Monday, September 20, 2010

Core Processes Create Value

The current economic downturn has created an enhanced awareness on how an organization creates the value needed by its products, markets and customers. Becoming more efficient and effective is much more than eliminating process waste. Internal waste reduction may not be the primary need for an organizations markets or customers, thus waste reduction may not ensure continued sustainability of the organization.

A process management approach can help an organization prevent a narrow view of a business system. The process approach is a set of interrelated or interacting activities, that require specific input resources, monitoring and measurement opportunities (before, during, and after the process), in order to achieve consistent product and service. An organization wanting to improve its economic performance can use the process approach to link improvement to strategic goals.

The following questions is a good place to start:

* What business are we in?
* Who are our customers?
* What do they do, and what do they expect from us (the value)?
* What do we need to do to meet their unique requirements (capabilities)?
* What is customer critical and what is less significant?
* What are the critical core processes that will allow us to meet our specific capabilities?
* Which core processes do we have, which do we need to create, and which do we need to manage better (process management)?

Let us not forget that the "economic value" or rationale is particularly important. Identifying the critical processes that need to be either created or improved to provide the needed strategic capabilities should drive the overall improvement effort and economic value. This is the essence of process management (effectiveness of process = ability to achieve desired results, and efficiency of process = results achieved versus resources used).

Identifying the missing gaps and implementing the missing processes can be the quickest way to improve a system. The organization must ensure that process improvements are linked to strategy and core process execution. To be a success, an organization must continuously improve all its essential core processes to provide value and to always satisfy customer requirements.

The Quality Guru asks: What are your company core processes, and how do you measure their effectiveness?