Frequently asked questions
What is ProcessStep?
What makes ProcessStep different to other
methodologies?
Who are your target prospects?
For which kind of business requirements can
ProcessStep be applied?
How would my company benefit from your product/service?
What will change in my company once a ProcessStep
project is concluded?
What are the quantified impacts (dollars or
percentages and time frames) that have been produced by your company’s products
and services? How has your company helped its clients?
Is ProcessStep business process software?
How long does ProcessStep take?
Where does one start with ProcessStep?
How do you bill?
Where does ProcessStep position itself in the BPM
space?
What is ProcessStep?
ProcessStep is our method to document & analyse business processes.
In short this is done by mapping the enterprise processes real-time in interactive work sessions with role-players.
We facilitate workshops where relevant people are invited to sit in to share their knowledge about the process. This knowledge is captured immediately, and the map is real-time displayed on a screen. ProcessStep makes use of colourful icons to map details in a process. The icons show what needs to be done; who is doing it; how people involved are communicating; what the risks, controls, KPI’s and other management information are; which documents and systems are used, and which processes link into the specific process. The colourful and clear icons make this methodology user friendly and ensure process role player buy-in.
It was developed by Dr. Michélle Booysen and is continuously refined by the team. We have applied ProcessStep successfully in projects for over 7 years.
What makes ProcessStep different to other methodologies?
Three distinct aspects make ProcessStep different:
Firstly: the dynamic way of engaging with role-players, in high energy workshops, is what makes that people enjoy the ProcessStep sessions. The participants have an opportunity to speak up about the process and what affects them in their day-to-day job. Active participation creates buy-in to changes.
Secondly: The visualisation makes it very understandable and invites participation.
Thirdly: The knowledge is captured in information-rich format.
Who are your target prospects?
Our target prospects are business owners, executives, and managers.
This is because we address:
- Business Process Improved Practices;
- Business Performance Improvement;
- Training, Skills Assessment and Skills Improvement;
- Change Management through implementation of actions and projects to bring about change;
- Risk Management;
- Cost Savings, through improved efficiency;
- Knowledge Management;
- Organisational Development;
- Quality Management.
The above are business requirements in all enterprises; therefore we do not focus on specific vertical markets.
For which kind of business requirements can ProcessStep be applied?
ProcessStep can be applied to address a magnitude of issues that relate to process. We have successfully applied ProcessStep:
- For an understanding of systems requirements in the context of business use;
- For change management prior to IT project implementation;
- To identify process gaps or weaknesses where breakdowns occur;
- For identification of training needs;
- For improved controls, risk management & compliance;
- For noticeable and measurable skills improvement;
- For role clarification;
- To enlighten and motivate employees, which forms part of team building;
- To create a repository for easy access to accurate and common process information by all staff;
- For knowledge sharing across the organisation;
- For understanding the “big picture”: how one process impacts another;
- For improved process efficiency to save costs;
- To define an organisational structure that will deliver on strategic goals.
How would my company benefit from your product/service?
The benefits of ProcessStep are:
- Understanding the process end-to-end in terms of who does what when;
- Seeing the flow of documentation throughout the process;
- Defining and agreeing task and process ownership and accountabilities;
- Defining risks and agreeing on controls;
- Ensuring the right Management Information and Performance Indicators that are relevant and provide the right performance information at the right time to the right decision makers;
- Clearly defining and linking inter-relationships between processes (in the enterprise, division or department), people and systems;
- Understanding governance and compliance (statutory, company policies, quality systems, etc.) per process and showing how each process operates within the governance and compliance framework;
- Gaining a clear view of the status of Organisational Development (roles, skills, competencies) and what to do to ensure effective improvement and alignment with what the enterprise requires.
Our services facilitate:
- The identification of process inefficiencies and duplications;
- Performance Improvement, linking individual activities to measurement metrics;
- Alignment of business functions and processes to strategy.
What will change in my company once a ProcessStep project is
concluded?
Depending on the project’s objectives, various changes will occur. In general:
- Your employees / external parties are clear on understanding the “bigger picture” (strategy / plan) and their respective roles in it. This will result in all stakeholders driving in the same direction to achieve organisational and operational excellence.
