Any activity is always a certain process, as it has an extension in time, stages and a result. Therefore, from craft or cottage industries to modern high-tech companies, everyone is involved in processes. What has changed in Lately? Why has the topic of business processes become so relevant today? In this material, I will try to analyze the process approach to managing an organization and reflect the specific features of a new view of management that the theories of modeling and reengineering brought with them.

Background

Management researchers are invariably concerned with the question of the universality of theories and the provability of solutions. It is desirable, as in mathematics, to find axioms and constants that one could confidently rely on when searching for and making decisions. Second important topic is a language for displaying decisions related to organizational and management systems. The most successful attempts to make the science of management more harmonious are accounting and financial statistics. These are very valuable parts of management, but, unfortunately, not suitable for “mere mortals” who need not only to make the right decision, but also to communicate it to the entire staff. Here we can also talk about network planning and graph theory, but still this approach remains controversial for many.

In the 70s of the last century, in complex military projects, American specialists came to the need to visually structure activities, and since then the concept of a business process has been firmly entrenched in management practice. This period can be conditionally called “structuring” of the business, since the purpose of constructing visual activity diagrams at that time was to identify the logic, divide areas of responsibility, determine the flow of documents and products, and this action itself largely accelerated and simplified understanding, identified inaccurate places and ruptures.

At this stage, a business process was defined as a set of sequentially and/or parallel operations that transform material and/or information flows into corresponding flows with other properties. Of course, here we are not talking about the fact that for the first time they saw a process in activity (processes were already improved by Adam Smith in the 18th century, and Henry Ford perfectly built production processes), but about the fact that a tool for displaying and systematically analyzing the company’s activities through process diagrams appeared .

A visual reflection of an enterprise's business processes significantly accelerated and simplified automation activities, so in the 80s the emphasis shifted to the description of automated business processes. This was a period of active involvement of computers in all areas of production and management. Naturally, one description was soon not enough for managers, so a new level difficulties - process management.

The process approach views management as the work of a special person (“process owner”) to design an effective sequence of actions to create a formulated result under given conditions and ensure the implementation of these actions (process). That is, the focus from managing people in process management shifts to managing flows of actions and results.

Modeling development stages

Having embarked on the path of streamlining business processes, management must sooner or later switch to process management on a company-wide scale, since the flow of activity, like the flow of water, cannot exist in a confined space where movement is limited. That is, the company is forced to conceptualize all its activities as a network of interconnected processes, to link them so that they strengthen and not weaken each other. This requires modeling of all activities in a complex. This stage began in the West around the 90s. Everything happens with some lag, but it depends greatly on the industry. Fast-growing industries (such as telecommunications) have long and successfully mastered these technologies.

A feature of process-oriented management is the definition of business processes as an interconnected set of works that ensure the achievement of the goals set by the company (implementation of the strategy), which is an order of magnitude more difficult than managing a local process. Here the focus of management’s attention is shifted from production and logistics processes to "office".

The assessment showed that design, planning, accounting, etc. processes are often the main culprits of low speed and high cost production processes. That is, they ultimately determine the properties of the processes that create value for the customer.

Thus, to achieve success, the company’s management itself must be subjected to modeling and optimization, but sometimes this is extremely difficult, since most often the following is observed:

• high uncertainty in the actions of managers;
• lack of necessary competencies in process management;
• psychological unpreparedness of specialists and managers to “drive themselves into limits.”

Therefore, the next stage in the development of modeling tasks is inevitable - this is the initial competent design of all processes of the company as a single effective system– business engineering. Business engineering methodology views management as a service provider to the value stream, as it should be. At the same time, the implementation of the process approach occurs almost automatically and does not require efforts to overcome the resistance of any of the personnel groups (of course, if everything is designed correctly from the beginning).

I plan to consider the topic of business engineering in more detail in future articles. Here I would like to pay attention to the options and subtleties of the business process as a modern management phenomenon.

Managerial phenomenon

Having examined the dynamics of the development of the process approach to enterprise management, I think that no one doubts that this is serious and will last. My personal opinion is that the transition to process management is comparable to the transition from calculations on your fingers to calculations using records, formulas, and rules. As the management object becomes more complex, management technologies must inevitably become more complex.

But is it so difficult? Where does a modern manager encounter a barrier to the benefits of a process approach? My observations show that the manager, by virtue of tradition, imagines the organization in the form of an organizational structure, where the main information is about the division of employees into departments and about responsibility for each group. Let's compare what structure and business process diagrams look like, drawn using the same visual tools.

Structure

Obviously, the main difference between the schemes is the presence of a thread in the second scheme, which unites all participants with a certain logic. Managerial work is similarly different. With traditional functional management, this is a “division” of attention, work, and reward, which is a very labor-intensive task and does not guarantee anything.

When moving to a process-oriented approach to management, company management can no longer be considered as the work of an “overseer,” but rather as the work of a coach, conductor, director, etc. – that is, the task changes from separation and control to the formation of the best configuration of conditions for maximizing the flow of created value.

We can conclude that the whole difficulty lies in the habit of the traditional version of management, and partly in the fact that there are no visual ready-made process models, and their creation from scratch requires serious efforts of the management team.

Fundamental elements of process management

1. Revealing key results activities and comparing them with the company’s business processes.
2. Identification of clients of business processes and their requirements (in the future, it is necessary to establish a strong connection with them and continuously monitor their satisfaction, since it is the client with this approach that becomes the main measure of the quality of the process).
3. Creating a structure of business processes based on importance, nesting, and chronology of activities.
4. Determination of business process parameters.
5. Determination of those responsible and executing each process.
6. Designing logic – a technology that should ensure the creation of the desired result in the required time frame.
7. Setting up a system for synchronizing the activities of different processes (ideally, automation of planning and control of all process indicators).
8. Personnel training is the formation of readiness for group responsibility for results (often this requires a fairly strong restructuring of the motivation system).
9. Formation of a cyclical mode of design-analysis-adjustment of processes based on the results of the analysis - the so-called “rhythm of business”.

An important stage in the development and description of activities is the determination of the characteristics of business processes. Almost every methodology highlights the following elements.

1. Process boundaries, which are defined by starting events and inputs (resources), as well as ending events and outputs (results).
2. Regulatory documents of the process. These include both external legislation and company-issued rules, plans and instructions. Unfortunately, it is rare to find well-written management documents in companies, so the main delay in the transition to process management arises from the need to develop the required number of rules and instructions.
3. Process resources: performers and participants, equipment and tools, information systems and other important elements, without which the process is impossible or ineffective.
4. Process indicators – measured process variables and their standard values. These may include not only the volume of the result, but also the time spent on the process, the amount of material or money lost, the number of defects, customer satisfaction index, etc.

All this can be described in simple text or tabular form, but it’s not for nothing that designers use graphical methods. Any design, including an organizational one, will be much more deeply detailed and meaningful if it is presented visually and in the context of the activities of the rest of the system.

Visualization of processes in the form of technologies can be simple, as shown in the figure above, consisting of infographics accessible to any employee, or it can be more complex, performed using special process modeling tools. As part of this series, I plan to describe all the most interesting and accessible modeling notations. For now you can familiarize yourself with two of them - and.

In any case, the methodology provides direction and tools, while value for the company is created by the management team, which forms the management system. No even the most accurate technique guarantees that the mechanism will work like a clock if there is no master who understands, sets and maintains this “clock”.

I think no one has a question about whether business processes are needed or not and why they are being developed, since when there is a business, by definition there are business processes. Therefore, we cannot say that working with business processes is fundamental new era. But still, a shift in emphasis, new tools and technologies are significantly changing the essence of management work. Those who understand this have a chance to create a much more manageable, mobile and effective business than those who focus on managing the old fashioned way - often through psychological pressure on subordinates.

A company as a set of business processes that are interconnected and the purpose of its activities.

