The Leonardo Blog

The only way any organisation delivers value to a customer is via a business process. This article will explore practical issues around process-based management. What makes it work? Why does it fail? How do we sell the idea? An Hypothesis I believe there is a finite set of compelling reasons for BPM; for adopting process-based management--a relatively small number of persuasive arguments from which every person and organisation draws. Every organisation that adopts a process-based management approach does so because one or more of these reasons resonates with its circumstances. The set of causal reasons is quite small. What if we agreed on what the reasons are and developed a rich and powerful body of knowledge about them? In this scenario, each reason would be comprehensively explained and supported by case studies, elevator speeches, stories, presentations, FAQs and other education and communication resources. If we had such a resource, would it be easier to change individual and organisational mindsets to the process view?

Dilemma? Every day, many thousands of hours are invested in creating business process models. Across the country, around the world, this is a massive investment in time, money, and energy. Is there a satisfactory return on modelling?

Creating a BPA is not a trivial exercise, and since it will always be subject to change and the exploration of greater detail, it is a never-ending job. Nevertheless a useful, working BPA can be developed in a few months and the immediate value of doing so can be remarkable. Quite apart from creating a solid basis for effective ongoing process management, discovery of the BPA focuses the organization wonderfully on really understanding how it executes its strategic intent. This article details why Business Process Architecture is crucial as a strategic and operational management tool.

Many presentations and publications explain how to run SAP projects in a process-centric manner; the mechanics of doing so are quite well known, even if not always followed. The critical element often missing is a clear and shared understanding of why you should run an SAP implementation project in a process-centric manner.

With margins thinner than the crusts of its pizzas, a pizza chain restaurant operates in a fiercely competitive and demanding market. There are many alternatives for the customers’ disposable income. Inevitable and escalating cost pressures impact a wide range of business inputs. Customer tastes are notoriously fickle. Staff enthusiasm is difficult to shape and maintain through rapidly varying demand cycles. This is a tight, demanding, sometimes fragile, always brittle, supply chain that demands deep understanding, superior planning, and faultless execution to deliver consistent success. And you thought it was just a pizza!