Operations
Business process engineering
Rebuild a core process around how the business runs now.
Companies whose key processes grew by accretion — added to whenever something broke — and now cost more than they should to run.
Sound familiar
Where this usually starts
- The process exists because of a decision somebody made years ago and nobody has revisited.
- Work moves between departments through email, spreadsheets, and memory.
- Every exception is handled by the one person who knows how.
- You are about to buy a system to automate a process nobody has actually designed.
The work
What we actually do
- Map how the work genuinely flows today, including the parts that are not written down.
- Find where value is created and where it is only being handed along.
- Design the process the business needs, not the one the current software implies.
- Define the roles, the handoffs, the decision points, and the exceptions.
- Specify what the supporting systems must do — before anyone signs a contract.
- Plan the transition, including what happens to the work in flight.
How it runs
Mapping sessions with the people who do the work
A designed process, a role and handoff model, and a system specification
Optional delivery leadership through the transition
On site — this work does not go well over video alone
Scope
What this is not
Knowing where an engagement stops is worth as much as knowing where it starts.
- Not a software implementation. We design the process; the system follows it.
- Not a headcount exercise. The goal is a process that works, not a target for cuts.
- Not a binder. The output has to survive contact with the people who use it.
Common questions
About business process engineering
How is this different from business process improvement?
Engineering is for when the process itself is wrong and needs redesigning. Improvement is for when the process is broadly right but costs too much to run. If you are not sure which you have, that is a fair question for the first conversation.
Do we need to buy new software first?
No, and we would rather you did not. Specifying the process before selecting the system is the single most reliable way to avoid buying the wrong one.
Will our team be involved?
Heavily. The people doing the work know where it actually breaks. A process designed without them tends not to survive its first month.
Next step
Talk about business process engineering
Thirty minutes, no charge. Describe the situation and we will tell you plainly whether this is the right piece of work — and whether we are the right people for it.