IN modern conditions More and more companies are coming to the conclusion that it is possible to manage a business as efficiently as possible not as a set of individual functions, but as a set of business processes, which represent the essence of the activity. This approach began to be used in management relatively recently due to increasing competition and increasing dynamics of the external environment. It aims to increase business flexibility, reduce reaction time to market changes, improve business results and better achieve goals.

The process approach to management is not the only possible option, since there are other approaches - situational or systemic, for example. Systematic considers a company-organization as a community of interconnected elements that are focused on achieving goals under regularly changing conditions. The situational approach states that the use of certain methods and actions is always determined based on the situation.

Process Features implementation at the enterprise

The implementation process at the company occurs according to the following stages:

a network of key business processes is identified (in the form in which they are at the beginning of using the approach);

processes are ranked by level of significance, a preliminary model is created;

all processes are analyzed and “bottlenecks” are identified, i.e. problem areas that should be worked out most carefully;

Based on the findings obtained, models are built that show the ideal course of the process.

This innovation can be implemented both throughout the enterprise and in a specific area.

Process approach: basic principles

Perception of business as a system:

an enterprise in any form is considered as a system, including its development;

solving local problems does not change the system; only the entirety of it can be changed.

Perception of activity as a process:

any activity can be improved - this is the goal pursued by process management;

in any activity there is a division according to the presence material resources, personnel, time and so on.

Development of standards and introduction of the principle of transparency of responsibility:

any activity is aimed at obtaining a result by transforming input products into output products;

In each process, the supplier of input and output products must be determined - this is necessary to determine responsibility. Also, the input and output product have their own consumer, who is interested in its maximum quality.

Standardization and transparency of responsibility:

responsibility for creating the system lies with the top management of the company;

each process has its own owner, who is responsible for the quality of its execution;

all processes must be standardized and transparent so that the problem can be quickly found.

The process approach to management includes a description of the business itself as a set of processes, as well as a system for monitoring, improving and managing these processes. We can say that to apply the process approach you need to describe, optimize and automate processes. This can be done most efficiently using special systems. The process approach to management especially helps in those departments where a high level of standardization is initially required and where all processes are as detailed as possible - these are accounting, economics, planning departments, and so on.

PAGE 3

Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………..3

1. Process approach to management……………………………………………………...4

2. Description of business processes………………………………………………….10

3. Modeling of business processes…………………………………………...17

Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………….23

References……………………………………………………………25

Introduction

Business processes are one of the powerful tools for increasing business efficiency. The technology for describing business processes ensures transparency of all business operations and allows you to analyze possible consequences failures at one or another stage of the work, find and correct the error in a timely manner. Business processes make it possible to understand the interaction between disparate departments: what, to whom and why they transfer or accept at each stage. The key properties of a business process are that it is a finite and interconnected totality actions determined by relationships, motives , restrictions and resources within a finite set of subjects and objects united into a system for the sake of common interests in order to obtain a specific result, alienated or consumed by the system itself.

Purpose test work is an introduction to business processes, as well as an analysis of their description, modeling and process approach to management based on independent study of literary sources.

1. Process approach to management

We live in a world where reaction speed decides, if not everything, then a lot. This is especially true for business. To survive, a company must adapt to everything new as quickly as possible, be manageable and maneuverable. In a small company, all employees are visible, and the manager can do a lot personally. In more large companies everything is much more complicated. In enterprises with a staff of five hundred, and even one hundred people, it is impossible to control each individual employee. Rescue process approach to management.

Process approach -This is one of the management concepts that was finally formed in the 80s of the last century. In accordance with this concept, all activities of an organization are considered as a set of processes. In order to manage, you need to manage processes.Process approachhas become one of the key elementsquality improvement.

The main concept that the process approach uses is the concept of process. Exist various definitions, but the most commonly used definition of the standard is ISO 9001. " A process is a set of interrelated and interacting activities that transform inputs into outputs" An important component of the process, which is not reflected in this definition, is the systematicity of actions. Process activities should be repetitive, not random.

The process approach was developed and applied with the aim of creating horizontal connections in organizations. Departments and employees involved in one process can independently coordinate work within the process and solve problems that arise without the participation of senior management. A process approach to management allows you to more quickly resolve emerging issues and influence the results. Unlike functional approach, process management allows you to concentrate not on the work of each department, but on the results of the organization as a whole. The process approach changes the concept of organizational structure. The main element is the process. In accordance with one of the principles of the process approach, an organization consists not of departments, but of processes.

The process approach is based on several principles. The introduction of these principles can significantly improve work efficiency, but at the same time it also requires high corporate culture. The transition from functional management to process management requires employees to constantly work together, despite the fact that they may belong to different departments. The “workability” of the principles embedded in the process approach will depend on the extent to which this joint work can be ensured.

When implementing process management, it is important to adhere to the following principles:

The principle of process interconnection. An organization is a network of processes. A process is any activity where work takes place. All processes of the organization are interconnected;

The principle of process demand. Each process must have a purpose, and its results must be in demand. The results of the process must have their own consumer, internal or external.

The principle of documenting processes. Process activities must be documented. This allows you to standardize the process and obtain a basis for changing and further improving the process;

Process control principle. Every process has a beginning and an end, which define the boundaries of the process. For each process, within the given boundaries, indicators characterizing the process and its results must be determined;

The principle of responsibility for the process. Various specialists and employees may be involved in the process, but one person should be responsible for the process and its results.

The process approach presupposes the presence of key elements, without which it cannot be implemented in the organization.

These key elements include:

Process input;

Process output;

Resources;

Process owner;

Process consumers and suppliers;

Process indicators.

Figure 1. Elements of the process approach

Entrances process are elements that undergo changes during the execution of actions. The process approach considers materials, equipment, documentation, various information, personnel, finances, etc. as inputs. Exits process are the expected results for which actions are taken. The output can be either a material product or various types of services or information. Resources are the elements necessary for the process. Unlike inputs, resources do not change during the process. The process approach defines such resources as equipment, documentation, finances, personnel, infrastructure, environment, etc.

Process ownerthe process approach introduces this concept as one of the most important. Each process must have its own owner. The owner is a person who has at his disposal the required amount of resources and is responsible for the final result (output) of the process.

Each process must havesuppliers and consumers. Suppliers provide the input elements of the process, and consumers are interested in receiving the output elements. A process can have both external and internal suppliers and consumers. If a process has no suppliers, then the process will not be executed. If a process has no consumers, then the process is not in demand.Process indicatorsnecessary to obtain information about its operation and to take appropriate management decisions. Process indicators are a set of quantitative or qualitative parameters that characterize the process itself and its result (output).

Due to the fact that the process approach creates horizontal connections in the work of the organization, it allows one to obtain a number of advantages in comparison with the functional approach.

The main advantages of the process approach are:

Coordination of the actions of various departments within the process;

Orientation to the result of the process;

Increasing the effectiveness and efficiency of the organization;

Transparency of actions to achieve results;

Increased predictability of results;

Identifying opportunities for targeted process improvement;

Removing barriers between functional departments;

Reducing unnecessary vertical interactions;

Elimination of unclaimed processes;

Reducing time and material costs.

The process approach underlies several popular and quite effective concepts for improving the work of organizations. Today, four areas can be distinguished that use the process approach as the main approach to improving operational efficiency.

These areas include:

Total Quality Management(TQM) . This is a concept that provides for continuous improvement of the quality of products, processes and control systems organization. The organization's work is based on customer satisfaction;

Continuous process improvement(Continuous Improvement Process). This is a concept that provides for minor but constant improvements in the process across all its components. The most well-known approach, which is based on continuous process improvement, is the Japanese approach. Kaizen" (kaizen);

Improving business processes(Business Process Improvement) orbusiness process management(Business Process Management). This is an approach aimed at helping organizations optimize business processes to increase their efficiency. Process changes are carried out gradually, but always on a systematic basis;

Business process reengineering (Business Process Reengineering).This approach arose in the early 90s of the 20th century. It is based on a rethinking of existing processes and their radical change (redesign). Unlike the three approaches above, reengineering involves rapid change in processes. Also in this approach, significant emphasis is placed on the use of information technology.

