The majority of business process improvements were developed in the manufacturing arena but the core techniques and principles remain transferable across most industries today.
Business process improvement focuses on ensuring that functions are done correctly, by reducing waste for example. We begin by defining the strategic objectives of an organisation, targeting the customers of that organisation and making the business processes in line with those objectives.
BPI tends to look at a radical change in the business performance rather than a slow change approach. Change is not intended to be trivial but rather a revolution. Re-engineering is a term often associated with these changes.
Businesses process improvement looks at the primary roles in a business, the management system, the business leader, the process owner, the operation manager and the process operator. Each has a unique set of responsibilities but all need to work together as a unit. The business leader creates the business plan which was devised through the strategic planning process. They communicate the the business plan through the organisation, they build communication bridges and remove barriers. They analyse the performance of the business and use management data to guide the business to ward its objectives.
Meanwhile the owner of the business process is the person who designs the processes necessary to achieve the objectives set out in the business plan that was created by the business leaders. They create and approve the documentation that supports the process. They are often supported in this work by the process improvement team. The starting point is to understand the customer requirements which translate into a set of metrics overseen by the operational managers and are commonly known as KPIs or key performance indicators. These are what measures that the customer requirements and expectations are being met.
The process operators analyses the performance data to review the performance of the process. They create performance improvement plans based on that performance data and this may include Lean practices to reduce waste such as Six Sigma. Improvement plans include risk analysis to identify problems within the process and mitigate against their consequences.
Meanwhile the operational manager brings resources and process together to deliver the targets set out in the business plan. This follows a classic plan, do, check and act cycle. Finally the process operator performs the work needed to achieve the objectives of the business plan again using the do, check and act cycle.
Processes need to be in line with business goals. Customer needs to be at the centre of business process improvement and results need to be regularly benchmarking to be able to measure improvement and progress.