“The main advantage of the IT department is its understanding of the company’s business processes.” Improving the activities of the IT department

What are business processes? Examples will allow us to better understand this subject, so we will actively use them.

general information

First, let's figure out what business processes are. This is the name given to the total sequence of certain actions aimed at transforming the resources received at the input into a completed product that has value for consumers at the output. Thanks to this definition, you can understand that there are business processes within every organization. Whether they are formalized or not does not matter. Remember: you can find business processes everywhere. Examples of them will be given later in the article.

Let's look at a household example. There is a housewife who wants to wash the dishes (business process). She delegates this task to the dishwasher. At the entrance we have dirty dishes. Water, detergent and electricity will be used during the process. And at the end we will get clean dishes. Business processes are built according to a similar scheme. The examples that will be given later will only confirm these words.

Functional approach

Since we are interested in (specific examples), let’s not delay their consideration, but get down to business right away. Let's say we have a company that deals with management issues. According to him, an enterprise is a set of divisions. Moreover, each one works to perform its specific function. But in such cases, when individual departments are focused on achieving their indicators, the overall performance of the company often suffers.

Let's look at one typical conflict process. The sales department requires an increase in the maximum possible range to increase turnover. At the same time, they also want to ensure that the product is always in stock. Whereas the supply department plans to purchase a narrow range and in large quantities. Indeed, in such cases they will work efficiently, and their main indicator will increase (more precisely, the price from the supplier will fall). That is, there is a business implementation process that departments look at differently.

Process approach

He views everything that happens as a set of processes. There are basic and supporting. Each process has its own specific goal, which is subordinated to the task facing the entire company. In addition, there is an owner who manages resources and is responsible for the execution of everything necessary. There should also be a system for quality control and error correction. It goes without saying that no process can proceed without resources. And the list of components is completed by a system of indicators by which business processes are assessed. What are some examples of this, since it was promised that there would be some? Now let's look at one.

Imagine a map. In the very center is It is divided into separate components. They are accompanied by management and support processes that ensure that everything is executed as required. This will be a process approach. When the work of one element is completed, its work is transferred to the next.

Description of business processes

Examples of this can be seen in general form throughout the article. But full-length documentation is often comparable in thickness to small books (or even large ones if the work of a giant company is being studied).

(examples of which are also given here) requires that all operations of the enterprise be as clear and transparent as possible. This will allow them to be analyzed in the best possible way and identify various problems before they fail. It must be remembered that the main task of the descriptions is to understand the interaction of disparate units, to monitor what and to whom they transfer at each stage of the task. Thanks to this, it is possible to significantly simplify and reduce the dependence of the stability of the enterprise on the unstable human factor. Also, with a competent approach, the and This is how the description of business processes helps. An example of such optimization can be demonstrated by the manager of almost any successful company.

Development order

Let's look at a practical example of a business process in an enterprise. Initially we need to take care of the working team of the project. It is formed from company employees. More often than not, it turns out that one working team is not enough. What then can be done? To fill the lack of strength, you can attract a temporary group. It also doesn't hurt to create a description of how the process is functioning at a given point in time. At the same time, one should strive to identify all the connections between actions, and not record the smallest details.

To avoid sidetracking, you can use standard process maps and forms. When developing processes, it is recommended to use the method of successive approximations. In other words, it is necessary to repeat the cycle of improvement actions until an acceptable result is obtained.

What should you pay attention to?

You should focus on the following sections:

1. Standard forms.
2. Map.
3. Routes.
4. Matrices.
5. Flowcharts.
6. Description of joints.
7. Supporting descriptions.
8. Documentation.
9. Detailed description.
10. Definition of indicators and indicators.
11. Execution regulations.

The best idea of ​​the necessary elements can be given by a real example - reengineering of business processes of an existing enterprise. But in such cases, you need to be prepared for the fact that you will have to familiarize yourself with a huge amount of documentation.

Let's say a word about cards

So, we have already looked at what business processes are and examples of them in real life. Now let's go through the technical documentation, which should be if we need an accurate and clear description. So, initially I would like to pay attention to the business process map. It is a graphical representation designed as a flowchart. In this case, it is necessary to ensure that each participant has its own separate column. Time intervals are entered in the lines. A fully completed card allows you to check whether the transaction was synchronized.

