2: YOUR CONSULTING ENGAGEMENTS ARE TOO
CUSTOM
 BOTTLENECK #3: YOU'VE TAKEN ON TOO MUCH
RESPONSIBILITY AS THE LEADER