Business Process Management (BPM)

Managing business processes is a huge challenge in most organizations.

Many business owners assume that it is a huge expense or that it is only
worth it for massive processes. However, BPM is important no matter
what size your business is. Here’s a definitive guide to managing your
business processes with the help of automation.

What is Business Process Management?

Business process management (BPM) is an organizational discipline

where a company takes a step back and looks at all of these processes
in total and individually. It analyzes the current state and identifies
areas of improvement to create a more efficient and effective
organization.

Business process management (BPM) is how a company creates, edits,

and analyzes the predictable processes that make up the core of its
business.

Each department in a company is responsible for taking some raw

material or data and transforming it into something else. There may be
a dozen or more core processes that each department handles.

Is BPM like task or project management?

Business process management is neither task management (which
focuses on individual tasks) nor project management (which handles
one-time or unpredictable flows).

Task management is about handling or organizing a set of activities that

arise out of a project. These projects are often one-time and non-
repeatable. When these projects are well-organized like in construction
work, a project management software like ‘Microsoft Project’ is used.
Trello, Asana, or Kissflow Project are good tools for managing tasks in
ad-hoc projects.

Business process management is focused more on repetitive and

ongoing processes that follow a predictable pattern, or process
management.

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Why does business process management matter?

When left unorganized and unsystematized, poor business processes

can lead to mayhem. At the individual level, people only see one part of
a process, and very few can scan out and see the full effects of a
process, where it starts and ends, the key data needed, and where
potential bottlenecks and inefficiencies lie.
 Unmanaged, chaotic processes hurt business and lead to one or more of
these scenarios:

 Time wasted
 More errors
 Increased blame
 Lack of data
 Demoralized employees

Applying business process management, organizations can improve

their processes and keep all aspects of operations running optimally.

Steps of a BPM lifecycle

Step 1: Design

Most processes include a form to collect data and a workflow to

process it. Build your form and identify who will own each task in the
workflow.

Step 2: Model

Represent the process in a visual layout. Fix details like deadlines and
conditions to give a clear idea of the sequence of events, and the flow
of data through the process.

-> Here are the detailed instructions for BPM modeling.

Step 3: Execute

Execute the process by testing it live with a small group first and then
open it up to all users. Make sure you restrict access to sensitive
information.

Step 4: Monitor

Keep an eye on the process as it runs through the workflow. Use the
right metrics to identify progress, measure efficiency, and locate
bottlenecks. Here is a more detailed article about this step.

Step 5: Optimize

As you analyze, notice any changes that need to be done to your form
or workflow to make them more efficient. Consider business process
improvement steps.

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What are the various types of business process management?

BPM systems can be categorized based on the purpose they serve. Here
are the three types of business process management:
 Integration-centric BPM

This type of business process management system handles processes

that primarily jump between your existing systems (e.g. HRMS, CRM,
ERP) without much human involvement. Integration-centric business
process management systems have extensive connectors and API
access to be able to create processes that move fast.

Human-centric BPM

Human-centric BPM is for those processes that are primarily executed

by humans. These often have a lot of approvals and tasks performed by
individuals. These platforms excel at a friendly user interface, easy
notifications, and quick tracking.

Document-centric BPM

These business process management solutions are required when a

document (e.g. a contract or agreement) is at the heart of the process.
They enable routing, formatting, verifying, and getting the document
signed as the tasks pass along the workflow.

Most business process management systems will be able to incorporate

elements of each of these, but each one will usually have one specialty.

Business process management examples

HR

Have you ever felt your organization’s onboarding process is too

complex and chaotic? Is your HR department asking the candidates to
fill out paper forms that make them exhausted? This is because your
HR department lacks the principle of Business Process Management
(BPM). Applying business process management, helps you automate
your HR processes end-to-end, thereby cutting down on cost, time, and
paper forms. Here are a couple of examples as to how business process
management helps your HR department to improve their processes:

 Approve employee timesheets faster

 Onboard new hires without hassles
 -> Here are 6 business process management examples from companies
that implemented BPM.
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Sales

In most organizations, the sales team spends a significant amount of

time in coordinating with the Accounts Receivable (AR) team, to get
sales invoices approved. Even a small typo in invoices, ruins the lives
of the salespeople. This is where business process management comes
into the picture, since it automates the invoice approval process, thereby
eliminating the chances of manual errors and the back and forth
clarifications between the salespeople and the AR team. Here are a
couple of scenarios in the sales department, where business process
management can help them streamline their processes:

 Shorten your sales cycle workflows

 Be on time with quotes and invoices

Finance

A finance team is bombarded with paper forms and emails every day
since anything that involves money has to go through them. For
instance, if the asset management team wants to purchase 50 laptops,
they send the quotation that they received from the vendor to the
finance team for approval. This is just one case. Imagine, how many
emails and paper forms they receive on a daily basis from various
teams. Without a system in place, it is cumbersome for them to manage
all of these. A business process management (BPM) system helps them
manage all of this. Here are a couple of scenarios in the finance
department, where business process management comes as a saving
grace:

 One-click approvals for travel requests

 Customize workflows for unique scenarios

Learn more about Project vs. Process

 Features every competent business process management tool should have

Now that you know why exactly a BPM system is necessary, here’s a
list of the features a good business process management system should
have.

