Assumptions in Business Process Management
Many business compete for the same clients and as a result, it increases competition among businesses in a particular industry. For this reason, majority of businesses tend to modify their business strategies in order to gain competitive advantage in a certain market. One reason in particular that most businesses employ is change their business processes so that they are able to beat their competition and remain sustainable (Dumas, et al., 2013). Various studies attest to the fact that most successful business do not realize their status as a result of ideas and models of operations but because they have made significant investment in modifying their business process management. This implies that changing certain aspects of the business process helps a business to increase its overall performance thereby becoming competitive in the market. Businesses achieve efficient performance by aligning their business processes in order to meet the objective of the business.
There are two main assumptions that are considered when developing a business process management which include implicit assumption and checking assumption. The implicit assumptions tend to focus on aspects of the process that relate to actions while checking assumptions relate to feedback based on the actions. Majority of action that people take are as a result of ideas which are based on assumptions regarding how desired goals are to be realized. In most cases, the actual assumptions that are used in determining a specific framework are never used in business process modelling (Vom et al., 2016). This is because the actual assumptions are implied based on the action taken. Therefore, it suffices to justify that implicit assumptions are dominant to the process modelling attributes. Consequently, it is significant to have a grip on the implicit assumptions as it relates to process management since the validity of implicit assumptions influences the end objective (Hepp et al., 2005).
On the other hand, checking assumptions indicate that if the implicit assumptions are not correctly framed, the actions are not likely to lead to desired expectation of a particular business. It is often easy to ascertain whether some goal has been met although this in not always the case. In essence, it is more complex to determine out rightly whether some feedback is attained in business process management. Therefore, the main objective of process management tend to depend on the reliability and effectiveness of the process model (Jeston, 2014). However, other useful information can be obtained through determining the validity based on the assumptions involved. Further, the validity of assumptions play a significant role in determining the appropriate methods of analysis that factors the desired objectives of a particular business.
Problems with the Current Business Process
There are numerous problems that are associated to the current process of The Coaching Specialist business process management. These problems influence the effectiveness of the company in delivering the services required by its clients as well as from their service providers. For instance, workers in the company might feel left out from the goals of the company as a result of dealing with small areas of the whole business. Workers tend to be happier when the end results reflect their input which helps to motivate and encourage better performance of the overall objective of the company (Ko et al., 2009). A poor business process is likely to lead to operational inefficiency. In regards to The Coaching Specialist, it expects to achieve the desired goals with resources at their disposal. Besides, lack of appropriate business model is likely to lead to inefficiencies in optimization by the company’s managers and analysts. Also, inappropriate business process model does not maximize utilization of the resources that is available for the company.
Various issues and opportunities arise from The Coaching Specialist case study. Among the issues include lack of operational efficiencies that are brought about as a result of lack of consistency in the business process (Trkman, 2010). The Coaching Specialist lacks consistency in the manner certain aspects of the company are handled such as where the client can cancel the coaching after all other processes have been handled. Further, an assignment is cancelled if the client does not find a suitable match for the specific skills that they want to be taught by specialist coaches.
Other issues include tedious process which makes it complex for the managers and analysts to determine areas of problems as well as how to correct them since actions are handled by various personnel who are responsible for small actions that reflect the overall goal of the company’s objective. Moreover, the roles played by each worker are small to warrant them clear understanding of the business process as it relates to the end goals of the company’s objective (Smith and Fingar 2003). However, the main issues with regards to the current business process model of The Coaching Specialist is lack of alignment of the company’s business process with its business strategy. This is attested by the need to involve a debt collection agency for the purpose of collecting payment from the clients to pay the coaches. The company brokers for the services of the coaches to their clients and expect payment after the coaching is completed.
Opportunities with the Current Business Process
In such as process, the company is likely to suffer from huge unpaid fees that might influence the overall performance of the business which requires funds to facilitate operational activities. The second issue that pertains the case study is lack of process communication which is attributed by the fact that workers handle very specific jobs and forwards them to the next step. This influences the process of communication because each worker needs to understand what is required of them as well as how to handle challenges and communicate the information to the next step in order to facilitate overall performance of the company. The opportunity of the current process is that the company links clients with providers of services at a fee through following the current business management (Scheer and Nüttgens 2000). Besides, the company is able to check their database to evaluate past client records in order to provide optimized services based on the needs of the client. Another opportunity is that the company undertakes the mandate to find a reliable match for a client as well as appropriate time for both the client and coaching specialist which is significant in saving time and meeting client’s demands.
Redesigning the current business process will require analysis of the current business process. It will involve collection of information from Madeleine who compiles a report based on both the client and the coach feedback (Becker et al., 2000). Besides, information can be collected through benchmarking among peer organizations for comparison purposes. The reports will contain detailed information of the overall actions that were taken by the company to ensure that the clients get the kind of services that they are searching for without depleting resources. Besides, the processes involved in operations based on the report will give a clear indicator of where the company is experiencing problems.