- Your business teams will love the inter-active workshop approach and will start “talking and walking” their process;
- Performance and staff morale will increase - people understand the “big picture” and the importance of their respective roles in it;
- Knowledge transfer will take place and with that, teamwork will increase;
- Buy-in to business change will be high since all role-players provide input.
What are the quantified impacts (dollars or percentages
and time frames) that have been produced by your
company’s products and services? How has your company
helped its clients?
- One of our clients has seen the current employees’ productivity increase by 15% one week after concluding the process mapping.
- A number of clients use the process maps as induction material for new and transferring staff. This immediately shows how “what” the employee does on a day to day basis, fits into the bigger picture and it fast tracks the employee to know what they need to do. This fast tracks new process role players’ productivity up to 50%.
- Internal audit in a corporate client has significantly reduced the time they spend conducting audits per business area, due to simply matching what is being done to what the process requires. Reporting is enhanced and turnaround time for corrective action has improved.
- When recruiting service providers for a new service, one of our clients uses the process maps to explain to third parties what is needed from them. This approach has significantly reduced the time to call for proposals, the time to submit proposals and has assisted in fit for purpose proposals from Third Parties, fast tracking the roll out of new services and products.
- By simplifying a cross-border process, a client estimated the savings resulting from the improved practises would amount to US$14million.
- The savings brought on by immediate buy-in from stakeholders and role players following the workshops, are numerous. In one case, an entire day set aside to align senior executives with a new directive, was concluded in 30 minutes since the buy-in occurred during the six weeks of process work-shopping prior to the changes having been suggested. Once the changes were tabled, all role players fully understood the reasoning and history, and agreed to the way forward in 30 minutes.
In short, the above occurs because, what gets measured, improves. For that reason identification of KPI’s in each process is an important element. Further, the ProcessStep way of visualising and workshopping around processes has had significant quantified benefits.
Is ProcessStep business process software?
ProcessStep is not software. ProcessStep is a Business Process Documentation & Analysis methodology that can be applied using different types of software (or even just a pencil and paper). We use Microsoft Visio™ to map our processes. From there the maps can be imported into different types of software to make it executable.
How long does ProcessStep take?
We have concluded projects in two days, including a Positioning Map, and a full process map up to a version 3 level.
We have also worked on projects for 2 years, delivering a large number of processes for a number of business areas in the enterprises.
We start with a Positioning Map, showing what the business of the business, unit or department is, and define what processes are needed to make the business “work”. This takes from 1 hour to one day, depending on each enterprise.
A Process Map is usually developed in 2 or 3 versions. Version 1 could take 2 to 8 hours, version 2 takes 2 to 3 hours, and version 3 takes 1 to 2 hours. Of course these differ from project to project.
ProcessStep is a process for process mapping.
Where does one start with ProcessStep?
ProcessStep as the process to map process is managed as a project, and we apply project management principles throughout.
- We start by understanding what the enterprise requirement is. This is conducted through a briefing with key stakeholders.
- From this, we determine what must be done and how process will address the business requirement. We agree the role players, the schedules and then we start with the Positioning Map.
- Once the Positioning Map is concluded, we start with version 1 of Process 1. This is followed by version 2 of Process 1 or by Version 1 of Process 2, and so on. Work sessions can also run simultaneously.
Our billing is per day, in some cases per hour.
We work in teams of two in most cases, with one person facilitating, the other capturing information real time, projecting the process map on screen with a data projector.
Where does ProcessStep position itself in the
BPM space?
We position ourselves as an enabler. The link between enterprise people and IT is process. ProcessStep delivers process that speaks equally well to business and IT. ProcessStep enables knowledge to be captured as related by the master of knowledge: business, i.e. the people who work in the process in a format which business understands and relate to. This comes from the space of Total Quality Management and Business Process Redesign, but with full people involvement, therefore, the outcome is less harsh on the people element. ProcessStep provides the knowledge and masses of information to IT which now can develop programmes and dashboards that will deliver powerful Business Process Management - IT takes the info, (which is informed by business on a business level), puts it into applications which then generates management information. Read more.