Archive for the 'Business Process Management' topic

Some enterprises take pride in their business complexity

When you talk to a company manager about employing a standard solution the response is often “Our business is too complex for a standard solution”. This is said with a measure of pride in being associated with a complex business. Is a complex business something to strive for or to be proud of? What is the alternative to a standard solution? Do non-standard solutions simplify the business? What is better, simplify the business to use standard solutions, or continue to develop non-standard solutions that compound existing complexity?

Result-performance Management organizes only the business essentials to eliminate business complexity

Enterprises today introduce business complexity as soon a they create an organization structure that is laid over the business. They then lay more structures for strategy, accounts, business processes, performance management, etc over the business. Each overlay introduces more entities with conflicting definitions to be managed and increases business and information complexity.

Result-performance Management (R-pM) clears away contrived overlaid structures and organizes the business for 21^st Century Management. [more...].

20^th century management lays structures over the business to direct the enterprise

The day to day operations of the enterprise today are directed through a variety of structures laid over the business. These structures focus on enterprise performance, which mixes the actions of performance together with the results accomplished. The main structures used to direct the enterprise are:

• Processes, which define the flow of performance across the enterprise
• Functions, which define activities performed by the enterprise
• Information systems, which provide the flow of information processing
• Work assignments and tasks, to perform ad-hoc activities
• Projects, to perform one-time enterprise endeavors

These structures are used to manage performance of the enterprise and to produce results as separate entities, such as products, services, sales, and revenue.

None of the overlaid structures directs the actual business

The actual business consists of results produced, capital available in performance solutions, and performance to utilize solutions to produce each result. None of the overlaid structures direct the utilization of capital solutions to produce results. Most enterprise direction is up to the experience and capability of the manager to make decisions and take actions without a business framework.

Structures used to direct the enterprise do not relate to other management structures

The structures used to direct the enterprise do not relate directly to the structures used to organize, plan, control, and report the enterprise. A prior article showed that certain structures are used to plan the enterprise in strategic maps and corporate plans, financial plans and budgets, information technology plans and architectures, investment and capital development plans, and operational plans. The structures used to direct the enterprise are not connected to or do not necessarily refer to the structures that plan the enterprise. Enterprise direction and management is disconnected among a wide variety of structures that can be contrived and laid over any business.

The business must be organized and planned to provide the basis for business direction

Before the business can be directed, the business is organized using Result-performance Management (R-pM) in the current business structure, and the business is planned in the strategic business structure with result goals and performance expectations by time periods from the current business. [more...].

20^th century management problems are caused by structures laid over the enterprise business

The generally accepted “enterprise business” definition is the activity of providing goods and services. The failure of 20^th century management to organize and manage the activity of providing goods and services creates unsolvable management, business, and performance problems.

The fatal error of 20^th century management is laying a rigid and arbitrary enterprise organization structure over on the business, rather than organizing the business. Since the business is not organized the business cannot be managed, therefore, rigid enterprise management structures for planning, processes, systems, accounts, quality, administration, performance, reporting, etc must be contrived and laid over the business. Structures laid over the business conflict with the actual business, restrict business flexibility, move out of “alignment” as the business changes, and prevent direct business data capture and management.

20^th century management improvements can never solve unsolvable problems

We continue to teach 20^th century management, contrive new 20^th century structures and “business solutions” to lay over the business, and write more 20^th century management books, but we can never solve the top ten problems of 20^th century management. [more...].

Alignment is one of the top 10 problems of 20^th century management!

Alignment covers many problems arising from conflicts between the actual business and overlaid structures

We keep hearing about alignment problems. Alignment problems are caused because the business is not organized. Alignment problems arise from actual business change in results produced and capital utilized as performance solutions, which remain undefined and unorganized. Instead, the enterprise is organized, planned, directed, controlled, and reported through separate and distinct structures laid over the business. With every business change, rigid overlaid structures go out of alignment with the business. Many solutions are available supposedly to enable alignment. Many books have proposed alignment solutions. However, in spite of all of these solutions and books, alignment problems remain. The alignment solutions attempt to align organization and management structures with each other with nothing to align against. “Alignments with the business” do not actually define the business to align against.

Result-performance Management solves the alignment problem by organizing and managing the business

The various alignment problems are eliminated by organizing the business. Result-performance Management organizes and manages the business through one integrated result-performance business structure, which aligns all deployed performance solutions with the output results they produce. With R-pM, there is only one business structure and no alignment problem. Structures laid over the business are removed. One business structure is used for all organization, planning, directing, control, and reporting.

