The magic of processes

Font Size

Print

Feedback

Email

Discuss

Related Articles

Wanted: CEOs from India

intention of the trick is and what effect it will have on the audience.

It is not just people that follow processes, as every organisation in existence, whether it is a single-person company or a multinational organisation, will rely on a number of processes to function effectively. Depending on the size of the organisation and the complexity of its set up, the number of processes that a company uses can be huge—almost infinite, again.

Process modelling is arguably one of the most important aspects of any organisation in terms of the management and control of all of the organisational activities. These activities will range from the high-level business activities, including mission statements, business processes and requirements, right down to very detailed technical processes that may be executed on a daily basis within the organisation. Business process modelling goes under many different names and labels so, in order to keep things simple, the term process modelling in this book may be replaced by any of the following terms:

* Business process management: any process modelling exercise that is performed in order to enhance the overall operation of a business.

* Business process management: the coordination and management of a business process which will, inva-riably, involve some sort of business process modelling.

* Business process re-engineering: used specifically when business process modelling is applied to existing processes as part of a process improvement exercise.

* Operations management: often used in the context of business and management courses and, although it has a wider scope than just process modelling, it contains and relies very heavily upon process modelling.

* Process mapping: refers to relating different proce-sses to one another and forms an integral part of any audit or assessment exercise. In order to map effectively, all processes must be modelled in some way.

* Process re-alignment: often applied to existing processes that have, over a period of time, gone out of date for some reason—usually because the requirements for the process have changed and the process is no longer fit for its original purpose.

Reprinted with permission from Viva Books Pvt Ltd

Book: A Pragmatic Guide to Business Process Modelling

Author: Jon Holt