What is business process modeling?
Business process modeling (BPM) is a structured method of assessing opportunities to improve the business objectives of our clients. It engages our clients in a systematic approach to examine their business processes, identify ways to improve these processes, and address barriers that may be impeding their ability to achieve their business goals in the most efficient manner. The result is a practical action plan for implementing the improvements. The plan provides a blueprint for achieving an organization's goals and implementing change, while respecting the organization's strategic mission and culture. CDM has adapted BPM to meet the unique needs of our clients and customizes the process for each project.
What are the benefits?
BPM provides a complete picture of an organization or facility's needs relating to a specific process or set of processes. This enables us to work with our clients to help them make the most appropriate decisions. BPM can be used to assist in improving environmental management practices, strengthening operational or engineering processes, improving efficiency, evaluating and designing technology, and implementing organizational change. BPM aligns business drivers with the technologies or processes that support it to improve customer satisfaction, carry out initiatives across an organization, engage employees, and increase competitiveness and productivity.
Consensus-building and stakeholder engagement are key to the process, which is designed to ensure that decisions and systems fit with an organization's goals, culture, and job functions. When used to evaluate computer system needs, BPM helps clients understand how they use a system throughout the organization, determine how it fits within their business, identify potential pitfalls, and define specific requirements for a new or modified system.
How does the process work?
Small teams of stakeholders work to define the current state, define critical areas of study, define the desired state, and develop an action plan to move to the desired state. Depending on the client's needs and the number of business processes involved, BPM can take a few days to a few weeks, with facilitated workshops and other steps incorporated as necessary. One key feature is that BPM brings together technical and management staff, who generally do not "speak the same language," helping them communicate and understand each other's roles. In addition to enhanced working relationships and synergy among staff in various departments, the final output is a series of flowcharts and a document that records all the input and output, as well as recommendations.
What kinds of organizations can use BPM?
Municipalities, industry, state and federal government, schools and universities—any organization that wants to forge a better link between its goals and its systems, its technologies and its people. CDM has helped clients in nearly all these sectors by applying BPM to one or multiple business challenges. Our recent work with a local utility is a good example of the flexibility and results of BPM. Our client was dissatisfied with its customer information system and expected to spend $4 million on a replacement. We worked with them to map their business processes—billing, meter reading, setting up customer accounts, and the like—and show the interactions between departments to achieve overall business goals. As a result, the company identified a system that was the very best fit for its customer information, billing, and financial management needs, and cost only $400,000.
Marianne MacDonald, Ph.D., is a principal information management specialist based in CDM's Cambridge office.