BPM's four governance focus areas. A process can be reviewed from its current governance as well as its evolution stage. How well is it under control? How complicated is it? The descriptions below will assist you in easily classifying each process based on these criteria and assigning it to one of the four Business Process governance quadrants. This rule complements the Evolution Stages concept and can be used to double-check decisions based on the process evolution stage.
Low Complexity – Low Control.
This quadrant's processes are the least appealing candidates for your BPM pilot. Because they are either very infrequent or do not require intensive human effort, their low complexity means they have little business impact. Improving them yields few benefits. At the same time, their lack of control necessitates significant investment in process analysis and KPI definition, making it unlikely that they will pass the ROI business case.
In this quadrant, you will typically find either:
High Complexity – High Control.
This could be your best hunting ground for the initial process. High complexity implies a high impact with numerous potential benefits. Control means that half of the design is already finished. But keep in mind that not everything that glitters is gold. If the process is too complex (more than 20 activities, as a rule of thumb), the effort required to implement it may be very high, so avoid processes that are "too far right" in the quadrant. There is little to improve if the process is "too far up" in the quadrant. Any BPM initiative should aim to move your processes up the chart.
Processes from any of the three BPM evolution stages can be found in this quadrant. They can be "Powerful & Stable" because they are complex but well documented, work well, and everyone is happy. It's probably a good process to work on, but not during the pilot project, where the benefits are minor. More mature "Teenagers" processes are good candidates for your pilot because they have already been well defined but have not yet been automated or rolled out.
Low Complexity – High Control.
This focus area contains processes with a low impact, making it difficult to achieve highly visible results. They will also exhibit high maturity, leaving very little room for incremental improvement. The processes you'll find here are usually some of the most fundamental and routine "Powerful & Stable" ones. As a result, this quadrant is not generally suitable for a BPM pilot.
However, there are a couple of exceptions to this rule:
If your company lacks a top-down corporate plan for a BPM initiative but wants to attract potential sponsors, this could be your BPM staging point. Low complexity and high control equate to low investment, allowing a small department to manage the pilot entirely on their own. Employee mobility, on the other hand, could be your sweet spot. A simple and routine process (for example, an approval process with a simple linear flow) will not necessitate a large investment in process analysis or redesign, so simply combine it with a BPM suite that integrates easily with mobile devices and launch your pilot. Furthermore, if this process touches many your organization's employees (such as HR or purchasing), you can guarantee a rapidly growing population of BPM fans who will advocate for your next BPM project.
High Complexity – Low Control.
This is a high-risk, high-reward opportunity. There is an equal amount of "Young & Developing" and "Ill & Painful" processes here. The potential for spectacular results must be balanced against the risk of becoming stuck re-designing low-maturity processes.
Lifting processes from this quadrant will yield the greatest benefits, and they will be a major contributor to the success of your BPM programme. Such heroic actions, however, necessitate very strong leadership and a knowledgeable and happy BPM project team. An external team may bring the right skills to your organisation, but internal stakeholders may not be BPM mature enough to handle such a large challenge. Processes from this quadrant should be avoided unless you have a pressing business need for them and a very strong leader to manage them.
Is there such a thing as a perfect project?
Yes, this is known as the "Wolf in sheep's clothing." It is, in effect, an "Ill & Painful" process disguised as a "Powerful & Stable" one. It usually happens in large, complex corporations where the process is so well documented (high control) that all the actors know what to do and don't complain.
Because such processes have many participants (high complexity), most stakeholders focus solely on their part of the process. So, while the overall end-to-end process is inefficient, no one in the organisation has the full visibility required to identify its flaws. If you can identify such a process and find a strong leader to demonstrate to all audiences that it is indeed "Ill & Painful," it will become an excellent candidate for your BPM pilot with significant quick wins.
Ready, Steady, Go!
You already have a big intellect! You recognise the significance of your internal audiences. You've identified your BPM sponsors and know how to demonstrate tangible results to them. You instilled enthusiasm in many of your future BPM evangelists. You evaluated candidates for the first process based on maturity, complexity, and control and chose one that can be delivered quickly. You've already started a quick, measurable, and contagious process. You're ready to Start Small! Just keep in mind that you want to Scale Fast. While working on your first small process, your abilities to handle larger processes are just beginning to develop. You can, and should, demand faster results even at this early stage.
Simply put, don't reinvent the wheel. Many others have done it before you, so why not capitalise on their successes? Contact partners who can assist you in defining your process and benchmarking your KPIs. Look for a BPM tool that does not necessitate extensive "techie" knowledge, but rather blurs the line between IT and the business. Rather than starting from scratch, look for ready-made process templates that you can customise. By using data virtualization, you can reduce the risks of system integration. Use reusable widgets to go mobile.
Start small, scale quickly, but never stop thinking big. Make sure that business value is present throughout your BPM pilot project, not just when you make the initial investment or after the project is completed and you go back to business as usual. You now have the necessary evaluation criteria and key recommendations for selecting your first BPM process. Simply define your goals, understand what you can do now, and map out your path to success.
Start Small. Think Big. Scale Fast.
Checklist: How to select the right first process.
Look for processes that give a compelling reason to start:
Allow you to scale fast:
Avoid processes that cannot demonstrate results:
Slow your project down:
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