The evolution of the BPM profession is leaving a strong impression of "Déjà vu"! Although less mature, the evolution of the Process Management discipline is comparable to that of the Project Management discipline.
BPM has the golden opportunity to develop more rapidly by leveraging the experience of its’ predecessor. For instance we can easily apply the key concepts of:
Project Portfolio Management evolved last in the universe of Project Management. However Portfolio Management brings the most value to an organization; as it ensures the selection of the right projects, the best allocation of limited resources, an alignment with strategic objectives, formal value tracking and most importantly a clear ownership structure. The practices of Project Portfolio Management have been highly adopted in the IT and new product development arena over the last few years.
In some aspects, Process Management has been following the same path of development as Project Management. Beginning with the improvement of single processes, moving to added focus on cross-functional process integration with the wave of ERP and CRM system deployments, and in some rare instances, companies are starting to pay more attention to Process Architecture and Process Portfolio Management.
Since the highest value of the work we do is driven by a sound Portfolio Management approach, the next section offers an application of the Project Portfolio Management best practices to Process Portfolio Management.
From Project Portfolio Management | To Process Portfolio Management |
Inventory. Portfolio Management begins with the understanding of the parts. This is usually done by creating an inventory of all the projects active or planned. The inventory includes descriptive information such as Project Name, Description, Cost, Timeline, Expected Benefits, Project Sponsor, Project Manager, and more. | A process portfolio should also start by the understanding of the part with a listing of all the processes in the company. The inventory should not be limited only to the high level core and support processes but should include all the levels of decomposition necessary to get to a specific process flow (i.e. Level 1, Level 2, Level 3, etc.) A starting process inventory will include the Process Name, Description, Process Leaders (who makes decision and provide direction), Process Owner (who ensure that the process is followed, performance is reported and maintain the documentation up to date).A more advance inventory will include: cycle time, frequency, cost, and value to the organization. |
Strategic Alignment. The next step consists in aligning the parts with the big picture which is done by identifying the projects that match the organization strategic objectives. As the different objectives might also have different weight for the organization it is important to not only to identify the projects that match the strategic objectives but also be specific about which objectives its supports. | The same principle of alignment should be applied to the process inventory. Each process in the portfolio supporting the strategic direction should be identified and the specific objective(s) supported called out. |
Beyond the best practices of strategic alignment the process portfolio should also include the basic classification of process types such as Core, Support, and Governing. A constant focus on the core processes is necessary for an organization to remain competitive.
The prioritization process goal is to determine the optimal projects mix to best achieve the organization's strategic objectives as well as provide the right balance of short term vs. long term benefits, investment, and risks.
For the other processes in the portfolio in need of process improvement and resources the annual planning exercise is the best time to perform a health check on all our processes. The health check should focus on the balance of process cost versus value to the organization and help distribute limited resources to maximize the company performance.
This exercise should ensure that all processes in need of compliance remediation and risk mitigation are high on the priority list to protect the company and its management from undesired consequences.
Portfolio Management should include the collection of all projects measurement and provide a good view of benefit realization timeline.
Processes performance should be looked at with the right combination of metrics. Only one metric or the wrong set of metrics could lead to undesired behaviors and sub-optimum results.
Most process benefits from metrics that directly related to the process activities such as: volume, cycle time, elapsed time (include wait-time and non-productive time), exceptions, defects and rework.
Core processes will also benefits from metrics that tie back process performance with financial results.
Measurement activities generate cost so each process measurement approach should be balanced with the overall value of the process and its legal obligations (regulatory compliance).
At the portfolio level a process performance dashboard should be available and in conjunction with portfolio summary metrics such as:
As Process Portfolio Management maturity evolves it will become a key component of Project Portfolio Management in helping provide a better selection of projects based on a clearer business impacts understanding and more accurate business case calculation.
Nancy Bilodeau, MBA, PMP®Principal BPM Engineer - OfficeMaxnancy_bilodeau[at]yahoo.ca
There are no products in your shopping cart.
0 Items |
BPMInstitute.org provides training courses online and in person for individuals and groups. View courses related to the material you are reading on this page.
Agile Methodology for BPMBPM 101OpEx Tools of the TradeMethodologies and Approaches for BPMOpEx 101View the Learning Path for more courses »