What Is Business Process Analysis

Business Process Analysis (BPA) is a system that helps a company operate more efficiently so that they may cut back on costs, save more resources and be of better service to their customers. Using different processes, businesses are able to revolutionize end-to-end activities that make a customers experience more useful and removing any unnecessary work for the business. Basically think of BPA as a map. When you use a map, you are able to see the entire picture of where you want to go. However, each of those roads within the map is a link that will get you to where you want to go. You can then weed out the roads that may be inefficient with roads that make the trip easier and quicker. The same thing goes with a BPA. Once everything has been mapped out, a company is then able to see the entire picture. They can remove workers or materials that may not be needed in order to reach their goal; customer euphoria.

As a company is working on a project, process analysis is the concept of reading and acting upon information as it flows into the system. In other words, when new feedback comes in to the company, how the read the data will affect how they react to the data. This is one of the most critical details of any project. A company needs to be able to take a set of data and be able to process what it means and then take the necessary action. Even if you have a great system design with good methods and fail to meet the business requirements, then a project very well may fail.

In BPA, companies will often look at not only textual information but more importantly graphs and charts to get more of a visual on the flow of information. For example, there are many different departments that make up a company. Each department in the company is trained to document everything that is involved in the developing of a project. Each department will then give the demographics of their department so that the BPA department can map out what is going on within all areas of the company. A company is then able to see everything that is going on within the company and can then analyze each department and how everything works together in unison.

Once the entire chart is mapped out, a company can then analyze to see where improvements can be made to cut down on costs. They can see where more workers may be needed or what materials they may need more or less of. In turn, this makes the company run a lot more efficiently and able to maximize their potential in every possible way.

Any great company needs to implement BPA system in order to maximize their chances of being successful. This will help create a more direct route to their goal just like a map is the way for getting to where you want to go.

How Business Process Management Can Help Small Businesses

What is Small Business Process Management?

Business process management can help small businesses in two ways: (1) identifying repeatable processes and (2) automating them.

Automating repeatable processes (straightforward ways of doing things that you do over and over again the same way) saves time and money by removing guesswork, making training easier, and allowing you to take a break from running your business without the whole thing falling apart!

Business process management takes into account the things you do every day to make your business run and lays them out visually, so you can see just how your business looks when drawn out in a diagram. This is a great way to discover your repeatable processes. When you work with a small business process consultant, you talk through your business processes, where you can trim activity and where you can ramp up activity, so that your business can run more smoothly and be more profitable.

For example, if you own a small cafe or flower shop and every Monday you take inventory and order supplies, it would be ideal to find a way to automate at least part of that process. Or, if you run a small organization of 50 employees or contractors, it would be ideal to automate the help desk system or supply ordering process. If you are a solo entrepreneur, you can automate billing, setting up accounts, tasks you send to your virtual assistant, article writing or blogging, responding to basic questions or concerns, or even your social networking!

Small Business Process Automation in Action

You probably will recognize some or all of these things, but you may not have learned to implement them in your own business. This is where a business process consultant can help. Which of these is right for your business? All of them? None of them?

  • Automated or semi-automated supply ordering (e.g., food, office supplies, etc.)
  • Automated new account creation
  • Frequently Asked Questions booklets or page on your website
  • Help desk system for internal employees or outside clients
  • Project management software
  • Time tracking systems for yourself, employees or contractors
  • Billing management systems
  • Online postage/printing shipping labels

There a hundred more we could add to this list. What have you automated in your small business?