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A business process is a logical sequence of actions performed by one or more members of a team to achieve a specific objective. It is characterized by the following characteristics:

• It is carried out by humans;
• It always involves the interaction of several people, either direct or indirect (for example, communication with customers, suppliers, vendors, etc.).

To effectively manage business processes, you must be well-versed in the subject.

Why study business processes?

Studying business processes is important because it allows you to:

• Model the way and many measures from goal setting to goal implementation;
• Develop the set of actions and functions required to achieve a specific result.

Why is it important to improve business processes?

Improvement of business processes allows companies to achieve many goals:

• Overcome poor project management;
• Achieve cost optimization;
• Improve existing business processes;
• Increase employee morale;
• Increase customer satisfaction;
• Optimize performance time;
• Provide flawless workflow;
• Add value to projects.

How do you study business processes?

Business process modeling and optimization should be carried out by specialists with the necessary education and experience. They should have the necessary knowledge and techniques to help improve performance and maximize the company’s capabilities.

Let’s take a look at how to study a business process to promote continuous improvement.

1. Recognize the processes

First of all, it is important to identify which processes require improvement. With your company’s goals in mind, conduct research and evaluate which relevant processes contribute to achieving those goals and are the most crucial.

To determine them, you can use a business analysis methodology developed by management consultant Peter Drucker that includes answering five questions:

• What is the company’s mission?
• Who is your client?
• What does your customer value from your company?
• What are your key results?
• What is your plan?

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2. Form a group

Getting a team of professionals (for example, group leaders, motivated employees, top management specialists, front-line employees, etc.) is a helpful solution that will allow you to accelerate and improve the effectiveness of your business process study. These people work with various processes daily, so they are aware of many useful details:

• The current state of affairs;
• Useful information;
• Desired objectives;
• Existing and potential flaws in the process.

Some of the most popular methods for evaluating a company’s most important business processes are:

• Brainstorming;
• Interviews;

3. Build a business process flowchart

Creating a diagram provides valuable insight into the business process details. It can be drawn in a practical and understandable manner using standard symbols and tools.

As a result, it will be much easier to see what goes well and identify bottlenecks and gaps. Here is how you can build a business process flowchart:

Determine components

Every business process flowchart must include the following key components:

• These are the documents, data, materials, etc., that will be used during the processing and later transformed into outputs;
• These are the operations performed on inputs to transform them into outputs;
• It is the outcome of the processing of the inputs. They can also be presented in the form of data, documents, charts, products, etc.

Processing order

Processes can sometimes run in parallel or must wait for the results of others.

Build a logical order for processes

Describe what happens at each stage of the process. This entails extending the data with an explanation. For example, if you have to wait for another task, specialists such as essay writers for hire, decisions, data, etc.

Choose the appropriate symbols for the process’ stages

To do this, you can use different geometric figures (e.g., square, oval, etc.). This task can be done manually or using specialized software.

Review

After you have complied the flowchart with all the descriptions, check to see if you missed anything.

4. Specify the AS-IS process

This step entails an examination of the current state of the business process. To do this effectively, you will need to define:

• Agents: this step entails identifying process activities, people responsible for their performance, permissions availability, etc.;
• Analyze the process model: this phase includes determining the process’s purpose, metrics, and rules, the presence of bottlenecks and measures to control them, etc.;
• Document preparation: this stage entails analyzing and writing reports that will clarify the consultation and presentation. If you struggle with writing, visit writing services review websites such as Best Writers Online to get the needed assistance.

5. Identify areas for improvement

At this point, you must identify desired and possible enhancements. Consider the following:

• How you interact with customers; Activities that add high perceived value;
• Bottlenecks and gaps;
• Business rules.

6. Construct a model of the desired business process

After collecting and processing all the data, create a new business process that is flawless and allows the organization to achieve its target objectives more effectively.

Conclusion

The study of the business process provides information for assessing problems and determining their causative factors. Based on this data, one can learn the details of how the company’s business processes work and how well it accomplishes its key objectives. It is also worth noting that studying the company’s business processes is a continuous process because there is always room to optimize or improve.