2. Description of business processes

Buisness process - This is a stable, purposeful set of interrelated activities that, using a certain technology, transforms inputs into outputs that are valuable to the consumer (MS ISO 9000:2000 standard).

Figure 2 shows a universal process block diagram. Despite its simplicity, it has exceptional important from the point of view of the methodology for implementing the process approach. The often used definition of “a business process is a set of sequential operations” grossly simplifies the concept of a business process and focuses only on the task of developing flow diagrams of operations (works). An overly simplified understanding of the process and implementation of the process approach cannot be used if the company's management aims to build a management system based on the process approach.

Figure 2. Universal business process block diagram

The concept of process includes:

process owner- an official who has process resources at his disposal, is endowed with certain rights, and has a clear area of ​​responsibility and authority;

process technology- the procedure for performing activities to transform inputs into outputs;

process indicator systems- product indicators, process efficiency indicators, customer satisfaction indicators;

process control- activities of the process owner in analyzing process data and making management decisions;

process resources- information and material resources that the process owner distributes during the planning of work on the process and takes into account when calculating the efficiency of the process (the ratio of the cost of expended resources to the achieved result).

Each process is built into a specific system of processes that are performed both within the company and in external organizations. The requirement for a process is determined by the management superior to the process in question (“higher management body” in Figure 2). Control information (orders, plans, regulatory documents, etc.) enters the process input. When performing activities and upon completion of reporting periods, senior management receives reporting information. The result of the process is products (services), which are designated as outputs in Figure 2. Consumers receive them and use them to transform them into other products as part of their processes. Attempts to copy “other people’s” processes (using reference models of business processes) are obviously doomed to failure. The process management system of each organization is its unique know-how, operates in a specific environment and changes with changing conditions. Copying and replicating an enterprise management system makes sense only when an organization creates a network of similar, replicable divisions or business units.

Description of the business processtext, tabular or graphical representation of the diagram business process . As a rule, it is carried out by business analysts of the company and serves as the initial stage of modeling and optimization of business processes.

There are many approaches to describing business processes, of which two standards should be distinguished: Data Flow Diagram and Work Flow Diagram data flow and work flow diagrams, respectively.

The procedure for describing a business process includes

• description of the business process environment (primary and secondary inputs and outputs, internal and external suppliers and contractors)
• description of the business process structure:
• designation of interacting units,
• defining the content of each operation,
• distribution of responsibilities between employees,
• designation of deadlines for completing tasks,
• determination of incoming and outgoing documentation, as well as alldocument flow by process.

There are horizontal and vertical descriptions of business processes.

With a vertical description, only the activities and their hierarchical order in the business process tree are shown. In this case, there are only vertical links between parent and child jobs.

A horizontal description of a business process also shows how these works are interconnected, in what sequence they are performed, and what information and material flows move between them. In this case, horizontal connections appear in the business process model between the various works that make up the process (Figure 2).

Specialists in organizational design use different terminology when describing business processes. For example, some call a vertical description of business processes a functional description of an activity, and a horizontal description a process description or simply a description of business processes.

Currently, there are three main methods of description (Figure 3).

Figure 2. Horizontal and vertical description of business processes

Figure 3. Ways to describe business processes

The first method is a textual sequential description of a business process. An example of a text description of a fragment of a business process is the following text: “The sales department compilescontract of saleand coordinates it with Legal department"Many Russian companies have developed and use regulatory documents in their activities, some of which are process regulations and represent a text description of business processes. For the purposes of analyzing and optimizing the company's activities, this is not suitable. The fact is that the description of a business process in text form, it is impossible to systematically review and analyze. Text information is perceived by the human brain sequentially. For example, when a person reads a regulation and reaches the end, he almost always forgets about what was at the beginning of the document. The second disadvantage of the textual representation of a business process is related to the fact , that the human consciousness is designed in such a way that it can effectively work only with images. When perceiving and analyzing textual information, the human brain breaks it down into a number of images, which takes additional time and mental effort. ThereforeWhen using text descriptions of business processes, the productivity and quality of decisions to optimize activities leave much to be desired, which is especially pronounced when the decision is made by a group of people.

At one time, specialists information technology developed a more structured approach to describing business processes. They proposed breaking down the business process into cells of a structured table, in which each column and row has a specific meaning. This table is easier to read, it makes it easier to understand who is responsible for what, in what sequence the work is performed in the business process, and accordingly the business process is easier to analyze. The tabular form of describing business processes is more effective than the text form and is currently actively used by information technology specialists to describe business processes as applied to automation tasks.

Recently, graphical approaches have begun to be intensively developed and used in describing business processes. It is recognized that graphical methods have the greatest efficiency in solving problems related to the description, analysis and optimization of the company’s activities.

The first step in describing a business process is to describe its environment, which represents the set of inputs and outputs of the business process, indicating suppliers and customers. Suppliers and clients of the process can be both internal and external. Internal suppliers and customers are the departments and employees of the company with which the business process in question interacts. By describing inputs, outputs, suppliers and customers, a horizontal business process description allows you to more clearly describe the business process and its boundaries. This is one of its advantages over vertical description.

When describing the environment of a business process, it is recommended to construct its graphical diagram shown in Figure 4.

Figure 4. Business process environment diagram

When describing the environment of a business process, its inputs and outputs must be divided into two types: primary and secondary. This division results in primary and secondary inputs, as well as primary and secondary outputs. The inputs and outputs that were shown when describing the business process environment are external.

If the company uses a work scheme<на склад>, then to the question of what happens first: the purchase of products or their sale, two different answers can be given depending on two different situations. If a specific product is in stock, then its purchase is more important than its sale. If, when the client contacts, there are no products in stock and the client is ready to wait until the purchase is made, then the sales process begins earlier than the purchase and ends later. Therefore, when describing this business process and similar processes, it is advisable to use the DFD standard, which does not focus on the time sequence of work.

Description of business processes is one of the most labor-intensive stages of a project and requires not only a lot of time, but also a deep and thoughtful approach to process analysis. Processes can be described using various instruments: EXCEL, BPWin, ARIS, MS Visio. The main thing is that the finished diagrams are understandable and reflect the essence of the processes. In this case, the qualifications of the project manager and external analysts, who must have a sufficient level of education in the field of enterprise economics and management and sufficient experience in implementing similar projects, are important.

3. Business process modeling

The concept of “business process modeling” came into the everyday life of most analysts simultaneously with the appearance on the market of complex software products, intended for complex automation enterprise management. Business process modeling allows you to analyze not only how the enterprise as a whole operates, how it interacts with external organizations, customers and suppliers, but also how activities are organized at each individual workplace.

There are several approaches to defining the concept of “business process modeling”:

business process modeling is a description of the business processes of an enterprise that allows the manager to know how ordinary employees work, and ordinary employees to know how their colleagues work and what the final result is aimed at all their activities;

business process modeling is an effective means of finding opportunities to improve the activities of an enterprise;

business process modeling is a tool that allows you to anticipate and minimize risks that arise at various stages of reorganization of an enterprise’s activities;

business process modeling is a method that allows you to give a cost estimate to each process taken individually, and all business processes in an enterprise taken together.

Modern enterprises forced to constantly improve their activities. This requires the development of new technologies and business methods, improving the quality of the final results of activities and, of course, the introduction of new, more effective methods management and organization of enterprise activities.

A business process is a logical, sequential, interconnected set of activities that consumes producer resources, creates value and delivers results to the consumer. Among the main reasons prompting an organization to optimize business processes are the need to reduce costs or the duration of the production cycle, requirements imposed by consumers and the state, the introduction of quality management programs, mergers of companies, intra-organizational contradictions, etc.

Business process modeling is an effective means of finding ways to optimize a company’s activities, a means of forecasting and minimizing risks that arise at various stages of enterprise reorganization. This method allows you to give a cost estimate to each individual process and all business processes of the organization in the aggregate.

Business process modeling decisions are usually made for the reasons presented in Figure 5.