The Alignment Problem

The conventional enterprise faces many unsolvable alignment problems

We have such well-known alignment problems, such as the following, because of rigid structures laid over the business: [more...]:

Information Technology is one of the top 10 problems of 20^th century management!

Information Technology incorporates a wide variety of unsolvable problems

Information Technology (IT) employed today has many inherent problems that many expensive solutions have never been able to solve:

• Information technology is managed as technology, rather than as capital preventing integration with the business
• Information technology employs large monolithic information systems that are laid over the business, instead of information processing solutions that are utilized by the business
• Information Technology defines different architectures to define and align the business, systems, hardware and networks, and data and information, rather than integrating each with the business
• Different categories of information capital are mixed in many systems using different entity names and definitions producing information complexity and preventing proper information capital management
• Since the business is not organized, information systems manage information related to structures laid over the business and do not capture, process, or report actual business data and management information
• Information Technology is difficult to manage because it mixes business, facility, and management capital that require diverse management and operating capabilities
• It is difficult to manage return on IT investments since the investments are lumped together and do not produce direct measured business improvements
• Information Technology has grown into a large expensive empire that involves much unnecessary processing, extensive overheads, and unsolvable problems

These problems can never be solved with 20^th century management that tries to improve the enterprise by laying new or improved structures over the business.

Information Technology problems disappear when using R-pM to organize the business for 21^st Century Management

The only way to eliminate the Information Technology problems is by organizing the business with Result-performance Management (R-pM) to enable 21^st Century Management. R-pM integrates information technology in the business as capital defined as specific performance solutions utilized to produce specific business results. R-pM provides the following measures to eliminate the unsolvable Information Technology problem:

• R-pM organizes the actual business as specific performance solutions, including IT solutions, to produce specific business results
• Information system solutions are defined and integrated with the business process as modules to produce a specific result or a chain of results
• Information systems focus on managing actual business data in result value and quality, performance cost and effectiveness, capital worth, and return on capital investments that is not processed today
• Information Technology is defined and organized as capital, with other capital of the same category, for proper capital management by those with the professional capability
• Information capital is defined and managed as business data, human knowledge, facility records, and management intelligence to produce information solutions needed by the business
• Enterprise information is integrated by performance solution utilized, result produced, supplier, customer, time period, business transaction, etc in an enterprise Business Information Base for one set of complete and accurate business information
• Information systems and processing devoted to managing arbitrary structures laid over the business and special systems to address problems in data reconciliation, information integration and extraction, and management reporting are discontinued, if not directly needed by the business
• New information system implementation integrates business and information processing with other performance solutions to produce specific output results needed by the business
• The business is organized for a new generation of 21^st Century Management systems and business-information process modules, to process the actual business result by result, and provide one set of consistently-defined management information

Using R-pM to manage information technology as capital utilized by the actual business eliminates the unsolvable IT problems in business alignment, information complexity, data reconciliation, unknown costs and value, unknown capital worth and returns, CIO and IT management capabilities, data integration and control, and on and on.

The Information Technology Problem

Enterprise information systems include a wide variety of systems that are laid over the business

Since the business is not organized, different management structures must by laid over the business to manage the enterprise. [more...]

Business Complexity is one of the top ten problems of 20^th century management!

Business complexity is the opposite of business simplicity. The simplest way to organize and manage the business is to organize and manage the business.

Business complexity includes complexity in structures laid over the business and different information in each structure

Instead of organizing and managing the actual business, today’s enterprises lay organization, planning, directing, control, and reporting structures over the business. These rigid structures conflict with each other and the actual changing business creating the business complexity problem. Each structure defines the enterprise differently using inconsistently-defined entities and various information systems, producing the information complexity problem. Different structures used by different enterprises prevent business collaboration and integration.

Result-performance Management (R-pM) organizes and manages one business structure

Result-performance Management (R-pM) organizes one business structure for all planning, directing, control, and reporting. Existing capital is organized as part of the business and overlaid structures are left behind. The business structure produces one set of complete, accurate, and consistently-defined business management information, including actual business information on result value, capital worth, performance costs, and result investment returns that are unknown today.< [more...]