You can also monitor whether and how information flows between different departments of the company. To get the best results, you should ask a few questions. Who performs this operation? Why does it need to be done? What is she? When should the operation be performed? Where is it carried out? When improving existing processes, you should also ask whether it can be improved.

Matrices

They are necessary to highlight the most important business processes within the enterprise. During their compilation, the interconnection of everything that happens, as well as the degree of mutual influence, are taken into account.

When analyzing a chain of processes, it is easy to find that information exchange moves from the upper left to the lower right. That is, this mathematical form describes the relationship between supplier and consumer, presented in the form of a rectangle. In each cell of the matrix, all the necessary requirements for the action that have been/are/will be done are indicated. They are a kind of two-dimensional models with the help of which one can judge what is being done and how it is being done and what purpose is being pursued. The difficulty in compiling a matrix here is that in order to calculate with maximum accuracy it is often necessary to use a significant amount of data. And this implies the presence of a large number of data. In such cases, digital information is usually used, which often still has to be calculated.

At a certain point in the company's development, IT management may be faced with a situation where resolving incidents takes too long, users are dissatisfied with the services provided, and the internal organization of work is complete chaos. One of the options for solving these problems is the implementation of ITSM (Information Technology Service Management). As part of this post, with which we decided to open our blog on Habré, we will talk about what ITSM is and look at some of the capabilities of the ServiceNow platform.

What is ITSM?

A complete transition to a service basis will allow the IT departments of any company not only to turn from a costly department into a profit center, but also to offer their IT services outside of their own organization.

One of the main components of ITSM is the formalization of IT department processes. For each process, the sequence of work, the necessary resources and time costs, automation and quality control tools are determined. Once a process is defined, its performance as well as its quality/cost ratio can be measured. At the same time, we note that the ITSM approach does not affect the details of technical process management, but is aimed at structuring the internal work of the IT department.

The implementation of ITSM also includes the formalization of work regulations for employees, the definition of areas of responsibility and authority of personnel, criteria for the quality of work and the formation of mechanisms for controlling and monitoring the state of processes, which helps to increase information security.

ITSM Implementation - ServiceNow

In recent years, ServiceNow has slightly changed the direction of development of its product, which now goes beyond IT. The service allows you to manage most business areas. The processes that a business uses for management are very similar to the processes that occur in an IT department. Only the tasks change, but the architecture of inter-element relationships and the relationship between the performer and the consumer remain the same. You can see the structure of the ServiceNow solution in this video:

IT Governance and Risk Management (GRC)

The first application is called ServiceNow Risk Management and provides a centralized process for identifying, assessing, responding to, and continuously monitoring enterprise and IT risks that could negatively impact the business. The application has a graphical interface for creating profiles and dependencies for risk mapping and modeling.

It also allows you to group risk reports into manageable categories and store all potential risks in a central location, allowing you to view summary information and quickly identify problem areas.

The second application is Policy and Compliance Management, and it provides a centralized process for creating and managing internal control policies, standards, and procedures. For example, the Compliance module contains overview information about compliance, as well as lists of official company documents and links.

Formal documents define policies, risks, controls, audits and other processes. Each document is attached to a specific record, and the corresponding lists in the record contain the individual terms of that document.

The third application of the GRC complex is Audit Management. It makes it possible to plan audit assignments, monitor implementation and provide reports to responsible persons. Engagement reporting ensures that the organization's risk and compliance management strategy is effective. The audit process includes creating, planning, scoping and conducting audit engagements, as well as reporting the results.

Thus. GRC in ServiceNow, as part of a powerful business automation platform, helps solve a wide range of critical tasks by integrating with existing processes and sharing data with core management services.

Software development management (Agile Development)

The platform makes it possible to hold daily meetings (Daily Scrum) with team members to discuss current projects, planned work and difficulties. There is also the ability to maintain a product backlog, which is a list of user stories ordered by importance. The Product Backlog can be regularly reviewed and updated as new requirements arise and priorities change.

In addition to the product backlog, the solution provides the ability to work with a release backlog, which contains a list of stories that need to be completed to release the current version of the application being developed. Typically, the decision-making process is based on the timeline for releases, the importance of stories in the product backlog, and their complexity.

IT Infrastructure Management (IT Operations Management)

The main objective of implementing ITOM is to achieve visibility and control over various elements of the company's IT infrastructure for the purpose of easy and flexible management. This allows you to provide services according to SLA, use your IT infrastructure most efficiently, respond flexibly to external and internal needs, and better provide service and support.

