Practicable processes

The effectiveness of information and communication technologies, the anchoring of quality, the pursuit of business excellence and the management of risks all require processes to varying degrees. Business processes are understood as the purposeful creation of a product or service through a logical sequence of interrelated activities that follow specific rules.

In the extensive literature on "process management" you will find information on how processes can be structured and presented, how process management can be introduced, which role holders are required, how processes can be measured in terms of maturity levels, and how processes can be managed.

Viable and implementable processes

can be improved. There is no question that these are weighty topics. What is usually missing, however, is guidance on how to collect data and make processes visible: How do we arrive at viable, actionable, robust, practical processes?

Reference is also readily made to IT tools and utilities, which have their value and undisputed strengths particularly in process modeling and publication, analysis, simulation, automation and document management. From a practical point of view, the process survey is not one of them, because IT tools do not help to obtain realistic, economically designed processes, they are aids, but not the solution. Role holders from the ICT environment are also increasingly pointing out that the focused discussion of users about the "right" IT process management tool is the "wrong" one.

Success factors/critical point acceptance

Our own experience, practical reports and specialist literature show: Unsatisfactory process management often has to do with a lack of acceptance by the users, including managers. This is especially true for processes carried out by people in "socio-technical" systems, in contrast to automated (production) processes carried out by machines. If acceptance is lacking, then processes that have been put down on paper and implemented in workflow systems probably exist. What is missing, however, is above all an understanding on the part of the process role bearers of the underlying arguments, interdependencies and cooperation.

What enables acceptance? Acceptance can be promoted through conscious action in contact with the process role holders. The most direct contact takes place during process elicitation and design - which is why it is a key element of process management. It focuses on the inclusion of all participants. Acceptance is not created by a method or a tool, nor can it be prescribed. Organizational requirements are:

•  It needs a common language and a common understanding, the knowledge of being understood, knowledge of the existing values and culture, a non-judgmental common view. Only in this way can those affected and involved focus on what is common and derive from this what is feasible and what is not.
• It requires transparency, reflection and fearless discussion, trust. It requires discussion spaces and times, because a process survey, analysis or design is not a linear process.
• "All" those affected from the specialist departments and the line organisation must get involved, must make their knowledge collectively available.

Stakeholders at the centre

The process team is at the center, because the result is always as good as the work of the group. The process team is responsible for the content, i.e. the goal-directed activities in the optimal sequence, including assigned responsibilities and tools. The team should represent the entire (sub-)process to be modeled.

The work of the group counts

and thus cover a broad range of topics, because there are always multiple realities. Process knowledge and willingness to change (ability and will), and thus impartiality, distinguish suitable members. Lateral thinkers also belong in the team.

Ideas developed in the group are more easily accepted, risks are more soundly assessed, ideas are more easily developed together. On the other hand, the group needs more time; peer pressure, superiors or strong personalities can dominate or inhibit the group; innovation may be replaced by compromise.

As a method expert, the consultant becomes a moderator, an "enabler", and gains distance from the technical expert. He puts himself at the service of the team. The facilitator animates and slows down, enforces agreed "rules of the game", promotes correctness, completeness and plausibility through questions. He activates the participants to express themselves and to record their thoughts in writing. He puts the positive in the foreground without suppressing the negative.

Process survey and design

Paper has not had its day! A provocative statement - certainly. Justified, however, because the joint discussion and the writing down of the recognized process facts on paper cards supports the development of acceptance.

Paper maps of different shapes, sizes, colors and, if necessary, with imprints are used for modeling the processes. The map design is based on best practice, on the modelling or presentation tool or on the process design specifications already established in the company. They can be created quickly and easily, even ad hoc on site.

Even with a comparatively small number of card types, in Figure 1 three colours and three shapes, even "untrained" people are able, after brief instruction in a group or alone, to quickly put a considerable process complexity on the table. In addition to the results-oriented sequence of activities with options, with and-or branching and loops, the role holders and aids assigned to the activities can also be made transparent and thus also discussable. This also applies to the interfaces to upstream and downstream processes.

The GappBridging Picture Map Method BKM™ is a detailed elaborated business process design method based on special picture maps, which builds on the working principles "Participation - Reflection - Solution Orientation".

With GappBridging BKM™, processes can be surveyed, analyzed and designed with regard to the actual and target situation (Fig. 2). Improvements can be initiated, implementation planning is included, and continuous process improvement (CIP) can be tracked. In addition, variant comparisons and enterprise process maps can be designed (www.gappbridging.com).