Processes and systems are monolithic entities laid over the business

Over the past 15 years, corporations and other enterprises have implemented business process and packaged information systems, like ERP, SCM, MRP, and CRM. These processes and systems are laid over the actual business and provided general improvement, but usually still include extra costs and inefficiencies. Often old performance problems remain after new process and system implementation. Many enterprises want to improve their process and system utilization, but lack a fundamentally-sound method. This subject is explained further in the article “How to maximize Benefits from existing Processes and Systems” published in 21^st Century Management Magazine.

R-pM can make significant improvements to existing processes and systems

R-pM provides the method by identifying and managing the actual business that lies hidden under the processes and systems. Performance problems are inherent in specific performance solutions. R-pM redefines processes and systems as value-quality chains, so the enterprise knows the specific results produced and performance solutions utilized along the chain. R-pm integrates the business and system processing as the business process solution and separates other solutions utilized. The enterprise can then solve performance problems with specific solutions, and minimize the performance and maximize the result produced at each link in the chain. This enables the enterprise to solve problems, reduce performance costs, and manage result value and quality across existing processes and systems.

Analyze existing processes and systems as a value-quality chain

The only method available to redefine existing processes and systems is explained in the download “How to Build Value-quality Chains“. The only method to manage business change effectively is explained in the download “How to Manage Business Change“. The only method to manage a business change or capital development project properly is explained in the download “How to Manage Projects in the 21^st Century“. The full details to improve existing processes and systems are provided in The R-pM Toolkit, your 21^st Century Management Manual. These downloads are available now at Result-performance-Management.com. .

Performance Management is one of the top 10 problems of 20^th century management!

The definition of performance and performance management is a fundamental 20^th century management problem

Performance is defined as both the actions and results of performance. The definition prevents management of results separate from performance and restricts enterprise management to one confused performance dimension. Performance Management is a big part of 20^th century management, with a variety of structures like processes, dashboards, and scorecards laid over the business. Key performance indicators (KPI) mix result volumes and performance levels. Business process re-engineering focuses on business process management and performance quality to produce a process output. Many performance and productivity methods and consultants redefine costs out of the process and into other capital utilized in the business.

R-pM separates results from performance to enable 21^st Century Management

Result-performance Management (R-pM) separates results from performance to organize the enterprise business in results produced and capital utilized in performance solutions. The enterprise business changes each time management decides to produce a new result, close a finished result, or utilize a different performance solution. Performance management provides and maintains cost-effective performance solutions. [more...].

20^th century management manages performance and not results

20^th century management used today does not define and manage output results that must be produced for business success. Instead, we define and manage “performance” in various functions, activities, tasks, processes, systems, work flows, etc. Performance per se has no value or meaning. The value and meaning of performance is in the output results produced that are not defined or managed in 20^th century management.

Wasteful performance structures are laid over the business

Since results are not defined, 20^th century management can not organize or manage the business. Instead of defining and organizing the business in the capital to be utilized to produce results, various organization and management structures are laid over the business. An arbitrary organization structure defines functions, jobs, etc. Management structures include strategies, processes, systems, cost accounting, performance management, and administration methods. Structures laid over the business conflict with the actual business and prevent actual business management. None of the structures captures actual business data on the output results produced by the business or the capital utilized by the business to produce results.

21^st Century Management focuses on utilizing capital to produce essential results

Result-performance Management (R-pM) organizes the capital actually needed and utilized to produce essential results for 21^st Century Management. Essential results are identified [more...]d

There are many business management articles and a lot of talk about value, be it value creation, value propositions, value management, or value chains. With 20^th century management all we can do is write articles and talk. We cannot build actual 21^st century value-quality chains as explained in the new download “How to Build Value-quality Chains“, available now at Result-performance-Management.com.

20^th century management cannot build or manage value or quality chains

20^th century management mixes performance and the output results together as “performance” and manages “performance quality”. 20^th century business process and information systems are directed at a final result and do not specifically define or manage the results leading to the final result. So, there is no way to manage value or to build value or quality chains.

The link in the value-quality chain is the economic output result

Value-quality chains form naturally by organizing the business for 21^st Century Management using Result-performance Management (R-pM). The business consists of two entities.

• Results: The economic outputs from business production that form the links in the chain
• Performance solutions: The capital utilized in business production to produce a result at each link

Any area of the business can be organized by defining the results produced and the performance solutions utilized.

Each result in the value chain has a value, costs, and a value-added

Results form a natural chain of results that starts with input results from suppliers. [more...]