 Visual process diagramming tool

 Drag-and-drop form designer
 Role-based access control
 Mobile support
 Powerful administrator features
 Single sign-on (SSO)
 Integration with existing software systems
 Reports and analytics
 Performance for large user bases
 Process performance metrics

Read this article for a detailed explanation of the above features of a

good business process management system.

What are the benefits of incorporating business process management?

Here are some of the primary benefits of using BPM in your business:

 Gain control of chaotic and unwieldy processes

 Create, map, analyze, and improve business processes
 Run everyday operations more efficiently
 Realize bigger organizational goals
 Move toward digital transformation
 Improve and optimize tangled operations
 Closely track individual items as they move through a workflow

Is BPM really expensive?

Usually, yes. Business process management (BPM) systems can get

quite complex. Installing an on-premise solution might cost more than
$250,000 after technology and consultant costs are included.
But Kissflow Process starts at just $390/month to make BPM much
more affordable. Plus, there’s no extra fees for support. Pick a process
that has been hard for you to automate and get started with Kissflow
today.

Types of BPM

There are three main types of business process management:

integration-centric, human-centric, and document-centric

Integration-centric BPM: This type of BPM focuses on processes that

do not require much human involvement. These processes are more
dependent on APIs and mechanism which integrate data across
systems, like human resource management (HRM) or customer
relationship management (CRM).

Human-centric BPM: Unlike integration-centric BPM, this type centers

around human involvement, typically where approvals are required.
Intuitive user interfaces with drag-and-drop features allow teams to
assign tasks to different roles, making it easier to hold individuals
accountable along the process.

Document-centric BPM: This type of BPM centers around a specific

document, such as a contract. When companies purchase a product or
service, it needs to go through different forms and rounds of approval to
develop an agreement between the client and vendor.

Business process management lifecycle

A successful BPM system starts by defining the stages involved in a

workflow. This helps the team identify areas of improvement and
metrics to track progress. By applying business process management,
organizations can improve their operations, leading to better business
outcomes. To achieve these results, you should fully understand the
BPM lifecycle. Here are the five lifecycle steps:

Process design: The team should start by outlining the milestones

within the process. From there, individual tasks within the overall BPM
process should be identified along with task owners for each step in the
workflow. The steps should be clearly defined so that the team can
identify the areas for process optimization and the subsequent metrics
to track its improvement.

Model: During this step, the team should create a visual representation
of the process model. This should include specific details, such as
timelines, task descriptions, and any flow of data in the process.
Utilizing business process management software is helpful during this
stage.

Execute: The team should conduct a proof of concept, testing the new
BPM system with a limited group. After incorporating any feedback,
the team can begin to roll out the process to a broader audience.

Monitor: During this phase, the team should monitor the process,
measuring improvements in efficiency and identifying any additional
bottlenecks.

Optimize: At the final step, the team make any final adjustments to the
process to improve business activity.

A successful BPM project requires careful planning and open

communication, but after improving a set of activities, teams quickly
see the benefits of it.

Business process management benefits

BPM solutions increase organizational value through process

improvement, yielding a number of benefits. Some of these include:

Increased efficiency and cost savings: BPM systems help to optimize

existing processes and to incorporate more structure into the
development of new processes. It does this by removing process
redundancies and bottlenecks, resulting in improved efficiency and
productivity. With more agility, businesses can achieve their intended
business outcomes at a faster rate, and they can allocate any excessive
resources to other high priority work.

Enhanced employee and customer experience: A BPM suite of tools

assists in eliminating repetitive work and in making information more
accessible. By removing distractions, employees are able to focus on
their work and their customers, leading to increases in customer
satisfaction. Clear workflows also shorten the learning curve within the
employee onboarding process, enhancing productivity and engagement.

More scalable processes: Since BPM enables better process execution

and workflow automation, this transfers well when scaling processes to
other geographies across the world. Business process management tools
can bring clarity to roles, ensuring consistency along the process, and it
can also surface opportunities to incorporate business rules for
automation, allowing teams to focus more on innovation.

Greater transparency: Since business process automation clearly defines

owners for tasks along the process, this provides more transparency and
accountability throughout a given process. This fosters more
communication among teams,

Less dependency on development teams: BPM offers low-code features

which remove potential dependencies on development. Business users
can be onboarded onto these tools quickly and easily, increasing
process automation across the company.