Figure5. Reasons for deciding on business process modeling

Business process modeling affects many aspects of a company’s activities:

change in organizational structure;

optimization of functions of departments and employees;

redistribution of rights and responsibilities of managers;

change of internal regulatory documents and technology of operations.

The purpose of the simulationis the systematization of knowledge about the company and its business processes in a visual graphic form that is more convenient for analytical processing of the information received. The model should reflect the structure of the organization's business processes, the details of their implementation and the sequence of document flow.

Modeling of an organization's business processes includes two stages: structural and detailed. Structuralmodeling of an organization's business processes can be performed in IDEF0 notation using the BPwin toolkit or in UML using the Rational Rose toolkit. Detailed modeling is performed in UML.

At the stage of structural modeling, the model should reflect:

existing organizational structure;

documents and other entities used in the execution of modeled business processes and necessary for document flow modeling, with descriptions of their basic meaning;

the structure of business processes, reflecting their hierarchy from more general groups to private business processes;

interaction diagrams for final business processes, reflecting the sequence of creation and movement of documents (data, materials, resources, etc.) between actors.

Detailed business process modeling is performed in the same model and should reflect the required detail and should provide an unambiguous picture of the organization's activities.

A detailed business process model should include:

a set of precedents reflecting possible options performing business processes “as is”;

activity diagrams that describe in detail the sequence of business processes;

interaction diagrams reflecting document flow patterns.

Modeling business processes in a company can be aimed at solving a large number of different problems:

Accurately determine the outcome of a business process and evaluate its value for the business. Determine the set of actions that make up a business process. Clearly defining the set of tasks and activities that need to be performed is extremely important for a detailed understanding of the process.

Determine the order of actions. Actions within one business process can be performed either sequentially or in parallel. Obviously, parallel execution, if allowed, can reduce the overall execution time of a process and, therefore, increase its efficiency.

Separate areas of responsibility: determine and then track which employee or division of the company is responsible for performing a particular action or process as a whole.

Determine the resources consumed by the business process. Knowing exactly who is using what resources and for what activities can improve efficiency resource use through planning and optimization.

Understand the essence of interactions between employees and company departments involved in the process and evaluate and then improve the effectiveness of communication between them.

See the movement of documents during the process. Business processes produce and consume various documents (paper or electronic form). It is important to understand where documents or information flows come from and where they go, and determine whether their movement is optimal and whether they are all really necessary.

Identify potential bottlenecks and opportunities for process improvement that will be used later to optimize the process.

It is more efficient to implement quality standards such as ISO 9000 and successfully achieve certification.

Use business process models to guide new employees.

Effectively automate business processes as a whole or individual steps, including automation of interaction with the external environment - clients, suppliers, partners.

Having understood the totality of the company’s business processes, understand and describe the activities of the enterprise as a whole.

In turn, the main task when modeling a company’s business processes is to describe the existing processes in it in order to build their “as is” models. To do this, it is necessary to collect all available information about the process, which, as a rule, is fully owned only by company employees directly involved in the process. Thus, we come to the need for a detailed survey (interviewing) of all employees involved in the business process. It should be emphasized that one cannot limit oneself to the process information provided by the department head and managers. Usually, only a conversation with an employee who directly carries out actions within the framework of the business process being described gives an adequate idea of ​​how the process functions in reality. The first question when building an “as is” model concerns the result of the business process in question. It happens that it is not easy to obtain a clear formulation of the result of a business process, despite the importance of this concept for the efficiency of the company. After determining the result, you should understand the sequence of actions that make up the process. The sequence of actions is modeled at different levels of 11 abstraction. At the top level, only the most important steps of the process are shown. Then, each of the high-level steps (subprocesses) is decomposed. Based on the collected information, a model of the usual, or optimal, process execution is built and possible scenarios for its execution with failures are determined. Various failures (exceptions exceptions) can disrupt the optimal flow of the process, so it should be specified how exceptions will be “handled”, that is, what action will be taken if an exception occurs.

Conclusion

Based on the material studied, the author concluded that a business process is a set of interrelated activities or tasks aimed at creating a specific product or service for consumers. The business process begins with consumer demand and ends with its satisfaction. He can be decomposed into several subprocesses that have their own attributes, but are also aimed at achieving the goal of the main business process. I learned that the process approach to management allows managers to identify and manage the key processes and results of the company's activities that truly create added value; and also, integrate the often disparate actions of functional departments and direct their efforts towards a single result. A company built on a process principle is more flexible and adaptive. Process-based management will allow you to know exactly “Who is responsible for what” and how each operation affects the final result. Process-based management will improve the efficiency of horizontal connections between departments. Business process description technology makes all company operations transparent and understandable, allows you to analyze operations and find problems in them that lead to failures. As a result, the process approach significantly simplifies the adaptation of new employees and reduces the dependence of the company’s work on the human factor. It is important that the process system simplifies the management of operating expenses. Thus, many problems of modern Russian management can be solved by using a process-oriented approach and business process management tools. This technology is very popular today, as it allows you to restore order in the company and lay down a mechanism for improving processes. I also found out that business processes can be modeled using various methods. The concept of “business process modeling” came into the everyday life of most analysts simultaneously with the appearance on the market of complex software products designed for comprehensive automation of enterprise management. Such systems always involve deep pre-project survey company activities. The result of this examination is expert opinion, in which individual paragraphs make recommendations for eliminating “bottlenecks” in activity management.

Bibliography

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Reasons why a decision is made to model a company’s business processes

exhaustion extensive way company development;

loss of “technological transparency” of the company’s activities;

the position of the company’s management, who have realized the need for change and development and see the future.

significant growth of the company's business through expansion of areas of activity;

COURSE WORK

Subject: Control Theory

Process approach to management

Introduction

1. Features of applying the process approach

1.1 Concept of the process approach

1.2 Resource base and process decomposition

1.3 Understanding the process approach

2. Implementation of a process approach to management

2.1 Effectiveness of the process approach

2.2 Process description levels

2.3 Phased implementation of the process approach

Conclusion

List of used literature

Introduction

Justification of the rationality of using the process approach in enterprise management for the effective management of business processes and their optimization in order to minimize human, material and financial costs in the process of operation of the enterprise, increase the competitiveness of products, and increase the potential of the company.

In conditions of insufficient competitiveness of Russian enterprises on the world market, the use of a process approach in managing an organization is a relevant and promising way out of the current situation.

The goal of any business activity is to make a profit. In conditions market economy the enterprise must constantly increase its potential - the expected level of profit in the future. The level of competitiveness of an enterprise is an integral indicator of its potential. Increasing potential means improving the activities of the enterprise: improving quality, reducing production costs, fulfilling orders within the planned time frame, etc.

Improving the activities of an enterprise can be carried out through the use of a process approach to its management, which allows:

draw up a list of the main business processes and, based on the data obtained, draw conclusions about the rational use of resources, the number and workload of personnel, etc.;

identify missing and duplicate business processes and make appropriate adjustments;

determine the list of functions of each division of the enterprise;

establish the relationships between departments and the functions performed in them.

Certain features of the implementation of the process approach to management determined the relevance of this topic.

The purpose of this work is to consider the features of the process approach to management.

To achieve this goal, it is necessary to solve the following tasks:

consider the features of using the process approach;

highlight the effectiveness of the process approach;

analyze aspects and stages of practical implementation of the process approach.

The theoretical basis of the study is made up of scientific provisions contained in the works of leading domestic scientists and specialists in the field of management and management theory.

The object of research in this work is the process approach to management, and the subject is the features and complexities of the process approach.

This work uses a comparative analytical research method.

The practical significance of the work lies in considering the features of the process approach to management.

This course work consists of an introduction, two chapters, a conclusion and a list of references.

1. Features of applying the process approach

1.1 Concept of the process approach

The process approach is the most important feature of perfect management. This approach, used as a basis in the ISO 9000:2000 series of international standards, is actually not new. Back in the late 60s, a methodology for structural analysis and projection of complex SADT systems was developed.