ITOM also allows you to collect information from multiple sources, including all major elements of the IT infrastructure. This data can be analyzed and then provided as IT operations reports on parameters such as load, performance and user activity. This makes it easier to identify problems early, diagnose them and quickly resolve them.

The use of ITOM makes the use of IT investments transparent, allows flexible allocation of IT resources, prompt identification of problems and solutions to them, and efficient maintenance of infrastructure.

And these are just a few of the features that the ServiceNow platform provides. In the list of services provided you can find items such as

The article is intended for practicing business analysts and consultants in the field of business process design.

Today, more and more IT departments of large and medium-sized organizations are busy drawing up models of their business processes as part of the presentation of IT services. They identify this task as one of the most important.

In this article, we propose to discuss two approaches to describing the business processes of an IT department as part of their provision of IT services. We hope that the information presented here will help the reader choose the optimal model for describing business processes that allows them to achieve their goals.

For a clearer description and comparison of the proposed approaches, consider the following example. Department - a user of IT services applies to the IT department for a service and receives it (note that we do not pretend to fully reflect all processes in these diagrams).

Please note that the sequence of execution of the functions of the process is clearly visible, from the beginning of the process to its completion.

The same process is described using a different approach. Information is received as input, and depending on its type, specific chains of procedures are launched. Here it is more difficult to see the sequence of all stages of the business process. But it is clearly noticeable that the information described is more formalized and typified.

So, let us describe in more detail the approaches shown.

First approach. This is the most standard approach, very often used in many organizations, in which the sequence of functions is shown within the flow of the process.

Perhaps the organization already uses, to one degree or another, a process approach to describing and organizing the activities of the entire enterprise, and a certain methodology for describing business processes exists or has been selected. Most likely, this methodology is based on the first approach.

Then it becomes important to describe the activities of the IT department based on the adopted methodology for a uniform perception of all processes of the organization.

We also note that with this approach, the staged nature of the stages of processes is clearly visible, including when interacting with the processes of other departments.

Using this approach, we see and describe processes from above. It is worth noting that this approach is fully consistent with the methodology of the process approach in management.

If in the future the automation of IT department processes is implied, it makes sense to describe them using second approach. Why? Firstly, the second approach contains greater formalization of data flows that can be typed and standardized, and then automated. The result is a good basis for overlaying an automation system.

Secondly, in the case of this approach, the view at the business processes of the IT department is from the side of the IT department itself, i.e. from the inside. You are inside the mechanism. Streams of data are received as input, very specific corresponding chains of procedures and functions are launched to process them, and a product that meets established standards is supplied as output.

Even if we do not touch upon the automation of business processes for now, the second approach to describing business processes provides the management of the IT department with a lot of interesting opportunities for solving management problems.

When solving the problem of ensuring the high-quality functioning of the business processes of an IT department, when it is important to ensure rational and efficient processing of incoming data, a fairly serious formalization of the business processes of the department is necessary. The second approach allows, in our opinion, the best way to reflect the typing, classification of incoming and outgoing data, the corresponding procedures for their processing within the department, outline control points and evaluate the procedures for obtaining indicator values ​​at these points. And, therefore, it provides management with the opportunity to more effectively analyze the distribution and use of department resources for their rationality and productivity, cost reduction, management and control.

If the IT Director has both descriptions, it will be very helpful.

First way will allow you to consider the processes of the IT department on the basis of a methodology accepted in the company and understandable to the top management of the organization; it will allow the IT Director to see his department in interaction with other departments within the company. This method is acceptable for describing processes “as is” and “to be.”

Second way It will most likely be difficult for the organization's top management to read and understand, but it will be very useful for the IT Director. Implying greater formalization of data, it is more applicable for describing “as will be” processes. In our opinion, this approach will allow the IT Director to more effectively assess and manage the resources and processes of the IT department in order to improve the quality of the IT services provided.

It doesn’t happen very often that a guest in our traditional column “Who is he, the modern IT leader?” becomes a representative of a manufacturer of consumer goods. The last time was two years ago, when we discussed the main tasks of the IT service of such an enterprise. Today we continue our conversation on this topic with the CIO of Efes Rus Vasily Vlasyuk, who in conversation with the scientific editor of PC Week/RE Olga Pavlova shared his experience of managing the IT department of a regional division of a large international company.

