Business Process Management Organizational Assessment

Cross-functional process management is not a program that can be delegated to a PMO; it is a way of doing business that requires ongoing executive participation to assure organization-wide process excellence and strategic success. Matrix management is needed to lead, balance and aligns functional and core process performance. Process improvement projects must be selected with strategic insight and carry the assurance of executive support for implementation. Emerging leaders must be mentored with a horizontal management perspective. Areas Orion will assess in the Strategy & Leadership perspective include:

Strategic Planning

• Depth of SWOT Analysis for Business Processes
• Process Leveraging
• Innovation Capability
• Strategy Execution
• Business Scorecard / Metrics
• How is Strategy Tied to Operations?

Leadership

• Cross-Functional Mindset
• Leadership Style – Self-Assessment
• Passion
• Leadership Development

Becoming a process-focused organization requires significant commitment from the top down. However, effective implementation and sustainability are highly dependent upon the actions and attitudes of people throughout the organization. Front-line staff must “think” process flow and understand the connection between their jobs and service delivery to the external customer. They must also be willing to engage in problem-solving. Middle managers, who may have grown up in a command-and-control environment, must be willing and able to shift toward a collaborative leadership model. Senior managers must look beyond functional success to measure and manage cross-functional performance. Collectively these changes are the greatest challenge to successfully implementing cross-functional management. Areas Orion will assess in the People perspective include:

Culture

• Decision-Making Model
• Performance Management
• Functional vs. Process Focus
• Career Paths
• Cross-Functional Skills

Employee Morale

• Engagement
• Climate
• Turnover

Skills

• Process Awareness and Process Management Skills
• Business Skills Relative to Current and Future Competitive Model

The most visible aspects of the transition to process-focused management are changes to the organization structure and/or management roles. New roles such as the Process Owner may emerge. Leaders in these new roles need more than a job description to be successful. Lines of accountability must be clear both for day-to-day operations and for chartering and managing process improvement initiatives. Areas Orion will assess in the Organization Design perspective include:

Cross-Functional Management

• Current State – Process
• Current State – Business/Functional
• Clarity of Roles – Process Owner, Process Manager, Measure Owner, etc.
• RACI
• Silos
• Organizational Structure

Governance

• Process Improvement Project Selection Criteria and Authority
• Project Management and Monitoring
• Integration of Strategic Initiatives, Process Initiatives, and Other Projects
• Change Management

Process documentation and data are the lifeblood of operations management, especially in process-focused organizations. Performance management elements must be able to measure cross-functional parameters, monitor key process indicators and promote customer-focused, process- by employees at all levels. Areas Orion will assess in the Performance Management perspective include:

Measurement Capability

• ABC / Process Cost Model
• Business Analytics / Big Data
• Balanced Scorecard
• Key Performance Indicators

Operational Metrics

• Cycle Time
• Turnaround Time
• Process Pulse Points

Rewards and Recognition

• Team-Based vs. Individual (General)
• Individual Feedback for Process Management Contributions
• Haves and “Have Nots”

The business process has been at the heart of every major performance improvement movement of the last 30 years. Increasingly, business processes are dependent on enabling and/or supporting information technology so these factors must be assessed in tandem. At the lower levels of maturity, enough management discipline must exist to assure functional business process repeatability and reproducibility. Internal and external customers will receive consistent results. More advanced organizations should have optimized cross-functional flows with well-aligned technology and readily available process documentation and metrics to support outstanding customer results. Areas Orion will assess in the Process & Technology perspective includes:

Process Discipline

• Quality Management System
• Business Rules
• Knowledge Management
• Risk Management
• Band-Aids/Workarounds

Information Technology

• Alignment with Process Flow
• Flexibility Relative to Business Processes
• Data Flows and Management
• Manual vs. Automated Inputs
• Transaction Capacity