The SADT methodology appeared on the market in 1975. Later, this approach to describing processes was formalized in the form of a US Federal standard called IDEFO. The greatest interest in the processes appeared after the publications of M. Hammer, D. Ciampi and others in the mid-80s. In 1988, the process approach was included in the Malcolm Baldrige Award model, and in 1991 - in the European Quality Award's business excellence model.

A process is a set of interrelated and interacting activities that transforms inputs into outputs (ISO 9000 2000). The output of the process (product) has value for the consumer. When they talk about the process approach, they mean, first of all, that the management of the process and each of the works included in it (activity, subprocess, process of the second or subsequent levels or function) occurs using special methodological techniques that are quite well developed and allow eliminating many errors.

Below are some typical situations in a company where the process approach can be used as a means of improving performance.

Option 1. The organization is doing quite well, but managers or owners, predicting a decrease in the organization’s growth rate, increased competition in the market, taking into account other risk factors for the organization’s existence, begin to look for ways to increase the organization’s efficiency by optimizing business processes.

Option 2. Market conditions are shaping up very well for the organization, but the rate of growth in the size and business of the organization is outpacing the rate of development of the management system, and owners, concerned about the loss of business controllability, are beginning to look for new ways to keep the situation under control by describing and automating the organization’s business processes 1 .

As a rule, owners and managers expect the application of a process approach to management to solve the following main problems:

cost reduction;

increasing profitability;

increased controllability (improved system company reporting, creation of a transparent management system, acceleration of management decision-making procedures);

reducing the influence of the human factor in company management.

In some cases, managers create working groups (project groups) of the most qualified specialists to solve their problems. Looking for the right decision managers and the working group begin to make changes in the organizational structure of the company, reassigning departments and divisions. From the outside, this activity often resembles an attempt to achieve harmonious playing of an orchestra by changing musicians.

Most companies fail to achieve serious long-term results through organizational changes and increased work intensity of performers. Often company managers decide to turn to professional consultants. Management and specialists begin searching for a consulting firm that could help in this matter. Unfortunately, consultants' recommendations are too often general character, and their implementation does not bring the desired result. That is why enterprise managers should master process management techniques independently and, when implementing changes in the organization, rely primarily on own strength 2 .

Quite often, company managers try to build the right management system in one, separate pilot process, the description and improvement of which is entrusted to an external consultant.

However, experience shows that such an approach is obviously doomed to failure, since any organization is a complex system of interactions, and a description of one of the segments of activity cannot eliminate systemic problems in the management of the entire organization. When building a control and interaction system in one process, you will certainly have to capture the interaction of this pilot process with others. With a one-way description of interaction, the following situations are possible:

The emergence of the “pulling the blanket” effect, when the leader of the pilot process seeks regulation and subsequent implementation of joint work from the point of view of the benefits and advantages of his process, and not the entire organization.

The lack of necessary experience in creating a system for regulating activities on the part of the managers and owner of the pilot process leads to the fact that the created, agreed and approved documentation will have to be adjusted and corrected every time the documentation of the next process interacting with the pilot is created.

Creating a process management system implies creating a system for planning process indicators from top to bottom and a management reporting system from bottom to top. These systems can only be built from the top down, starting with the plans of the organization's top management.

The problem of informing middle and lower level managers about the plans of senior management and business owners is one of the first places in importance. The process owner, having a lack of information about the plans of senior management, will try to establish such plans that he is known to be able to implement 3.

The concept of a process approach to management is based on:

Principles for constructing quality management systems proposed in the MS ISO 9000 series standards, version 2000;

The P-D-C-A (Plan-Do-Check-Action) cycle, often called the Deming cycle;

BSC (Balance ScoreCard) design principles developed by Norton and Kaplan;

Principles project management, since any changes in organizations, including the introduction of a process approach, are carried out as a project;

The best global experience in the field of building management systems and improving the performance of organizations 4.

The process approach to managing an organization is based on the identification of business processes in the organization and the management of these business processes.

For simplicity of presentation, we will further replace the term “business process” with the term “process”. In addition, the basic principles of management do not depend on the type, profile and field of activity of the company, therefore, in the future, the term “organization” will be used to designate a company that is building a process management system. This term is equally applicable to an industrial enterprise, management company, consulting or legal office, commercial or government entity.

For all types of organizations, the most pressing task is to build an effective management system that will ensure the fulfillment of the organization’s objectives and achievement of success in the external environment.

It is possible to build any control system only on the basis of uniquely defined objects of which it will consist. The most important objects in any management system are the “Object of Control” - what is controlled, and the “Subject of Control” - the one who controls. Accordingly, for a process management system these objects are defined by the terms “Process” and “Process Owner”.

A process is a stable, purposeful set of interrelated activities that, using a certain technology, transforms inputs into outputs that are valuable to the consumer.

This definition is based on the definition of the MS ISO 9000:2000 standard and is quite general.

There are three main groups of processes:

end-to-end (cross-functional) processes passing through several divisions of the organization or through the entire organization, crossing the boundaries of functional units;

processes (intra-functional) and sub-processes of departments, the activities of which are limited within one functional unit of the organization;

operations (functions) of the lowest level of decomposition of an organization’s activities are, as a rule, performed by one person.

The term “subprocess” is used in cases where it is necessary to consider the process in more detail as a set of its constituent subprocesses.

Since processes or subprocesses are inherently actions, to designate these actions it is necessary that the names of the processes, subprocesses (or functions) be expressed by a verb or verbal noun, for example, “Production process”, “Sales process”.

To manage the process, it is necessary to appoint an official responsible for the implementation of the process and its result. In order for an official to manage the process, the resources necessary to carry out the process must be allocated to him, and rights and powers must be delegated. Each process does not exist on its own, but performs some functions in the organization and is controlled by the top management of the organization. Since in some cases the process can be managed not by one employee, but by a collegial management body, the definition of the process owner will be as follows 5.

The process owner is an official or collegial management body that has at its disposal the resources necessary to carry out the process, and responsible for the result of the process.

The process owner manages the process and is an integral part of the process.

The input of a business process is a product that is converted into an output during the execution of the process.

An input must always have its own provider. Process inputs may include: raw materials, materials, semi-finished products, documentation, information, personnel (for the “Staffing” process), services, etc.

Process inputs:

enter the process from outside;

their volume is planned for one or several process cycles, or the release of a certain volume of product.

Output (product) is a material or information object or service that is the result of a process and is consumed by clients external to the process.

The output (product) of a process always has a consumer. If the consumer is another process, then for it this output is an input. The output (product) of a process can also be used as a resource when executing another process. Process outputs may include: finished products, documentation, information, including reporting, personnel, services, etc.

A business process resource is a material or information object that is constantly used to perform a process, but is not an input to the process.

1.2 Resource base and process decomposition

Process resources may include: information, personnel, equipment, software, infrastructure, environment, transport, communications, etc.

Process resources:

are under the control of the process owner;

their volume is planned for a large number of cycles or a long period of process operation.

It is not a mistake to classify information and personnel simultaneously as inputs, resources, and outputs of a process. So, for example, personnel, from the point of view of basic processes, is a resource that is supplied by the personnel service. From point of view personnel service– personnel is a product that enters in the form of untrained candidates to fill vacancies, and at the output of the recruitment and training process, ready-made specialists are transferred to department heads.

The division of objects necessary to complete a process into “inputs” and “resources” is quite arbitrary. More important for the execution of the process is precise definition what must be available to the process owner for the process to take place and be completed successfully.

Outputs, inputs and resources must be denoted by nouns because they are material objects.

Figure 1 – Simplified Process Diagram

The process shown in Figure 1 has inputs and outputs. To carry out the process, resources are used (personnel, equipment, infrastructure, environment, etc.). The process owner controls the process. All resources necessary to carry out the process are at his disposal. The definition of the process owner given above can be supplemented as follows: “the process owner is an official who has at his disposal personnel, infrastructure, software and hardware, information about the process, manages the progress of the process and is responsible for the results and effectiveness of the process.”

