Report On BPMN Diagramming For 'As Is' Analysis

In this assignment write Report including BPMN diagramming for ‘As Is’ analysis and some additional complex diagramming.

Business processes permeate all aspects of business and it is arguable that if a business is not adopting a business process management approach to realise its strategies, and its subsequent goals and objectives, then it may reduce its chances for success ? even its very survival. By taking a business process management (BPM) approach, organisations can improve their chances of succeeding in their quests for sustained competitive advantages through greater efficiencies, quality, innovation and customer responsiveness. In, what is now, a highly competitive, global, interconnected and uncertain business environment, there has never been a better time to draw on the advantages offered by applying the BPM discipline to any business or organisation anywhere.

You are to assume the role of a BPM consultant and you will prepare a professional business report for a business client.

Upon successfully completing this assignment you will have demonstrated that you can communicate clear, written advice to a business owner in relation to specific aspects of the business process management discipline. In providing advice to your client you will identify and take into account various perspectives and circumstances encompassing the business. Your advice will offer the business owner several reasons for adopting a business process management approach and it will contextually include:

• your definition of business process management and an explanation of BPM’s relationship to organisational strategic intent
• a clear synthesis of key benefits of BPM
• identification and analysis of your client’s critical business process flows and rationales for why these should be redesigned
• various diagrams exemplifying your interpretation of your client’s business and key process flows

Your task is to prepare a business report for your client. For clarity, it is recommended that the main body of your report be structured using the following headings/sections. Sub headings are fine if you feel that this will help to enhance the clarity and flow of your report.

Importance of BPM approach in an organization

The illustrations on Business Process Management (BPM) approach has been presented in this report for the CEO “William. H Winata” of KPC Pty Ltd. The business situation of KPC Pty Ltd. shows that there are more than 20 employees but less than 200 and it is a medium sized business. This report is intended to highlight the existing issues that are present in the organization. The importance of implementing BPM approach in an organization has been illustrated in this report. The benefits to be achieved with the implementation of BPM strategy within the organization are also highlighted in this report. The problems that are existing within the organization has been analysed so that changes can be implemented within the organization to mitigate the critical or urgent issues. Different models has also been prepared and presented for illustrating the issues and their consequence so that proper measures could be implemented to eliminate the determined issues for better performance of the organization.    

Significance of BPM approach

From the business situation of KPC Pty Ltd., it can be said that a BPM approach is required to be implemented in the organization. The organization is growing rapidly with time since their establishment. In the organization, the concept of departmentalization has been already introduced which means that the different tasks or activities are being completed by the different departments as per their roles and responsibilities. It is found that there are several shortcomings ad gaps in the business activities despite of the various procedures being followed by the organization. There is close relationship between the different activities hence the organization has been divided into different departments so that the business processes could be processed effectively. The approach of dividing the organizational structure into different departments has helped to improve the business through specialization along with labour division such that there is no wastage of resources (Chang 2016). Although, there has been improvements but still there is lack of communication within the different departments due to which there are issues arising in the organization. The overall efficiency of the organization is hindered due to the issues in communication as the departmental heads are unable to identify the problems that are occurring within the departments. The problems are in turn resulting into delay in the processing of orders thus the business efficiency is decreased. Therefore, it is suggested that a suitable BPM approach will be beneficial for the organization so that they could achieve the desired goals and requirements.

Benefits of implementing a BPM strategy

The major objective of implementing a BPM approach in the organization is to provide them support so that they are able to improve their present business conditions. The BPM approach will help to solve the existing issues in the organization thus increasing overall efficiency of the business. The approach will help the organization to improve their operational activities so that they could gain competitive advantage over the rivals in the market (Bernardo, Galina and Padua 2017). The BPM approach will fulfil demand of the customers and their business objectives so that they could retain their customer base with efficient delivery of services. The business processes could be improved both internally as well as externally so that the competitive edge could be maintained by the organization in long run. There is no collaboration among the different departments hence major issues are arising in the business activities which is eventually affecting the time for service delivery to the customers. The organization will be able to maintain their interrelationship with internal and external environment through the adoption of BPM approach. The implementation of this approach will help the organization for balancing their resources as per requirement for execution of the business activities and ensure proper resource utilization.       

