Both business and project management processes must be in place at an organizational level in order to deliver a project or product without interruptions to normal business operations. A business process is a set of procedures that an organization executes in order to keep things running. Business process management (BPM) is the study, evaluation, and optimization of them.
Project management processes, on the other hand, allow teams to collaborate and coordinate effectively when working on a project. The project phase in which the project is being managed is usually the basis for grouping project management processes. Companies and project teams can achieve their short- and longterm goals by implementing optimized business and project management processes.
Continue reading: Best BPM Software
Types of business processes
Five key elements are involved in business process management.
Design: Breaking down business processes, and identifying the tasks that make up it
Modeling: Visualizing business processes using BPM software
Execution: Implementing a business procedure to test its results. Usually, this is done with a small group of experimenters.
Monitoring: Tracking and evaluating the execution of the process
Optimization: Identifying problems or opportunities for improvement, and addressing them
A well-managed business process can help companies run smoothly and maximize their resources. It is also essential for companies to scale. Generally, business processes fall into one of three categories: systems-centric, human-centric, or document-centric.
Systems-Centric Processes
Systems-centric processes are those that work without the intervention of humans.
When calculating salaries, for example, most human resource departments no longer need to manually collect hours in order to determine how much each employee should be paid. Software integrations and automation allow programs to collect the work hours of each employee and multiply them according their rates.
Human-Centric Processes
Human-centric processes require human involvement via approvals, meetings, and conversations. These include applicant interviews, board presentations and status meetings.
Document-Centric Processes
Document-centric processes include the creation, verification, production, and signature of documents. To ensure clear communication between departments, it is common for a company to have a standard template to create contracts and work orders.
Read more: What is an Iterative Process and How Does it Work?
Types of project management processes
There are five types of project management processes: initiation, planning and execution, monitoring, closing, and monitoring.
Initiation processes
The initiation phase is the decision-making phase that determines whether a project or a new phase of an existing project is worth pursuing. The project team’s goal here is to get authorization to start by identifying and explaining the project’s goals, objectives, and their relevance to the business.
Initiation phases include the development and implementation of schedule and budget proposals, identification of stakeholders, feasibility studies, and other activities.
Planning Processes
The planning phase identifies and refines the plan of action to achieve project objectives. The team meets together and agrees on a strategy. Each member of the team is assigned tasks. Finally, they are scheduled along with dependencies or resource requirements.
This phase involves meetings to plan stakeholder management and scope planning.
Execution Processes
The execution phase is where the team executes on their plans and fulfills their commitments. This phase is where the team follows through with plans and commitments.
The execution process includes project team check-ins and change request management.