In order to manage the process, the process owner must receive information about the progress of the process and information from the consumer (client) of the process. Therefore, one of the components of process management is the system for providing information to the process owner. Accordingly, senior management should receive regular reports on the progress of the process.

For the processes to work, senior management must determine the purpose of the process, set goals for the process owner and approve the planned values ​​of the performance and efficiency indicators of the process. The process owner, in turn, makes management decisions based on received information and established plans.

Thus, Figure 1 presents a rather complex process diagram that takes into account the interrelationship of horizontal material flows, resources and vertical information flows and management interactions.

Figure 2 shows the decomposition of one of the top-level processes into a more detailed process (subprocess, function). If we consider the activities of the organization as a whole, then enlarged processes are used to describe it. An example of a top-level process could be the process of purchasing raw materials and supplies for production, which includes functions such as: planning purchases, concluding contracts, placing orders, receiving inventory items, paying for inventory items, releasing inventory items into production. The number of process decomposition levels is determined by the project objectives and should not be too large - more than 6...8 levels. When determining the business processes that exist in an organization, it is advisable to start describing the processes from the top level.

Figure 2 - Animation of process decomposition into subprocesses

One of the most important issues that arise when modeling business processes is determining the required depth of description. When decomposing models, the number of objects on the diagram grows exponentially. Therefore, it is always very important to initially determine the practically appropriate level of detail in the description.

The upper level of description of business processes corresponds to the processes managed by top managers at the level of deputy general directors. The second level of processes, as a rule, is considered at the level of large functional divisions of the enterprise. The third level is the level of functions of divisions and departments. The fourth level is functions performed at workplaces, etc. 6.

1.3 Understanding the process approach

Currently, professional management consultants do not have a standard understanding of the process approach to enterprise management. As a result, customers of consulting services - managers of industrial enterprises - are forced to deal with a variety of approaches and methodologies. Some companies are actively promoting the methodology for constructing balanced management scorecards (BSC), while others are creating the so-called. “enterprise process model” using ARIS, others offer to optimize all existing processes in a short period of time and a fixed fee, others call for immediate implementation of TQM, etc. The emergence of ISO 9000:2000 series standards gave a serious impetus to the development of process management methods, however, the problem of different interpretations of the process and the process approach was not solved. Some consulting firms in the list of their services indicate, for example, the following set: description and optimization of business processes, creation of job descriptions, ISO certification, etc. Thus, for many consultants, the process approach and reorganization (reengineering) of processes is one thing, and the implementation of a process-based quality management system is something else, with little connection with the first.

Despite the variety of approaches, one understanding of the process approach should be highlighted, based on a comprehensive, systematic consideration of the organization’s activities as a set of processes, the development of a process management system using the principles of the ISO 9000:2000 series as the most optimal.

Network of organizational processes - this approach to managing an organization can be conditionally called “complete” or, what characterizes it more accurately, a systematic approach to identifying enterprise processes, as required by ISO 9001:2000. The approach under consideration is based on the following four main principles:

determining process and system approaches in relation to the organization;

determining the process (business process) of the organization;

understanding the steps required to implement a process approach in an organization;

determining the network (system) of interconnected processes of the organization.

The concept of a network or process system is quite difficult to define, since any activity can be considered at at different levels detailing. In order not to introduce complex, artificial definitions such as “macroprocess”, “business process”, “subprocess”, etc., an enterprise process network can be defined as follows: a process network is a set of interconnected and interacting enterprise processes, including all types of activities carried out at the enterprise. Thus, when using this definition of a network (system) of processes, it does not matter how many processes are allocated in the enterprise. It is important that all activities, without exception, are considered as processes.

The use of a system of interrelated processes to manage the activities and resources of an organization can be called a “process approach.” To ensure the implementation of a process management system in accordance with clause 4.1 of ISO 9001:2000, the organization must:

identify the processes required for the quality management system and their application within the organization;

determine the sequence of these processes and their relationships;

determine the criteria and methods necessary to ensure that both these processes themselves and their management are effective;

provide confidence that the resources and information necessary to support the progress of these processes and their monitoring are available;

observe, measure and analyze these processes, as well as implement the activities necessary to achieve the planned results and continuous improvement these processes.

Within the framework of the process management system, all processes of the enterprise should be considered, and real processes, and not artificially isolated from activities. The “reality” of processes is achieved by linking a network (system) of processes to the functional divisions of the enterprise.

The contrast between “functional” and “process” organizations is incorrect. It would be wrong to say that there are no processes in a hierarchically structured organization. They exist in any organization. The only question is whether the existing management system will ensure sustainable, profitable operation of the enterprise to the extent specified by the owners in a certain future. If not, then something needs to be changed, and, first of all, in the management system. The process approach in this case is the basic tool in the set of essential tools that a manager can use when planning a reorganization of the management system. By linking processes to functional departments, you can achieve the following:

unambiguous definition of process boundaries (by inputs/outputs, functions performed by departments);

unambiguous definition of the interaction of processes within the network (system) of enterprise processes;

unambiguous identification of process owners responsible for the effectiveness and efficiency of each process 7 .

2. Implementation of a process approach to management

2.1 Effectiveness of the process approach

The desired result is achieved more efficiently when activities and related resources are managed as processes.

Functional management, which was used everywhere to increase the productivity of managerial work, created barriers, cliffs and holes between parts of the processes, thereby destroying the continuity of the processes of creating products or providing services. As a result, the chains became very long, complex and confusing, and ultimately ineffective.

The process approach, without completely destroying functional management (specialization is needed everywhere, including in management), allows you to connect process chains, throw out unnecessary chains and eliminate duplicate processes, and parallelize those processes that can and should be carried out in parallel.

To master the process approach at enterprises, it is possible and necessary to properly use the experience accumulated in military industries, where, in accordance with the military acceptance mechanism, customer representatives (and not government officials) accompany the development and manufacture of a product from the first to the last step. However, using the experience of military acceptance is clearly not enough for the necessary renewal of industry. After all, the process approach inherent in military acceptance is imposed by the customer, but should be the result of the implementation of the company’s internal need to improve the efficiency of its activities. Therefore, reengineering is now more relevant for enterprises and organizations - redesigning the processes used 8.

In some ways, understanding processes is close to understanding algorithms. The fact is that in the life of organizations everything big role information technology (IT) plays. And IT does not understand any language other than the language of algorithms. In many areas of human activity, IT is a necessary condition for ensuring competitiveness, so a process description of an organization’s activities is quite appropriate. In addition, the process approach is also convenient outside the IT context, primarily because it opens up wide opportunities for visualization, and therefore for employee involvement. Thus, we are talking about the phenomenon of process thinking, i.e. such a view of the world that turns everything visible in this world into processes. To do this, a meta-process consisting of the following 14 steps is proposed:

1) identify (specify) a complete system of processes required for quality management;

2) determine the sequence, relationships and interactions in this system of processes;

3) from the standpoint of strategic goals and plans, identify key processes;

4) find an employee who is ready to take responsibility for this process and give him the appropriate powers, make him the owner, the owner of the process;

5) identify the customer or consumer of the process and describe the output of the process, i.e. requirements for the quality of the results of its operation;

6) determine process suppliers and requirements for process input elements, i.e., resources;

7) determine the criteria for effective management of this process and select metrologically supported meters for them;

8) plan processes for measuring quality indicators and process efficiency;

9) describe the process itself in the form of a block diagram or flow diagram, taking into account the process management system;

10) determine input and output documents by stages of the process (for example, regulations, job descriptions, work log, etc.);

11) ensure the information flows required for effective management and monitoring of the process;

12) conduct regular assessment, monitoring and analysis of data related to the process;

13) systematically carry out corrective and preventive actions aimed at achieving the goals of the process;

14) determine the procedure for making changes to the process.