Business Process Management (BPM) is a procedure that could be implemented in an organization for fulfilling their business goals and objectives. The concept of BPM could be applied in the organization so that the improvements could be made on the current business processes and activities (Jeston 2014). The issues or problems existing within business activities of the organization could be controlled with the help of business process management. The approach is collaborative in nature but it depends on the technological advancements and innovations. The focus should not be only given on the business performance or customers as the business activities have to be also improved through proper management and control such that the business could operate more effectively. The adoption of a suitable BPM strategy is required for an organization so that the business activities could be performed in-line with the strategic directions (De Bruin and Doebeli 2015). The implementation of BPM has wide applications in business organizations so that the competitive advantage could be retained by the business.

Figure 1: KPC Pty Ltd. Organizational chart

The benefits to be achieved with the implementation of BPM strategy within the organization are also highlighted in this report. The problems that are existing within the organization has been analysed so that changes can be implemented within the organization to mitigate the critical or urgent issues. Business Process Management (BPM) facilitates improvement that are required for the business functions and controlling important activities such that the overall productivity could be improved in the business. BPM helps to gain more profitability through successful completion of the essential business activities (Rosemann 2015). The benefits are achieved through reduction in the cost of operations and improvements in the service quality for the customers. The adoption of BPM in the organization will help in making suitable decisions so that the business activities could be performed according to the business goals and objectives. The improvements in business processes of the organization could be done only after analysing their position in the market. The management of the organization should take part actively in the process of analysis to check their position in the market with respect to their competitors. The management team will be responsible for identifying and monitoring of market environment very closely so that they are able to integrate BPM into their workplace. The business strategy have to be considered for prior to implementation of BPM as the changes should have no impact on the organizational goals and strategies (Lehmann 2016). The goal of BPM is to provide the organization with alignment of the business functions or activities with business strategy so there is no loss or wastage of resources.

Issues existing within the organization

The main aim of BPM adoption in an organization is to enhance the existing techniques that provides assistance to value chains as well as stable position in the market. The adoption of BPM in the organization will help to maintain relationship with the customers so that the organizational targets and goals could be achieved and the experience of customers could be improved (Dumas et al. 2018). The processes and procedures in the organization could be improved both internally as well as externally so that the business activities could be performed more easily with efficiency. The implementation of BPM strategy helps an organization in their value chain analysis that comprises of different activities of requirements gathering so that business requirements could be identified easily. The activities that are carried out in context to business process management are designing, production along with marketing and delivery of services. The mentioned activities are required for any business process so that the products could be measured through value chain analysis (Lederer, Kurz and Lembcke 2014). William could utilize the concept of value chain so that the required improvements in business organization can be easily identified and implemented. The requirements of the business value and needs of the organization could be eliminated or evaluated constantly with respect to the changing requirements so that adoption of BPM is successful.

Identification of problems

The major issue that is being faced by the organization is delay in delivery of services to the customer. There is increase in the number of customer complaints with growth in demand from the customers. It has a negative impact on the competitive advantage as well as revenue of the organization. The delay in service or order delivery is mainly occurring due to lack of communication among the service providers and customers. The delay has negative impact on the customers and the organization may lose their customer base. The interest of the customers may be reduced and total market value of the organization will also decrease due to the delay issues. Manual process is being used by the organization for handling their business processes and activities that lead to delay and lag in the order delivery process. The major reason behind the delay is procurement of inventory requires more time than expected that happens due to lack of communication. It is identified that a management information system will be helpful to reduce the errors or data mishandling that may occur in the manual system. The excessive use of paper works is also increasing the rate of human errors in the business process. Apart from that, an online data management system with low cost could be utilized by the organization so that large set of information could be easily handled. The main business functions of the organization could be easily integrated with the help of an information system which will eventually help to build connection between the different departments.

