Getting Information From the Horse's Mouth
By Merle Laird

For those of you unfamiliar with it, Business Process Improvement (BPI) looks at an organization's processes and identifies areas that can be simplified and improved in order to increase productivity, reduce frustration and ultimately, increase profits.

The key to its success is to involve the process owners, those who perform the tasks, in the fact gathering and analysis of the system. The people who complete the process know the areas that can be changed to make a positive difference for their department or company. It's a vital resource that organizations often overlook. However, without the commitment and involvement of these process owners, an organization is setting up their BPI project for failure.

Merle Laird, VP of Business Process Improvements at BizXcel, emphasizes how critical it is to interview staff directly. "You may ask 'why don't you just ask management to fill in the blanks and make suggestions for improvement?' My 20 years of experience as an analyst tells me that ONLY the people doing the job will tell you exactly what happens. Management will tell you what they feel should happen, but in some cases the task hasn't been performed that way in years. I have been on plant tours where a process occurs a certain way in the presence of management, but is done very differently when they are not around."

This is especially crucial for organizations with an ISO Registration or who have regular supplier audits for procedures and are at risk of having non-conformances. Major problems can result if a procedure that is documented in the manual is not being performed properly at the time of an audit, not to mention the inconsistencies that can result between departments. At BizXcel, our analysts are highly skilled in gathering the facts from process owners and creating easy-to-read flowcharts. For more information about this process and how it can work for your company, contact us at info@bizxcel.com. Next time, we'll discuss how processes are broken down and analyzed after the information is gathered.

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Merle Laird is a Business Process Analyst with over 20 years experience working with manufacturing industries, service organizations, health care, social services, government and non-profit organizations. She has extensive knowledge of business process improvement and forms design in the management industry.