The meta-process provides a systematic approach to identifying and describing all processes of interest to quality, as well as to management in general. However, the so-called business processes are of particular interest. They are characterized by the fact that they have a specific consumer who is willing to pay for the results of business processes, which exist as long as there is a consumer. Their organization and systematization are carried out in accordance not with the convenience of the manufacturer, but with the principle of focusing on the consumer. This means that the traditional organizational structure will, as a rule, be replaced by a project approach and team uniform work 9.

Business processes are divided into internal and external. An example of an internal process is the development and implementation of a quality system at an enterprise. External business processes are generated, as a rule, by clients. In all cases, business processes in the form of a chain of operations occur within the organization. For quality systems, it is extremely important to consider each element of any business process as a process that has its own consumers and suppliers, its own inputs and outputs.

2.2 Process description levels

There are several levels of description of processes. At the highest level, conventionally called strategic, the organization is viewed as a “black box” interacting with stakeholders. Therefore, the main criterion for classifying processes at this level is the client (stakeholder) for whose sake the process is launched. For us, the exact names of the processes are not as important as the principle of their identification itself. For convenience, we agree to call the processes generated for the sake of satisfaction:

management interests - management processes;

interests of employees - social processes;

beloved consumer - business processes.

It is important to keep in mind: business processes are fundamentally different from other processes in that their results are exchanged for customers’ funds. Undoubtedly, these are the most important processes, since it is through them that we exist.

This classification feature is especially significant because it allows you not to lose sight of the interests of stakeholders and adjust processes to them. It is also the first step towards building a balanced scorecard 10 .

The second classification criterion divides processes into those aimed at creating value for stakeholders and those that provide value creation processes.

Business processes are always initiated from the outside and are implemented after management decides on the advisability of their implementation. Of course, not all processes initiated from outside are necessarily financed from there. Communication with, say, the fire inspectorate can give rise to a process for which you will have to pay from your own funds.

Management processes are mainly related to strategy development and coordination of parallel business processes, and auxiliary processes are launched from time to time when the need for them arises

The second hierarchical level - tactical - involves the deployment of processes associated with the stages of the product life cycle. The cycle, as we know, begins with marketing. Suppliers of this process are outside the organization; with consumers the situation is more complicated. These include those structures that take over the “baton” from marketing and carry it further - into research and development, and top management, which cannot be indifferent to the marketing process.

The next step is the research and development process. Its consumers are technological services engaged in commissioning and technological preparation of production. They take over the baton at the next stage, generating the corresponding processes. And they, in turn, are already eagerly awaited by production workers - the main executors of the production processes themselves. Usually the main focus is on the performers. But such a point of view is completely unjustified. And production doesn’t end there. This is followed by the distribution of the product or service (sales), and then by the after-sales service processes and, finally, disposal. After which everything starts all over again 11.

The third level - operational - highlights processes that can be grouped both into projects and into the actions of an individual employee in the workplace. It is the property of fractality that allows us to build such processes. Thanks to fractality, processes naturally nested into each other like a “matryoshka doll” - from the workplace to the director’s office. This means that the identified three levels are interconnected and form a single system.

The transition to a process method of describing activities involves a visual representation of a block diagram (or flow diagram) of the process. Graphical representation of processes creates simple and clear language descriptions that significantly facilitate the exchange of information (or, as they now say, communication) both vertically and horizontally. Visibility makes it easier to solve many pressing problems, such as estimating the number of people needed to ensure the flow of a business process. This is achieved through the consistent disclosure of the “matryoshka” of business processes down to the level of the individual operator (performer). Thus, the “working area” of each performer and their interaction in the internal “supplier-consumer” chain are determined.

This implies the possibility of formulating job descriptions and official duties every employee. Within the framework of the process approach, as well as within the framework of the international standards ISO 9000:2000 series, the role and structure of documents such as, for example, job descriptions are changing. The fact is that now the job description becomes a practical document used every day, and not gathering dust somewhere in the personnel department. It records all the actions the execution of which is entrusted to this employee. And if, during the continuous improvement of the process, some actions change, this must be immediately reflected in the instructions. The actions themselves should be described not in general terms, but in operational expressions that allow for effective training and, if necessary, testing.

Thanks to the localization of control points, the process approach helps organize information flows of business processes. Firstly, it becomes clear where it is important to collect information, using what measurement tools and what statistical methods worth using when condensing and presenting it. And secondly, the organization of mechanisms for information exchange, its accumulation and storage is clarified.

The process approach facilitates the description of the interactions of a business process and auxiliary processes, primarily such as maintenance and repair processes. Of course, interaction with management processes is also simplified.

Continuous process improvement is a necessary business strategy in a competitive market because:

the degree of consumer commitment depends on the amount of value that he acquires from the company;

the acquired value is the result of business processes;

long-term success in a competitive environment requires constant improvement in the value of what is supplied to the market; To continuously improve its ability to create value, a company must continually improve its value creation processes.

The significance of the processes is not the same even during creation. Therefore, even dramatic improvements in minor processes usually do not lead to any significant business results, while small improvements in important processes can provide a significant increase in business results 12.

The presented process improvement engine strategy was created to avoid the trap of process paradox and to encourage investment in process improvement that will produce significant results. The strategy includes four stages.

The first stage (data collection) involves collecting information and data necessary for selecting processes. In the second (process selection), a choice is made based on the collected information and data. Actions at these stages are carried out only once.

Stages three and four include the steps required to establish a management system and continuously improve processes. The main difference is that at the third stage we are talking about the responsibility of the company's managers, and at the fourth - about the responsibility of the owner (owner) of the process. The mechanisms of these stages operate constantly.

The strategy is built on several basic principles. The principles of the importance of processes and the quality of their functioning are used to select processes. The process maturity principle is used to ensure a systematic approach to the selection of improvement methods for selected processes. Despite the fact that the strategy methodology includes the need to measure how the process functions, the approach used does not initially require the development of a comprehensive measurement system. Everything depends on the maturity of the process: the development, implementation and application of certain performance indicators should be determined by the degree of readiness of the process for such measurements. Taking care of internal company processes should be the main responsibility of managers. Without effective supervision and guidance from managers, the chances of falling victim to a process paradox are greatly increased. The third stage makes it possible to avoid this 13 .

2.3 Phased implementation of the process approach

Let's look at each stage in more detail.

2.3.1 Data collection

2.3.1.1 Identifying value chains

Identifying value chains is the first step in enterprise strategy. Such a chain consists of the key actions necessary to move a product or service from the initial idea to the final consumer. The value can only be determined by the final consumer and is relevant in relation to a specific product or service. Product or service information can be combined with customer-defined value information to develop a value proposition. This document describes possible benefits for consumers, combined with a pricing policy that, on the one hand, will be attractive to consumers, and on the other, will ensure the achievement of the financial goals of the enterprise. Such a document is necessary to assess the contribution of relevant production processes to the value created and to identify the relationship of value with various internal structures, systems and characteristics.

2.3.1.2 Registration of internal processes

The next step is to identify business processes, management processes and auxiliary processes operating in the enterprise. One of the approaches to identifying business processes is associated with the study of material and information flows between the enterprise and the outside world. The material and information objects contained in these flows are either produced or consumed as a result of the process. For each identified process, it is useful to determine the state of the relevant objects as they pass between the enterprise and the outside world. For example, a consumer's order may be in the status of "received", "ordered", "released", "picked", "packed", "shipped", "paid". Each state change is the result of a process 14.

Once process identification is complete, they need to be described. To begin with, the description may include the following items:

1. Title. To do this, you need to use the construction of verbs and objects, for example: “develop a product” or “fulfill an order.”

2. Purpose. The main (defining) purpose of the process is described, starting from the initial idea and ending with changes that increase the value of the product produced.

3. Boundaries. It is necessary to separate the process from its environment. This is best done through the boundaries of interaction between the consumer and the supplier.