Adoption of BPM approach for businesses

The identified issues can be resolved by the higher authorities with the help of two other ways that is either through a new system or high speed internet connection so the information that is scattered in different departments could be utilized together by William, the CEO of organization. The major process flow issues that are existing within the organization is improper determination of the sub processes and poor capabilities for decision making while executing the business functions or activities. For ensuring proper execution of the business processes, the rules and regulations of the organization have to be followed so that there is no issues existing within the business process. The decision making process is poor in the organization and it is measured through two factors that is lack of proper information or rules and regulations.

The major hindrance to the business processes within the organization are inventory management and transport facilities. An information system will be suitable for the organization that should be centralized for facilitating information access remotely across the entire business. The paper work and manual handling of orders is also considered as vital problem for the organization that have to be resolved to ensure successful business operations. The problem with data availability and management of orders could be carried out with the help of an information system or alternatively, a high speed internet could be implemented in the organization so that the business processes are carried out effectively. However, the proposed measures require huge investment so that the desired goals and objectives of the organization could be fulfilled. The CEO “William” has to make decisions based on the two options so that improvements in their business process could be achieved.

The most vital department in the organization is accounts that keeps track of the financial aspect as the information is being stored manually. The demand from the customers are not being analysed properly by the organization thus they may lose their customer base. The communication gap among the different departments is resulting into delay in delivery of order to customers and it may lead to loss of the company. The errors that are occurring due to the manual handling of data or orders are also affecting business functions of the organization. Another factor is that record of the debtors are not analysed properly hence there is loss in funding of the business. The implementation of an information system will help the organization to improve their business operations and functions. The operating cycle of the organization have to be analysed so that the manual errors or issues could be handled efficiently.

Recommendations for KPC Pty Ltd.

Figure 2: KPC Pty Ltd. Problems Identification Gap model

(Source: Kirchmer 2017, pp. 175)

In the above illustrated model, it can be seen that there are various gaps in present business processes within the organization. The major gaps are customer satisfaction, delay in delivery of orders or services. Another gap that has been found from the study is the procurement of materials from the suppliers. The measurement of organizational performance is also not done suitably and there is existence of data redundancy that is restricting smooth functioning of the business activities. Hence, there is a need that bridging the performance gaps through operational as well as functional strategies have to be done so that the business processes or activities are carried out to meet the business requirements.

The sales forecast of the organization have to be analysed to determine present condition of the business and it will help to identify the demand of customers. The production and packaging department of the organization should ensure that there is availability of required inventory or material. The demand of the customers have to be fulfilled with efficiency so that they are satisfied and the customer base is retained. Proper procurement procedures have to be implemented in the organization so that the orders can be delivered on time to fulfil the desired requirements. The deployment of trained and skilled employee have to be considered by the business so that procured materials are able to satisfy the organizational goals and objectives. For providing services accurately, the roles of the different departments have to be segregated and stated clearly so that there is no lack of communication or gap in the business processes. The role of the employees of the organization will comprise of taking orders, materials procurement and management along with proper delivery of the customer orders. However, the mitigation of existing issues require investment on an information system such that it is capable of fulfilling the mentioned functions and capabilities. The company has to focus on the establishing different policies or procedures so that they are able to govern their business functions or activities efficiently.

Figure 3: As-Is business process model of KPC Pty Ltd.

(Source: Created by Author)

Figure 4: Process scoping diagram for the BMPC Pty Ltd.

(Source: Rahimi, Moller and Hvam 2016, pp. 150)

The identified issues and problems have to be considered and resolved with immediate effect so that the company could retain their position in the market and achieve commercial revenue as well as improvements in business processes. The operational costs have to be reduced if the company wants to survive in the market and retain their position against their competitors. There is a requirement that essential policies have to be implemented in the organization to enhance their marketing strategies for their products along with research and development. Suitable strategies for marketing so that the business could be expanded in future and promotional methods would assist the organization to achieve their business goals and requirements. The determined factors have to be taken into consideration and the business authority should manage them properly through their entire business process.

