Process initiatives

The most probably most well know entry point to Process-management for most companies is via an external demand. These demand come usually with Initiatives and/or Quality certification projects. Such initiative include

• ISO certifications
• SOA (Sarbanes-Oxley Act) requirements
• Quality Management (QM)
• BCP (Business continuity planning)
• ICS (Internal control systems)

All of them focus on a different aspect of a common topic. They all focus on Processes.

• ISO maintains consistent application of defined processes
• SOA maintains processes ensuring Financial report relevant output
• QM maintains processes ensuring Performance Quality
• BCP maintains processes ensuring preventive as well as contingent measures for disasters
• ICS maintains processes ensuring Cost effective cost-controlling

While each of these initiatives covers its responsibility area and results in a set of defined processes in the format needed for each initiative, there is no defined initiative which binds all of them together, making them aspects / views on processes rather then being their driver.

This "missing" initiative is a qualified proper Process management which ensures completeness and sensible selection of core processes.

With a proper process management in place, the fulfilment of the above mentioned initiative will only be a derivate or view on the processes managed via Process management and hence there will not be the danger that each initiative develops its own processes, often resulting in 2 or 3 different processes for the same underlying activity. Needless to say that in such a case consistent application of such processes is not to be expected.

A comprehensive Process Management Program is the solution to these problems.