If you have experience in project management, you know the importance of a project initiation document (PID), but do you know the importance of a similar document when starting efforts to improve business processes (BPI)? Although you cannot consider BPI as a large project as a system implementation, you need information of the same type if you want to stay connected and avoid creep.
In BPI, I call this document the Area Definition Document (SDD) and see it as an important step towards successful process improvement.
Regardless of whether you are managing a regular project such as information technology and using a PID project or a process improvement project and using SDD, you should consider key tools of reference documents that you will never miss.
PID includes information such as business case, results, deadlines, risks, budgets and resources.
In the work, BPI SDD provides a plan for the process you want to improve, and provides you with a vehicle to get agreement on the following areas:
- Process owner : the person responsible for the end-to-end process
- Description : definition or purpose
- boundaries : width (start and end)
- Process responsibilities : the main tasks of the delivery process
- Customer / client and needs : recipients of the process and what is important to them
- Key stakeholders and needs : in other areas or areas affected by the process and what they need
- Measure success : what business needs to measure to ensure customer / client / stakeholder process
Some of the components of the SDD require additional information.
Description: When writing description , pay special attention to the terminology used and avoid using technical, unusual or cultural terms, without explaining what the word means. In the end, the definition should define, not confuse. How often have you thought that the word means one thing, and someone else fully understands this? This becomes a problem when you work for a global company that hires employees in different countries.
This may seem easy, but I have seen that this task takes a lot of time. If necessary, use an example to further define the process, and if you want to exclude something from the scope of the process is a good place to define an exception.
boundaries Clear Definition boundaries save your time later in the project and help you avoid the creep area. The boundaries may seem obvious to you, but as soon as the project team starts talking about where the process begins and ends, you will appreciate the clarity that SDD brings to work.
There is no right or wrong answer to where the process begins and ends. It all depends on the discussion of the project team and the endorsement of the process by the sponsor so that you can stay in touch. The decision of the "border" becomes apparent when you go to the process mapping.
Measure success : When determining the dimensions of success, focus on the needs of the client / client and determine the dimensions that meet these needs. At this stage, focus on what you measure, not how you measure it. Save “as” for later (step 7 of 10 steps). If you spend time at the beginning of a project improvement process, how to measure something, the project team will be distracted by concerns about the complexity of the metric itself.
An area definition document should be placed on one sheet of paper so that everyone can use it as a quick reference guide. The temptation to add a second page will appear, but the effectiveness of the document is its obvious brevity, while at the same time providing a depth of consideration!
Creating a foundation by developing SDD is the second of ten steps to improve the efficiency, effectiveness and adaptability of your business processes, so take the time to focus on it. Create a plan to guide your work.
Copyright 2012 Susan Page