PC Week: You have only recently held your current post—since January of this year. What peculiarities in the field of IT and business have you already encountered here?

Vasily Vlasyuk: Before joining Efes Rus, I worked for thirteen years at MARS, one of the most famous confectionery manufacturers. And although both companies belong to the same consumer goods market, the Efes Rus product has a characteristic difference: it is heavy and at the same time relatively cheap. The price of a truck with beer and a truck with chocolate differ tens of times, and therefore transportation plays a very large role in costs. Accordingly, due to the need to optimize transport flows, the role of transport management is more significant.

If we compare brewing production with such high-tech areas as banking or telecommunications, then in our country the influence of IT is not so great. If, say, a bank's IT system fails, the entire business may come to a standstill. In such a situation, we can continue to work for some time without any significant consequences.

PC Week: Perhaps this is a reason for businesses to consider the IT department an auxiliary unit that does not bring any profit?

V.V.: I believe that it is wrong to view IT as a purely technical function, even when it comes to the consumer goods market. From my point of view, the main competitive advantage of an internal IT department is its understanding of the company's business processes, rather than purely technical solutions. That is, if my IT specialist only knows technology - how, say, to set up an SAP system or lay a network - he is not very interesting to me, since I can easily buy such knowledge on the side.

It should also be noted that knowledge of all processes is concentrated in a relatively small, company-wide department, so in some cases it is easier for us to solve cross-functional issues. If, for example, the sales process does not fit in with the logistics process, then two people sitting next to each other can quickly resolve this problem than a sales specialist who has to look for those responsible in the logistics department, contact them by email or phone, negotiate and etc.

PC Week: Where do you find IT specialists who understand business processes?

V.V.: Typically, a person begins to accumulate the necessary knowledge while working in a support service. When any problem arises, an incident is created that he wants to investigate. His main goal, of course, is to solve the problem, but if this person is curious enough, he may wonder why a given situation has arisen. And gradually - usually after two years of work in the support service - the IT specialist begins to understand the processes not only in the area for which he is responsible, but also in a number of related ones. As I already said, our problems are mainly cross-functional.

Undoubtedly, all people are different, and there are some who are incurious. However, in my experience, they often do not take root. Yes, such a person can be useful simply by solving a specific problem, but he will not be able to give anything more in the future and will remain at the same level of professional development.

PC Week: What first steps did you take in your new place?

V.V.: I set myself the task of creating a clearer division of responsibilities. Today we are implementing an IT structure, within which there are groups that work directly with business. The person leading the group is essentially a mini-IT director, fully responsible for everything that happens in his area of ​​responsibility. You could say that these groups are, in a way, the face of IT to the business.

The IT structure has a division responsible for technical support and resolving all technical issues, as well as departments for architecture, project management and business process efficiency. The last two are now in the process of formation, the idea of ​​​​creating them appeared with my arrival.

PC Week: What issues fall within your purview as a CIO?

V.V.: I do not see my task as solving technical issues. If that were the case, I wouldn't need a complex IT structure, just consultants doing business bidding. My mission is to understand problems in business processes and offer solutions to them. Of course, these solutions may be unpopular, since they involve changes not in IT systems, but in business processes. In practice, this happens often, and you have to persistently and consistently explain to management why such changes are necessary.

It must be said that today Efes Rus is going through a difficult period associated with the merger of two companies (two years ago a strategic alliance was created between the British concern SABMiller and the Turkish Anadolu Efes, within which the companies joined forces in the markets of Russia, Turkey, as well as in the CIS countries, Central Asia and the Middle East. O.P.). In this regard, I am faced with a serious task of uniting different IT landscapes and IT teams, and developing a unified IT strategy.

Previously, these were approximately equivalent companies, and all their tasks were completely solved by a small IT department. As a result of the merger and the corresponding increase in turnover, we have received a structure that requires a change in the management system. I am convinced that when a business passes a certain threshold, it is no longer possible to work with the old methods - it is necessary to structure tasks, to separate one from another.

PC Week: What will the IT strategy you are developing look like?

V.V.: I believe the strategy should have two main parts. The first is ensuring the functionality of existing systems. In fact, fulfilling this task sometimes necessitates changes related, say, to increasing the efficiency of the functioning of these systems. And for this we must look for fresh IT solutions that allow us to implement new ideas. For example, we are now considering a transition from using our own data centers, which service all our systems, to purchasing capacity from providers. That is, a kind of outsourcing.

