The BPM cycle includes process discovery, modeling, and final validation. After that, monitoring is ongoing, and when necessary, the cycle starts again. The first stage of process discovery is also considered the most challenging because it involves interaction between the process team and the clients or process executors.
During this stage, the analyst will extract knowledge from the area, which is usually centralized in the people who execute the process. It’s essential to understand all the details of how the execution occurs, who the collaborators and involved areas are, among other critical information.
Although it may seem easy, numerous problems related to communication can arise. Not all participants can express themselves clearly; some may respond only with affirmative or negative answers without providing many details. If this problem is not addressed promptly, it can directly impact future stages of the cycle, especially process validation.
It’s important to gather all stakeholders to avoid the risk of interviewing a collaborator who doesn’t have a full view of the process. Overcoming communication difficulties is crucial; remember that this moment will improve the day-to-day operations of those involved.
Once this is done, it’s time to get down to work and move on to the modeling phase.
But, if I do the process discovery correctly, nothing else can go wrong in the modeling, right?
Not always, errors can still occur, and it’s important to stay vigilant.
In process modeling, we’ll look at the processes identified in the previous stage with the aim of observing and absorbing the characteristics of each part of them. Here, we can apply the AS IS/ TO BE technique to aid in visualizing the process.
To avoid errors at this stage, it’s important to understand the process objective, know the value chain or the view of the macro processes, define the boundaries of each process, determine the level of detail, remember the target audience of the model, etc.
Another aspect to highlight is that the modeling stage is not about modeling in a perfect world, forgetting about the exceptions of the process identified, but how the process works today! How you would like it to be or how it should be is a subject for another time. Otherwise, we’ll have problems in process validation.
Did you ever fear process validation?
Many process analysts fear and sometimes even avoid process validation out of concern that it may not be accepted by the client or those involved in the process. And indeed, this is a common occurrence.
Process validation aims to show stakeholders how the process was mapped out and to verify if their understanding aligns with reality. This stage also provides an opportunity to address any doubts, check if the documentation and modeling are complete, or if further details are needed through interactions with the client.
It would be so easy if we could map out processes, model them, and have them approved on the first try during validation. But that’s not always the case because, as mentioned earlier, the purpose of validation is to ensure alignment with reality and correct understanding by the analyst. When a process is “rejected,” it doesn’t necessarily mean something bad.
There will always be adjustments, comments, and suggestions from the client, and if there aren’t many, it’s likely that the parties involved aren’t fully engaged. In the worst-case scenario, the designed process doesn’t represent what was discussed earlier. This is when we should question whether we ended up modeling the process as it should happen rather than how it actually does happen.
Validation shouldn’t be a moment of judgment but rather an opportunity for rich exchanges of information and knowledge. It’s always a time to learn!
Validation can be made simpler
Despite being the final stage, it is as important as the others. Therefore, it should also be planned, and the project team must be prepared for validation.
The document or report containing the process modeling can be sent to the client in advance so they have the opportunity to review it before the validation meeting and make any necessary comments.
During the meeting, it’s important that all participants from the process discovery phase are present to endorse what was understood and modeled. Similarly, on the client’s team, those who participated in the initial stage should be present in the final one because those who did not participate will not be able to validate as they do not know what was discussed.
After the meeting, it’s important to document the adjustments that need to be made, as well as any notes taken during the meeting. Once the adjustments are completed, the final material is sent again to the client or stakeholders. Then, we move on to monitoring, which is a topic for another article.
That being said, we conclude that process validation is not the worst part of the cycle but rather a reflection of the previous stages. And if the question is: what to do when there are issues in process validation? The most appropriate answer is: review or redo the previous stages, always focusing on your target audience and the collected information and delivery objectives.
The Should Be, as the name suggests, is a hypothesis of how it would be, not how it actually is!
Author:
Bianca Wermann
Journalist, Communication and Marketing Analyst at Interact Solutions.