Written by: Bob Spory, Cloud Architect, IBM
Business processes and decisions are the backbone of every company and the source of its competitive advantage. Understanding processes and decisions allows companies to increase efficiency and customer satisfaction. Blueworks Live can give you the ability to discover and document process knowledge in a better way.
Blueworks Live ninja skills
I often see customers race from minimal or no process discipline to an overcomplicated approach. This “zero to 100 miles an hour” approach can overwhelm participants and often results in limited project success.
Being a Blueworks Live ninja is about two things: simplicity and discipline. The following best practices focus primarily on implementing a process modeling program that is both easy to use and successful.
Project best practices
Choose a champion. A successful project must have a management champion. The champion supports the project, helps overcome resistance and protects the team from any political interference.
Model with a reason. Why you are modeling? The reason guides the level of detail for the process diagram and documentation.
Measure milestones. Prepare an approach that defines milestones and deadlines. This minimizes risk by simplifying a large project or rollout into smaller measurable steps.
Model with simplicity. Remember that your most important goal is to understand how things work. Others should be able to easily understand what happens in the process.
Be consistent. It is vital to represent processes in a consistent manner with a consistent level of detail, regardless of the project or individual modeling the process.
Use vigilant validation. Ensure that the process models and associated information are validated and approved by stakeholders and participants. Their buy-in is critical.
Take small steps. Take an incremental rather than a big-bang approach to modeling processes. You will produce results that help create momentum when you start small.
Go pro. Use professional services. The main benefit of using IBM Services or IBM Business Partners is the experience they bring.
Modeling best practices
Depict reality. Identify and document how people really perform the existing process and not how they should. Capture undocumented workarounds.
Leverage expertise. Collaborate with the people who know how the process works and who are responsible for its success—not those who think they know how it works.
Use visual elements. Use colors to visually indicate process issues you need to resolve. Colors can also be used to highlight manual or system performed activities.
Be a taskmaster. Tasks represent the smallest unit of work in your process. A process groups related activities into one parent activity:
- Label using action verb + noun. This helps the focus on what is really done
- The name should be concise -= easy-to-read
- Capitalize the first letter of each word in the name
Ready to become a ninja? Learn more about Blueworks Live.