The second part is related to business support. The hardest thing about building an IT strategy is that it must be business-driven. To do this, you must first find out what the business needs, and then offer some options and build an IT strategy.

In our company, this is organized in such a way that we alternately communicate with the directors of business units, collecting wishes on how their business will develop. These wishes are then discussed at the board of directors, where they are all consolidated. The IT budget is also discussed there, since it is obvious that the amount of money allocated is not unlimited.

Based on the current business situation, I assume that next year our focus will be on systems that support sales processes, that is, automating everything related to the work of sales representatives and distributors.

PC Week: In addition to purchasing data center capacity, do you have plans to outsource any IT services?

V.V.: I must admit that I really dislike outsourcing. The fact is that in my career I have not seen a single case where outsourcing turned out to be cost-effective. This is explained simply. An outsourcer makes a product or service cheaper than an in-house IT department simply because it implements it on a larger scale. But in a large company with a large internal IT department, it will cost the same.

As you know, miracles do not happen. We live in the same world, and the service provider has exactly the same problems as me: we need to find people who will perform the assigned tasks, train them, worry about them not leaving, take care of their motivation, monitor salary, labor market, etc. And why suddenly an external contractor will do this more efficiently than me?

Another problem with outsourcing is that when purchasing a service, you need to spend time managing it, agreeing on service levels (SLAs), and ensuring that they are met. And if they are not fulfilled, resolve differences. Unfortunately, you can’t just buy and get rid of your worries.

We are considering the issue of purchasing server capacity, since this is not a service as such - providers simply provide us with the necessary capacity. We just say that we need so many processors and so much RAM, and we just get what we want.

Now the specialists from my IT department are calculating the cost-effectiveness of purchasing capacity. To do this, we use simple parameters: how many people are required to maintain our own data centers, how much is their salary, how much money is spent on purchasing our own equipment. If all these indicators, combined with three years of depreciation, demonstrate that working in-house will cost less than outsourcing, then I will not use it. And if it turns out that it’s more expensive, then I’ll think about this issue again.

PC Week: How do you feel about other popular trends today, such as cloud computing, big data and others?

V.V.: I believe that cloud computing is essentially very similar to outsourcing, so my attitude towards it is exactly the same. But we are constantly studying the market - we still need to understand what is happening there. For example, SAP is making its own cloud, let's see what comes of it. But you need to move to the cloud only based on economic benefits. At the same time, initially I would still try to transfer not business systems to the cloud, but something simpler - for example, infrastructure solutions such as corporate mail.

As for big data, to be honest, I have never encountered this in practice. I know that there is a direction that allows you to prepare flexible reports and has other interesting capabilities, but I have never seen a business that would solve any serious problem today using Big Data technologies. It seems to me that this is still a matter for the future.

PC Week: Is it easy for businesses to give money for the implementation of new technologies?

V.V.: I see my task as understanding what the business is going to do in the coming time and what projects should be implemented for this. Next, I have to explain that these projects will cost so much money and get the business to agree to this. Naturally, management will ask the question: “Why is it so expensive?” Therefore, we must come to an agreement and fix it. Let's say a business wants a system for mobile computers that will cost X million dollars. We agree and enter this amount into the budget. However, at some point it turns out that the appetites of the sales department have grown and their satisfaction no longer costs X, but X plus a certain delta. But this money is not in the project budget. And then either the sales department reduces some of the tasks performed, or at a meeting of directors it is decided how to redistribute the budget.

True, this model of interaction with business will come into force next year. This will allow us to optimize our plans.

PC Week: What has been your most rewarding experience recently?

V.V.: Strange as it may sound, it was precisely leaving MARS. This was not an easy step, since I was leaving for the first time in my life, and from a company where I had worked for many years.

The main factor that influenced my decision was that MARS has a very strong global IT department, which covered part of my responsibilities as CIO in Russia. On the one hand, this makes the work easier, but on the other hand, it somewhat limited the field for decision-making. It has often happened that the business puts forward a certain requirement, global IT leaders are not going to allocate money for it, and what can I do? Too much time was spent on endless complex negotiations. At Efes Rus I have greater freedom to make decisions, but at the same time, of course, great responsibility. As a result, we have the biggest development in our IT department this year.