The information will then play a significant role in determining the requirements that are required for redesigning the business process. Further, the new process will be aligned in such a way that it helps the company to meet its goals, The Coaching Specialist strategies, technology adoption and change in client’s expectation as well as accommodating further improvement. Once the requirements have been met based in the resources available, redesigning will require replacement of the focus from internal operations to demand and supply, cutting down losses attributed to cancellation, activity duplicity and slowness (De Bruin and Rosemann 2005). Besides, the company should be able to improve consistency of the process performance, enhance communication and automate everything to provide standardized services.
Steps to Redesign the Business Process
There are various issues that will influence the decision making before redesigning the process is implemented. For starters, process modelling will have to ensure that the operational tasks contribute to implementing The Coaching Specialist strategies. Besides, the new process will be based on understanding of the existing process by identifying problems to improve performance. Moreover, redesigning has to ensure that communication is transmitted quickly to be able to meet both opportunities as well as challenges (Leymann et al., 2002).
The need for common language and technique is significant in communicating processes for decision making. The new process should aim at training new people and sharing knowledge based on the actions required to be taken. It should also factor minimization of potential danger as a result of staff loss. The new process should be able to assist the managers and analysts make decision clearly and easily. It should kick start the company’s objective on documenting various actions and establish corporate culture that enhances efficiency of operations (Rosemann et al., 2015).
|
Task |
Gateway |
Event |
|
|
Current Process (main Process) |
The task begins after the client contacts the operator through various means. The information is then passed to the coaching specialist who passes it on to the scheduler who then reverts to the specialist before it is moved to the verifier and then to the book keeper. |
The specialist, verifier, bookkeeper and scheduler have different duties if the coach or client fails to confirm whenever required. |
The process begins with an event. It is then followed by intermediate event which is between the last event that marks the end of the process |
|
Book Keeper (sub process) |
The book keeper contacts both the coach and the client to confirm invoice before debt collection agencies are involved and then passed on for report compilation |
The book keeper sends an invoice to the client, if the client does not confirm it is cancelled, if the coach fails to confirm, the client is contacted for alternative option. The book keeper contacts debt collection agency if the client fails to pay. |
The Book keeper has the start the event which marks the beginning of the event and followed by end event which marks several points where the event comes to an end. |
|
Coaching Specialist (sub process) |
The coaching specialist finds the match to the client. Also, the specialist advertises the position of the coaches needed. The specialist can also conduct interviews to determine the appropriate coach for the client. |
The coaching specialist goes through the database to find coaches who match the skills required. If the coach is not available the scheduler sends the assignment back, if the coach is found, the details are forwarded to the scheduler |
The coaching specialist has starting event followed by intermediate event which involves advertisement and interviews before the end event that marks the end of the process |
|
Verifier (sub process) |
The verifier begins the task by contacting both the client and coach to determine the coaching schedule. The verifier will then confirm the session if the coach and the client confirm. Otherwise it is cancelled. |
The information can be passed on to the book keeper if both the client and the coach confirm. If the client fails to confirm, the assignment is cancelled and the coach is contacted, if the coach fails to confirm, the client is contacted for alternative options |
The verifier has both start and end events which mark the beginning and the end of the process. However, it lacks intermediate events. |
Conclusion
Business process management plays a significant role in how a company such as The Coaching Specialist achieves its objective. Benefits such as improved process communication, increasing control and consistency, improving operational efficiencies and gaining competitive advantage are some of the reasons that the company is looking to redesign its processes. Through implementation of the steps required to redesign the process, the company will be able to meet its overall objective and attract more clients and coaches based on their seamless process that guarantees results. However, the Bizagi model does not allow explanation of the direction used to point to the next activity.
References List
Becker, J., Rosemann, M. and Von Uthmann, C., (2000). Guidelines of business process modeling. In Business Process Management (pp. 30-49). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.
De Bruin, T. and Rosemann, M., (2005). Towards a business process management maturity model.
Dumas, M., La Rosa, M., Mendling, J. and Reijers, H.A., (2013). Fundamentals of business process management (Vol. 1, p. 2). Heidelberg: Springer.
Hepp, M., Leymann, F., Domingue, J., Wahler, A. and Fensel, D., (2005), October. Semantic business process management: A vision towards using semantic web services for business process management. In e-Business Engineering, 2005. ICEBE 2005. IEEE International Conference on (pp. 535-540). IEEE.
Jeston, J., (2014). Business process management. Routledge.
Ko, R.K., Lee, S.S. and Wah Lee, E., (2009). Business process management (BPM) standards: a survey. Business Process Management Journal, 15(5), pp.744-791.
Leymann, F., Roller, D. and Schmidt, M.T., (2002). Web services and business process management. IBM systems Journal, 41(2), pp.198-211.
Rosemann, M. and vom Brocke, J., (2015). The six core elements of business process management. In Handbook on business process management 1 (pp. 105-122). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.
Scheer, A.W. and Nüttgens, M., (2000). ARIS architecture and reference models for business process management. In Business process management (pp. 376-389). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.
Smith, H. and Fingar, P., (2003). Business process management: the third wave (Vol. 1). Tampa: Meghan-Kiffer Press.
Trkman, P., (2010). The critical success factors of business process management. International journal of information management, 30(2), pp.125-134.
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