Best Business Process Design Solutions

Here are some of the steps to consider when creating your BPD:

• Goals - What are your goals? What are the objectives you hope to accomplish and when do you want to accomplish them? Your BPD may be to see a specific project to successful competition, or a long-term company goal such as increasing customer retention or improving repeat business transactions. Once you have your goals determined, you can move to the next step.
• Research - A great plan will involve researching proven methods of success from others who have successfully accomplished similar goals. Which methods will work best in your business environment and how can you adjust them to ensure success in your organization? Speak with all shareholders in the process to ensure every possible scenario has been considered and feasible conclusions can be met at the desired time.
• Plan - You will want to work through every process and highlight how every team member and department contributes to the end result. You will want to be very specific as to which department is responsible for each phase of each assigned task, the exact pipeline the task will travel to reach the successful outcome you have stipulated in your process plan. It is a good idea to make a practice run to make certain the process you have put in place will work as desired and achieve the expected outcomes.
• Deploy - You are now ready to begin following your plan and to integrate the process throughout your organization. You will want to make sure you continue to follow the process until its successful completion.

There are generally three types of business process design: operational processes, supporting processes, and management processes.

1. Operational processes - These are the processes that have a direct correlation to the overall output and profitability of your organization. They represent the framework of the structure as to how your organization functions to create the product(s) or service(s) you provide to your customers. These processes can also include marketing, delivery, service, and the support you provide throughout the lifecycle process of your product or service.
2. Supporting processes -The supporting processes are the processes that ensure the operational processes can be successfully completed. They are mandatory, crucial, and instrumental to the overall success of the process. Although these processes do not directly generate income for the business organization, without these processes in place, the operational processes would be ineffective and not be able to achieve the desired results. Supporting processes are also sometimes known as secondary processes.
3. Management processes - The management process is where the operational and supporting processes converge together. The management process is responsible for administrating and overseeing that the operational and supporting processes are working together effectively, ensuring desired outcomes are being realized. Additionally, the management process will be able to identify areas of improvement, processes that are exceeding expectations, and sourcing other avenues that can benefit from the business process and generate additional income for the organization.

The benefits of BPD solutions include:

• Cost-effectiveness - A BPD solution will save you money. A BPD solution can automate many processes, minimizing staffing needs and reducing errors and ineffectiveness. Your business process can become more agile as processes become more flexible and adjustments can be made more easily and seamlessly.
• Increased Profitability - Your BPD solution will bring a greater level of accountability and improve the productivity of team members and staff. Overall operational tasks and processes will be simplified, adding to increased output and even greater effectiveness and overall improved profitability.
• Compliance - A BPD solution can also ensure that regulatory and government compliance standards are being maintained at all times, avoiding costly fines and penalties.

When considering BPD solutions, look for the following features:

• Improved collaboration - One of the greatest features of a BPD solution is how well it allows for effective communication of all shareholders working on the assigned project/process. The ability for all levels of the parties involved to visualize and discuss the progress of the process at all times is what makes the BPD tool most effective and ensures the project or process is on track to achieve the desired result.
• Easy integration - The best BPD solutions integrate seamlessly with other tools and IT infrastructures. The solution should be able to import and export data from most, if not all 3rd party solutions in every available format.
• Very agile - Many BPD solutions are available on premise and/or on the cloud. It is important to understand what your business needs are and to ensure that the BPD solution you choose offers the right deployment options for your business needs.
• Automated workflows - Your BPD solution will create a set of protocols based on the criteria prescribed by the solution administrator and will make the best decisions on how the workflows should progress without any human interaction. These automated processes improve functionality and provide great transparency to all contributors to the project's eventual success.