At the same time, it should be noted that today I would like more official recognition that the IT department can really influence business processes. For example, that an IT specialist is able to give the right business advice. Let's say employees from the logistics and sales departments come to us with their requests, and the IT specialist understands that they are talking about the same thing, but in different forms. Therefore, he must bring them together and explain what the process should actually be and that it can be implemented in a single system. This is exactly the reputation I strive for.

PC Week: Thanks for the conversation.

Veronica Klimentionok, management consultant, Ukrainian Image consulting company (Kiev)

Nowadays, IT departments of companies are faced with the task of not only providing IT services to company divisions, but also participating in the achievement of business results. This idea has been actively discussed and implemented by Western IT managers for about seven years now. They are confident that IT specialists can not only model a company’s business processes, but also participate in their analysis and optimization, bringing their vision to business methods. IT and business are one team, and the more harmoniously they work, the better the joint results will be.

A qualitative description of business processes is based on graphic modeling. This is undeniably an information technology, and progressive IT departments can and should implement it in their companies.

The idea and need to describe business processes

There are many case tools for describing business processes that allow you to create models and process regulations and, importantly, make changes to them easily and quickly. Initially, Case tools were created for setting tasks and designing information systems (IS), and now they are used to regulate activities, optimize business processes and build a company’s information architecture. Therefore, it often happens that a project to describe business processes in a company is initiated by the CIO.

From the author’s personal experience of working in the automation department of a large holding company: it was the IT director who organized a mini-seminar for top managers to review the company’s activities through business processes (and this was three years ago). He also trained the employees of his department in methods of modeling business processes, initiated projects to describe business processes not only for automation purposes, but also for the reorganization of individual companies and divisions of the holding. The CIO was inspired to do this by studying for an MBA. In fact, he served as the head of the IT department and CIO of the holding.

Sometimes a company is “infected” with the idea of ​​describing business processes through its owners or top management. For example, the CEO read an interesting article about the benefits of business processes or heard about it from his colleagues - and so he urgently launches a project to describe the company’s business processes.

Preparing the company for a project to describe business processes

So, the CIO or the head of an IT department with his subordinates participates in a project to describe business processes, which was initiated by one of the company’s top managers (or the CIO himself). Where to start and how to prepare a company for such a project? There are four components without which a project cannot be started: goal, training, team, plan.

Target

Possible goals of the project for describing business processes are the structuring and regulation of the company, business replication, optimization of business processes, implementation of ISO QMS, functional and cost analysis of the company’s activities, design and implementation of IS, etc. However, these are very general formulations so that At the end of the project, evaluate how far you have achieved your goal.

For example, if the goal is to describe business processes for business replication, then it can be detailed as identifying the company’s main business processes and developing process regulations. To replicate a business, you need to develop a number of more documents, but you have limited your project with a goal and can say for sure that when the process regulations for the selected business processes are developed, the project has been successfully completed.

Process regulations include a graphical model of the business process, its text description, a list of suppliers and clients of the business process, inputs, outputs, business process parameters, etc.

In your project, you can limit yourself to only developing business process models - then this is exactly what should be written down in the project goal: highlighting the company’s business processes and developing graphical models.

Another good option for specifying the project goal is to include in the goal statement the name of the business process or business processes for description. For example, developing a model and regulations for the business process of purchasing and supplying raw materials to a warehouse.

Education

The next step is training. However, for a project to describe business processes, it is necessary to train not only the analysts who will model, but also top managers, middle management, and key company employees who will use these descriptions. If business processes are described, but this is not used, then the project is unsuccessful, it did not bring any benefit, and the company wasted its money on it.

All of the above employees need to be trained in various things. For top managers, it is necessary to demonstrate what business processes and the process approach to management are, what organizational effects can be achieved with their help. Middle management and key employees must understand the essence of business processes, know methods for their analysis and optimization, and also understand the business process models that analysts will develop. And analysts, in turn, need to be trained to use technologies for collecting information, interpreting and modeling.

Training helps to develop an understanding of the project and its necessity not only among the project initiators, but also among the entire company. During the training, you can clarify the goals of the project, find supporters and form a team.

Team

Forming a project team is another important and necessary step before starting work. Let's look at who should be on the project team and what roles IT professionals can play on that team.

