Business Process Improvement

0BProcess Improvement Interview Questions

A Business Process:

* Has a Goal

* Has specific inputs

* Has specific outputs

* Uses resources

* Has a number of activities that are performed in some order

* May impact more than one organizational unit

* Creates value of some kind for the customer

Getting the Right Information

People often assume that process discovery means detailed workflow modeling of a process. That is a mistake. The detailed workflow is just one part of process discovery. The most important information you need to gather about your processes during discovery is:

* Key activities

* Responsibilities

* Problems impacting performance

* Key goals that the process affects

Every stakeholder needs to agree, or at least have an opportunity to contribute their point of view. Business process owners may have the best feeling for how this process relates to the big picture of corporate performance, while daily workers may have the best insight into where the real problems are in the process today. Expand the scope of this discussion to the manyeven hundredsof processes that make up your business. Getting the right information and structuring it in a consistent way is critical.

Reference: http://www.bpminstitute.org/uploads/media/ProcessDiscovery_0307.pdf

Potential questions for the Process Owner to discover their pains and wants:

* How does the process start?

* What event triggers the process to start?

* Is there more than one way the process could start?

* How do you know when the process is complete? (What are the determining factors?)

* Are there different end states for the process? For example, one that signifies successful completion and others indicating failed or aborted attempts.

* How does the process get from point A to point B?

* Where else might the process go and why?

* How do you know when one part is done?

* Are all changes documented? How many changes...