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Copyright © 2005-2012
David Jenkins & Associates Ltd

How to get your business back on track

by David Jenkins

How can you achieve the required results when you do not know the steps to get there? How do you know the steps you have taken are the right ones that will fit what your company requires?

Many businesses do not have clear business processes in place to aid in the operational activities that managers and employees face every day. The result is that the same activities are done, but in different ways each time, with potentially different outcomes. For the business this can mean wasted resources, lost time, extra cost and unhappy customers. For managers and staff it can lead to poor motivation and high turnover.

A basic definition of a business process is a collection of activities (usually done in a logical sequence) that starts with an input and creates an output of value. An example could be a customer order received in a customer order process. The output could be a completed customer order form being passed to the warehouse to fill.

By developing effective business processes that encompass the whole enterprise, end to end, the manager can track performance throughout the business. Business processes that are clearly defined can be broken down into their component parts, allowing all staff to clearly understand their role and purpose at each step.

Documenting operational business processes adds value to any organisation because it provides a blueprint of how the business works. This blueprint can be used by the business at any time to identify how problems have occurred and if changes will affect other parts of the business that have interactions with the process in question. The documentation produced from developing business processes is also an excellent tool for the training of staff and ensuring employees are performing as needed.

Developing a new process or documenting an existing one does not have to be a complex activity. Keeping it simple allows flexibility in how it is developed, implemented and kept updated. Here are five steps that you can use to develop a business process: