More often than not Business Process Analysis is pushed to the back of the project agenda, almost an afterthought once the change is being implemented that the business process will have to change around the project goal. This is a sure way to consign the project to either fail or not complete on time purely because you begin to reengineer the business process for all the wrong reasons. Research indicates that 57% of technology lead projects are poorly scoped, and 36% of those have unattainable requirements. Process led projects have a 90% success rate suggesting that BPA is superior for getting process improvement requirements right.
Business Process Analysis should be the vanguard of any project, the first step to achieving project success, on time and in budget.
Why ? Read on.
A process cuts across both business and IT domains. It is agnostic of system specifics in the first instance (until the point where at the granular level, system level interaction and business rules start to be documented). When initiating a change project, consider modelling the business process first. This will ascertain the level of change that is required and dictate the scope of the project.
Too simple ? Let me explain.
Changing the process first will give you direct insight into the effort required to change the underlying technology and data.
If you redesign the system first without consideration for the business process it’s meant to support (yes, support. Technology is an enabler, it is not a driver) the chances are:
• the system will no longer mirror what the objective of the process is, (see the Whitepaper Target Operating Models should be Strategic Operating Models)
• the requirements were agnostic of the process its meant to support
• the business may not operate as efficiently because the process no longer flows correctly and may ultimately mean more time and money spent on another badly implemented change (notch up another statistic for Forrester !).
If you redesign the existing process first:
• it’s easier to understand the technology effort required to make the new process work, and ultimately define the scope of the project, its requirements and tangible benefits
• the business case will become stronger because there is a definable process which can sit behind it in support of the figures you produce for the budget. Without modelling the new process first and any associated impact study (such as a capability analysis or human capital study) it will hard to reflect the true cost-benefit of implementing the change.
• it may even prove that the change will give no benefit whatsoever, or worse, make the process more inefficient or reduce the ability to cope with work volumes