The "SMARTCARD subito" example

As part of the "SMARTCARD subito" project, the HR, logistics and IT departments involved have jointly surveyed, coordinated and simplified the cross-organisational "entry", "exit" and "transfer of apprentices" processes for the General Secretariat of the Federal Department of Justice and Police (FDJP) using Gapp Bridging BKM™ (actual, analysis, visioning, target and implementation modelling according to Figure 2).

Thanks to the process team's survey and analysis of the processes (phase 1 of the project), organisational clarification was achieved and at the same time a documented knowledge base was created - in a working environment supported by acceptance. The discussion of processes and optimisation possibilities led to a deeper understanding of the processes and also of the concerns of the other participants and thus to improved cooperation across the boundaries of responsibilities and departments.

• For the sake of the whole, to simplify things for the process customer, process role owners now take on new or additional tasks.
• Streamlining of processes by limiting them to what is currently necessary, leaving out what was previously expedient or customary.
• Understanding of the actions and controlling constraints of the other process role players, even if these were perceived as "strange" at the beginning.
• By improving processes and cooperation, it is now possible to ensure that the necessary infrastructure can be made available to new employees in good time, even if the time between recruitment and starting work is short.

At the same time, process documentation (classic solution in the form of extended sequential plans using Visio and Word) institutionalized implicit knowledge into explicit knowledge and thus transparency and traceability.

From the operational to the workflow model

The variants of the three processes were automated with IT support (phase 2): A total of eleven workflows were set up, introduced and trained on the Microsoft SharePoint-based collaboration platform. The acceptance-creating transfer from the operational models to workflow models was supported by an adapted picture card model.

This allowed the automation potential to be exploited.

• The workflow application makes it possible to work with a continuous system, combined with the integration and utilization of individual data stocks (common data storage). This enables the repeated use of data (for example, personnel number, name, first name, etc.) for different workflows. Simple plausibility checks during data entry also increase data quality (specific data formats, must/can data). 
• At the same time, a role-specific data view or data entry is stored in the application. (Only data that needs a role is visible, only data for which a role is responsible can be entered).
• The process quality could be increased by the now automated notification of the next role holder and the equally automated dispatch of structured messages with information to third parties outside the processes. Group mail addresses are used instead of personalized addresses. This promotes the idea of a "single point of contact" and facilitates individual work planning (no more redirected mails from the deputy).
• Process control is facilitated by simple graphical progress monitoring of individual process instances, without having already introduced comprehensive process measurement. Continuous process improvement is already being implemented in the form of regular meetings between the super users and the process owner. Suggestions for improvement from the process users are also assessed, which they can easily deposit in an electronic mailbox integrated in the application.

Desire for processes

• Finally, the benefits and possibilities of workflows on the collaboration platform are demonstrated by practical example, thus creating an appetite for more process management.

IT-supported automation of processes

The challenges - or rather the solution-oriented lessons learned and the resulting added value - of the step from model to automation are outlined below. The classic challenges of project management will be left out of the equation; instead, the focus will be on the interface between the business side and ICT.

Combined with the switch to shorter iterative development loops (in analogy to agile development) and the inclusion of process users in the testing of interim results (early user tests), a qualitative improvement in the results was achieved - not least through acceptance thanks to participation. Because process models always remain abstract. With a prototype, the solution becomes tangible and can be experienced. In this way, things that were overlooked in the design or were unspokenly taken for granted become obvious more quickly (danger: with the application comes the appetite).

At the same time, implementation was more efficient because divergent ideas came to light more quickly and could be clarified in dialogue: What is desirable from a technical point of view and feasible from an IT point of view, and what was actually meant? In addition, the effort required was reduced by the joint specification on the basis of the prototype instead of the time-consuming individual writing down as a document.

With the creation of a workflow model based on the process model and adapted to the specific IT needs (terminology and notation), the translation work between the business focus and the IT focus was made possible (acceptance through understanding).

This transformation step resulted in an increase in process quality, for example, through a sharper use of terms (Re

Business and IT focus

duction of synonyms), the binding definition of "who sees what" and "who processes what", the optimization of the data stock (as little as possible, as much as necessary).

Conclusion

Process elicitation and design is a fundamental element of process management. Not only is the factual basis developed in terms of content, it is also a central meeting place for creating acceptance among all those affected. It is crucial that this opportunity is seized through a methodology that allows and promotes acceptance.

The step from process model to IT workflow helps to exploit the undisputed potential of process automation. It requires additional effort and an IT-compatible process model to make the business view comprehensible for IT and thus create the basis for the implementation of IT-supported workflows. It also requires an effort on the business side to create commitment and precision in the process - also to one's own advantage. With an MS SharePoint-based collaboration platform, it is possible to quickly map simple processes as workflows and to make timely workflow adjustments dictated by a volatile business environment.