Business Processes the Way They Should Be: Tuning for Low Friction and Sustainability

Authors

Abstract

We propose an approach to find pain points in business processes, which may cause them to be ignored or be seen as a burden rather than a valuable orientation for everyday work. We evaluate four dimensions (Motivation, Understanding, Value, and Effort), using a customizable questionnaire that is answered by process participants. The output is a dashboard-like report that graphically depicts the health of those dimensions and allows for a drill down on its components. Concrete actions can be derived from the analysis of the report. The approach has been used in two distinct organizations, one of which – a medium-sized CMMI level 3 compliant IT company – is used here for illustration. Latent problems have been identified, paving the way for a tuning of the business process that will improve its long-term sustainability and the participants’ willingness to follow it.

Keywords

business; business process design; business process evaluation; business process improvement; business process sustainability; business process tuning; process friction

Conference

European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS) 2013