Maximise BPM with hierarchy-specific solutions

Having discussed the need to view business process as hierarchical last month, this Industry Insight looks at the hierarchy of business process and highlights the need to introduce solutions that address this structure for effective management.

Business processes are no different to any other human system; they have to live in an ecosystem of different types of processes with different requirements, each one interdependent and supportive of all the others.

Considering each layer of business process and how diverse they are, it is difficult for one system to handle them all.

Trevor van Rensburg, head of the products business at DVT

The business process hierarchy in every organisation consists of three categories. At the top of the hierarchy is a collection of processes for specialised, high-value functions. These processes are typically centred on enterprise resource planning (ERP) applications. They tend to be complex and change rarely; they are impersonal.

In many cases, these top-level processes are industry- or function-specific and are embedded in the ERP solution. As the cost of customisation of these processes is high, they are provided as pre-built templates in enterprise applications and tend to be particular to a specific industry or function.

In the middle of the hierarchy process are a large number of processes that have fairly complex structures but change frequently due to changing business conditions. These processes cut across departments and applications and can best be described as knowledge worker processes. They fill the gaps between departments, applications, customers, partners, vendors and employees. Because each company has its own mix of applications, services and business practices, mid-level processes tend to be business-specific.

At the bottom of the hierarchy are a myriad small, ad hoc processes that are highly personalised. They have little predefined structure and are unique to each individual and the tasks that are performed.

Considering each layer of business process and how diverse they are, it is difficult for one system to handle them all. For this reason, organisations need a hierarchy of business process management (BPM) systems, optimised to provide the best economics and utility.

For the top-level business processes, enterprise applications are more than suitable. The processes exist inside the enterprise application because the functions they perform and the information they process exists almost entirely in that application.

Mid-level business processes are best managed outside of ERP systems because of their tendency to change rapidly. Yet they still require a well defined structure and logic that is applicable across an organisation.

At the bottom of the hierarchy, ad hoc processes have little structure and every instance is different. Therefore, they must be approached in a different way. Due to their nature, in most cases they will never be managed.

While there is a hierarchy of business processes that must be managed in the appropriate way, each layer is not independent of the others. Just as in the transport ecosystem, where aeroplanes, trains and ships are at the top of the hierarchy, followed by trucks and buses, cars and vans, and finally motorbikes, forklifts and bicycles, business processes work together to make the organisation tick. As one moves down the hierarchy, flexibility increases and operation, use and maintenance costs decrease.

A ship moves goods to port. A truck moves goods from port to the factory load bay. A forklift moves the goods from cargo to the production line in the factory. Likewise, business processes interact with others inside and outside the organisation. Processes inside ERP systems trigger processes outside of them. Those outside ERP systems are used to support processes inside them or to leverage them to handle complex back-office transactions. Ad hoc processes are used by individuals to handle sub-tasks in process activities that are outside ERP systems, or to handle tasks for which these processes are not efficient.

ERP applications may provide significant business value and perform critical functions inside an organisation; but they cannot be expected to drop you off at home as if they were anything other than a multimillion-dollar airplane.