I have been engaged on a number of projects where businesses were not ready or prepared to engage on a Business Process Management Project. In some cases the IT department have engaged on Enterprise Architecture Projects but do not have the support of the business owners (sponsors) when it comes to defining a Business Architecture. When engaging on a Business Process Management project it is worthwhile reaching out to the Senior management within organisation to test if they are ready to accept changes to their core processes and whether there is a member of the organisation that is responsible for driving the Business Process Improvement (BPI) programme. I find in these cases it is worthwhile carrying out a quick assessment on whether the organisation is prepared to embark on a BPI project. To achieve this I developed a quick assessment based on the goals defined in the OMG Business Process Maturity Model (BPMM) Version 1.0 document.
Enter a number 0 to 5 in the percentage attained column for each of the Maturity Levels Specific Goals (SG) and Institutional Goals (InG). It is conceivable that scores may be achieved in all Levels of the Maturity Model; however in each level you may have score below 100%. This will provide a gap analysis at each level and a plan put in place to approve on the overall score for each level.
Note: Institutionalisation goal make the process ingrained in the way work is done in the organisation. It is a critical aspect of implementing any process.
Scoring Table:
Score
|
%age
|
Guide
|
0
|
0
|
Not Planned
|
1
|
20%
|
Planned
|
2
|
40%
|
Initial Implementations
|
3
|
60%
|
In use but not fully implemented
|
4
|
80%
|
Fully Implemented
|
5
|
100%
|
Mature and Institutionalised
|
Level 1 Initial – is considered “Fire-fighting management” in the BPMM Assessment. There are no specific objectives. Success in these organisations depends on the competence and determination of the people in the organisation and not on the use of proven processes and so is not included in the assessment as this is business as usual.
The Gap Analysis can be used to focus programmes on lowering the Gap at each level moving the Organisation towards the ultimate Goal of Level 5.Below is a sample of the questionnaire built in Excel. The approach would be to obtain a consensus of opinion from a senior management team within the Organisation through a workshop.
The scores can then be graphically displayed and provide an agreed baseline for defining the programme for business process improvement within an organisation.
