Data and Architecture, pt 2: Process Improvement

Does your organization need to reduce costs and improve efficiencies? Start with a process-first approach. Before you dive into what software tool to implement or select a new solution to address a business challenge, understand your existing business processes. What steps does your organization take within the business processes? Are things manual? Can you automate and improve the way you do business?

Here are simplified steps to improve the way your organization does things:

1. Step 1: Understand your current process.
   1. What to do: map the current process. Document the who and what affects the process, the actors within the process, process steps, and process decisions.
2. Step 2: Determine if the process is capable of meeting future business needs.
   1. What to do: Identify the gaps. Analyze the current process and identify the inefficiencies and areas to close the gap. Find the manual steps. Look at ways to advance the way you do business.
3. Step 3: Design the new process with the future in mind.
   1. What to do: map the future process. Think about the new process you need to reduce costs, create efficiencies, or improve the way your organization does business.
4. Step 4: Determine next steps from the gap analysis and future process design.
   1. What to do: Improve the process. Can the current process be improved with incremental improvements, or do the gaps require a redesign to meet the new business needs?

In addition to the process analysis and modeling, take a look at how other similar companies support their business processes. Similar industry perspectives can enhance the way you look to improve or redesign the future process state.

To ensure the improvements or future designs will meet future business needs, make sure process improvements support the business strategies and enterprise goals.

Process improvements will help support new advancements and business innovations required to scale the enterprise for future growth.

Other Posts in the Series

• Data and Architecture, pt. 1: Ask the Right Questions
• Data and Architecture, pt 2: Process Improvement
• Data and Architecture Simplified, pt. 3: Business Architecture - The Core Diagram