4. Interdependencies. Describes the key interdependent relationships between the process and other processes.

The following items may only be included in the description once they have been specified:

a) owner (owner) of the process - the person (persons) who is responsible for the development and operation of the process;

b) performance goals - mainly aimed at implementing the value creation proposal, as well as the key sources and desired results of business activities;

c) performance characteristics - include measurement systems and related standards used to control processes;

d) process management - describes the methods used to manage processes;

e) feedback mechanisms - the main methods for identifying the degree of customer satisfaction and responding to their complaints are determined.

The functioning of the process is assessed in three areas:

effectiveness is synonymous with quality. This indicator shows how well the process results meet the needs and expectations of consumers. Efficiency is important, first of all, for the consumer;

efficiency reflects how much resources are minimized and losses are eliminated while achieving the desired result. Efficiency, first of all, is needed by an enterprise to ensure the necessary profitability;

flexibility characterizes the ability of a process to adapt to change. This is not equivalent to change management activities. Flexibility is the ability of a process to recognize changes in external conditions and quickly respond to changes, rebuilding so that effectiveness and efficiency are not reduced.

These aspects are used as a basis for classifying process maturity and making recommendations for the development of process evaluation criteria.

2.3.1.3 Determining process significance

The nature of processes is used to describe their importance in terms of two aspects: suitability for value creation and suitability for solving strategic problems.

Processes can be characterized by their ability to create value using three categories.

1. Processes that create value.

2. Processes that create value creation opportunities.

3. Supporting processes.

Processes that create value are usually associated with the core specialization of the enterprise and are key to the implementation of its mission. These processes are observed by external consumers and experienced by them.

Another aspect is the importance of the process for strategy. In this dimension, processes are classified according to their importance to the enterprise's long-term strategies.

2.3.1.4 Identify process problems

Problems can be identified by assessing the performance of processes using two criteria.

1. From the consumer’s point of view (performance measurement), which makes it possible to find out the presence and content of problems relating to the products or services they received.

2. The cost aspect of operation (measuring efficiency) allows you to evaluate production costs on key processes. Functional cost analysis (FCA) is the best method for this. The principles of FSA are simple: products and services are produced in the process of production activities, their implementation requires resources, and the consumption of resources generates the need for costs. By identifying the costs that arise from resource-consuming activities, you can evaluate those costs from both a product and a process perspective.

2.3.1.5 Classification of processes according to their maturity

The requirement for continuous process improvement provides a simple way to assess process maturity and select a process improvement strategy.

2.3.2 Process selection

Determination of priority processes and strategies. This step uses the information about the nature (degree of importance) of the processes, their functioning and maturity, obtained in step 1, to identify processes that require immediate attention.

The highest priority will be given to processes that are important but have low performance. It is these processes that are the main targets for more active actions, such as redesign and reengineering.

Processes with moderate levels of significance or performance are given second-degree priority. To increase their potential, non-fundamental methods can be used, for example, the method of continuous process improvement.

Processes that are at the lowest level of importance can be considered for transfer to other organizations or for use in the production of other types of products.

2.3.3 Establishing process owners

Traditionally, management's attention is focused on the main hierarchical unit of the company - the department. However, a business process often violates intra-company boundaries, crossing during its implementation a number of divisions, each of which is responsible for only one side of its functioning and therefore has a one-sided and often limited view of the process as a whole. As a result, no one is responsible for the entire process.

The owner of the process is responsible for its development, documentation, measurement of functioning, as well as for training employees and the interrelationships of the processes involved in the implementation.

2.3.4 Supervision and optimization

2.3.4.1 Ongoing management review

By this point, the company's management has already identified priority processes, identified process owners and established operational goals. Responsibility for the final results still remains with the management of the organization. Therefore, company leaders must regularly monitor how priority processes are functioning, support efforts to improve them, and identify people responsible for specific results.

2.3.4.2 Optimization of organizational structures and systems

As experience in process management and performance improvement accumulates, it sometimes becomes necessary to establish a closer connection between the internal structures and systems of the enterprise and key business processes. This requires support and authoritative decisions from senior management. Without strong support and leadership from senior management, it is difficult to make any significant changes in the division of authority within the company.

2.3.5 Process management and improvement

This is the implementation of a system of iterations for managing and improving processes, which reflects the cycle “plan - implementation - check - action”. The key point of this stage is performance measurement and monitoring. At this stage, the process owner bears primary responsibility.

2.3.5.1 Monitoring process performance

At this step, the process owner regularly observes and evaluates the results of the process.

2.3.5.2 Identifying improvement needs

Improvement needs are identified based on significance as well as process performance and maturity.

2.3.5.3 Initiating and managing improvements

Process owners must select and implement improvements based on business priorities and process performance levels

Choosing an improvement strategy is a very important decision. It should take into account both the degree of improvement required and the current level of maturity of the problem process. In general, there are three ways to improve.

1. Solving the problem.

2. Continuous process improvement.

3. Process innovation.

2.4.5.4 Consolidation of achievements

Improvements need to be captured and shared within the company to realize their full potential.

Consolidate improvements. There are several prerequisites to effectively move a proposal from the drawing board to the production line, for example:

1) a fully developed, detailed plan indicating the performers;

2) a clear reporting system;

3) distribution of responsibility.

All three elements are very important - none can compensate for the absence of the other. The first two elements directly involve process improvement teams. But only senior management can make the third element work

Further promotion of improvements within the enterprise is an independent set of tasks, which includes:

1) identifying where improvements can bring benefits;

2) determining how to distribute improvements;

3) transfer of skills and knowledge necessary to implement improvements.

Here too, senior management involvement is vital to ensure that improvements are spread 15 .

Obviously, the proposed strategy is an approach that takes time. The road to well-being and efficient processes requires the definition and constant updating of priorities. To achieve noticeable results, the strategy must be applied relentlessly from the very beginning, and its implementation requires that it be firmly grounded in the principles described throughout. This is the fastest and most reliable path to success.

Conclusion

Since the goal of any business activity is to maximize profits, there is a need to find ways to achieve this goal. One of these ways is to optimize the organization’s work in order to reduce costs.

The greatest difficulty in understanding what a Process approach to management is is the concept of Process itself. In Russian, this word has too different meanings and shades. In ISO 9000:2000 terms: “A process is a set of interrelated or interacting activities that transforms inputs into outputs.” The definition is too general and vague. Not every manager can put his own meaning into such a definition, or apply it to the needs of a specific (own) organization. This article brings to your attention an option for structuring and implementing a process approach to managing an organization, developed by the author based on his own experience and knowledge.

Most Russian organizations have a functional management structure and hope to improve management efficiency by introducing a process approach. According to Western experts, the organization of functional management at modern Russian enterprises is very far from perfect. Therefore, as the first steps, it is proposed to look at your organization from the outside and establish basic order in it, clearly defining responsibilities, powers, resources, information and management connections. This approach does not reject the existing management system, but determines ways to improve it and gradually transition to a process management system.

List of used literature

Aristov, O. V. Quality management: Tutorial for universities / O. V. Aristov. – M.: Infra-M, 2008. – 361 p.

Aronov, I. Z. Technical regulation – a tool of innovation. // Standards and quality. - 2007. - No. 1. – P. 28 - 33

Basovsky, L. E. Quality management: Textbook / L. E. Basovsky. – M.: INFRA-M, 2007. – 341 p.

Ilyenkova, S.D. Quality management: Textbook for universities / S.D. Ilyenkova, N.D. Ilyenkova, V.S. Mkhitaryan et al. - M.: Unity, 2006. - 368 p.

Lyubushin, N.P. Analysis of quality management: a textbook for universities / N.P. Lyubushin. – M.: Unity-Dana, 2006. – 598 p.

Medynsky, V. G. Control Theory: Textbook / V. G. Medynsky. – M.: Infra-M, 2008. – 293 p.

Mishin, V. M. Quality management: Textbook for universities / V. M. Mishin. – M.: Unity-Dana, 2006. – 451 p.

Morozov, Yu. P. Control theory: Textbook for universities / Yu. P. Morozov. – M.: Unity-Dana, 2007. – 379 p.

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