A process is a
sequence of activities within an organisation which when completed
successfully - generates value for customers or other stakeholders.
Process
improvement (PI) is - by definition - the means by which an organisation
can achieve substantial change in performance as measured by cost - cycle
time - service and quality - through the application of a variety of tools
and techniques that focus on the organisation as a set of related
customer-oriented core business processes rather than a set of
organisational functions.
The Tenon
Group recommends the adoption of a three phase approach to performance
Improvement which examines the “As Is” state - envisions and designs the “To
Be” state - and manages implementation of the new processes.
Figure 1. Process
Improvement phases
1. Discovery – “As is”
-
Map and understand the current “as is” process
-
Analyse the current process performance
-
Identify process improvement opportunities
-
Identify the immediate “quick wins”
2. Redesign – “To be”
-
Select and agree the processes for redesign
-
Develop “to be” processes
-
Document new processes
-
Validate and ready the designs
3. Implement
-
Test and implement the new processes
-
Verify process performance
-
Measure process improvements (benefits)
-
Continuous improvement
This
approach includes a wide range of business processes including information
technology - finance and human resource management processes and services.