BPMN diagramming for 'As Is' analysis

Different issues in context to the business procedures of KPC Pty Ltd., have been distinguished and analysed that ought to be considered with the end goal of accomplishing their business goals and objectives. Some of the suggestions have been provided in context to the business case of KPC Pty Ltd. are listed as below:

• The problems being identified could emerge as major issue in future resulting into loss in business and customer base. For survival of the company, the total cost being invested for their operations should be limited so that there is no wastage of resources.
• Finally, the management will have the capacity to adopt another methodology with the goal that the competitive advantage with respect to the competitors could be gained by the company.
• The implementation of a suitable strategy by the organization will ensure proper control and management of the essential business activities. The strategy will eventually help in proper resource utilization so that required goals along with objectives of the organization can be achieved.

Different procedures should be implemented in the business for integrating various business processes of the organization. The organization must integrate the business functions that is financial, IT and logistic aspects so that they could maintain value chain for their business. The successful integration of the policies and procedures in the organization will help in smooth operations and functions of the business. Therefore, it is determined that William should implement a business process architecture to execute the business efficiently.

References

Bernardo, R., Galina, S.V.R. and Padua, S.I.D.D., 2017. The BPM lifecycle: How to incorporate a view external to the organization through dynamic capability. Business Process Management Journal, 23(1), pp.155-175.

Chang, J.F., 2016. Business process management systems: strategy and implementation. Auerbach Publications.

De Bruin, T. and Doebeli, G., 2015. An organizational approach to BPM: the experience of an Australian transport provider. In Handbook on Business Process Management 2 (pp. 741-759). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.

Dumas, M., La Rosa, M., Mendling, J. and Reijers, H.A., 2018. BPM as an Enterprise Capability. In Fundamentals of Business Process Management (pp. 475-500). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.

Ensslin, L., Ensslin, S.R., Dutra, A., Nunes, N.A. and Reis, C., 2017. BPM governance: a literature analysis of performance evaluation. Business Process Management Journal, 23(1), pp.71-86.

Haddad, C.R., Ayala, D.H.F., Uriona Maldonado, M., Forcellini, F.A. and Lezana, Á.G.R., 2016. Process improvement for professionalizing non-profit organizations: BPM approach. Business Process Management Journal, 22(3), pp.634-658.

Hernaus, T., Bosilj Vuksic, V. and Indihar Štemberger, M., 2016. How to go from strategy to results? Institutionalising BPM governance within organisations. Business Process Management Journal, 22(1), pp.173-195.

Jeston, J., 2014. Business process management. Routledge.

Kirchmer, M., 2017. Small and Medium Enterprises Need Value-Driven BPM. In High Performance through Business Process Management (pp. 169-182). Springer, Cham.

Lederer, M., Kurz, M. and Lembcke, U., 2014, April. Applying the strategy-oriented business process modeling to S-BPM. In International Conference on Subject-Oriented Business Process Management (pp. 67-84). Springer, Cham.

Lehmann, C.F., 2016. Strategy and business process management: techniques for improving execution, adaptability, and consistency. Auerbach Publications.

Niehaves, B., Poeppelbuss, J., Plattfaut, R. and Becker, J., 2014. BPM capability development–a matter of contingencies. Business Process Management Journal, 20(1), pp.90-106.

Rahimi, F., Møller, C. and Hvam, L., 2016. Business process management and IT management: The missing integration. International Journal of Information Management, 36(1), pp.142-154.

Rosemann, M. and vom Brocke, J., 2015. The six core elements of business process management. In Handbook on business process management 1 (pp. 105-122). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.

Rosemann, M., 2015. The service portfolio of a BPM center of excellence. In Handbook on Business Process Management 2 (pp. 381-398). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.

Scheer, A.W. and Hoffmann, M., 2015. The process of business process management. In Handbook on Business Process Management 2 (pp. 351-380). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.

Tregear, R., 2015. Business process standardization. In Handbook on Business Process Management 2 (pp. 421-441). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.