The main figure, who may not be included in the working group, but must necessarily be designated - Project customer. This is a person who needs a description of business processes, and he must have the appropriate authority and resources to carry out the work. The customer can be a business owner or a top manager (director, deputy director, head of a functional area). Even if business processes are described to set a task for an IS, the customer of this description should be the top manager ordering the IS. Often, heads of IT departments take over the Customer’s functions in this situation, but they do not always have the appropriate powers and resources: participants in the described business processes do not devote enough time to the project - approval of models is delayed or not carried out at all.

Heads the working group Project Manager- he organizes and coordinates the project, works with the Customer and is responsible for the results of the project. The project manager must be one of the company's top managers. If the head of the IT department has the status of IT director and is part of the top management of the company, then he can be the Project Manager.

The work of collecting information, forming models and developing process regulations is carried out by Project analysts. This function is best handled by IT specialists or people with similar education, because they are proficient in Case tools (or can quickly master them), and also have experience in developing algorithms and diagrams. Good Analysts also become those company employees who, in their activities, in one way or another are faced with the analysis or regulation of the company’s activities - these are employees of planning and analysis departments, quality managers, etc.

When several Analysts work on a project, they can describe different processes in parallel and work at different levels of description decomposition. To ensure that the Analysts’ models do not overlap and have the same detail, the project working group must have Integrator. He maintains the integrity of the company's business model and coordinates the work of the Analysts. Most often, the functions of the Integrator are performed by one of the Analysts or the Project Manager himself, if he has the appropriate competencies.

Secretary of the working group- not a very big, but responsible role. He organizes meetings of the working group, records decisions made and monitors their implementation. In fact, he is the Project Manager’s assistant, his left hand and “control” body.

The role of Secretary must be a highly organized, responsible, executive person, and some IT specialists possess such qualities.

A few words about those roles that IT specialists cannot perform (of course, if we do not describe the business processes of the IT company).

In the process approach to management, an Owner is allocated for each business process - this is a company employee who manages the business process, has resources at his disposal and is responsible for the result of the business process.

If you are describing a business process within one division of the company, then the head of this division will most likely be the Business Process Owner. For example, the owner of the business process for purchasing and supplying raw materials to a warehouse will be the head of the purchasing department. He must be responsible for the result of this business process - namely, the timely delivery of the necessary raw materials to the warehouse.

If the business process is end-to-end and covers several departments, then all heads of departments and some of the top managers participating in the process must be involved in the working group. The owner of such a business process will be a top manager or one of the department heads. For example, a company has a transport department that ensures the delivery of raw materials to a warehouse. Then two divisions are involved in the business process of purchasing and supplying raw materials to the warehouse: the purchasing department and the transport department. You can appoint a deputy as the owner of such a business process. purchasing director (large enterprises also have such) or head of the purchasing department.

If you do not implement a process approach to management in your company, then the function of the Process Owner comes down to responsibility for the accuracy of the description of the business process.

To describe business processes, it is necessary to involve their participants and direct performers. Therefore, the project working group should include Experts- key company employees who participate in business processes. For example, leading sales specialist, shift foreman. For Analysts, Owners and Experts are the main source of information about business processes; they check business process models for compliance with reality and approve them.

When a company is not ready to implement a project to describe business processes on its own, they come to its aid Consultants. They provide training and organize project work. Consultants undertake the description of business processes and act as Analysts and Integrators. However, recently, Consultants are most often invited to organize pilot projects to describe several business processes of the company. During such projects, company employees work together with Consultants and gain the necessary skills to implement subsequent projects independently. In the future, Consultants provide methodological support to company employees and evaluate their independent work.

Plan

The last step in preparing a project to describe business processes is planning.

First, the structure of the work, performers and required labor costs are determined. Then a calendar reference is made and the duration of the work is determined: the plan takes into account holidays, boss’s birthdays, corporate trips and business trips.

For example, it only takes 3 hours to agree on a business process model. For this purpose, you have scheduled two meetings with the Owner and Experts of this business process with a break of two days. The duration of work to approve a business process model will be 4 days, but if during this period the Business Process Owner goes on a business trip or takes several days off to celebrate his birthday, then the duration of work may increase significantly. Of course, in addition to the planned ones, there are also “sudden” business trips, and for this purpose a time lag is left between the work of the project. This means that if the duration of work on agreeing on a business process model is 4 days, then before starting the next work on forming the structure of the process regulations, 1 reserve day must be left. When such lags are set throughout the entire project, then even the unplanned absence of one of the project participants will not affect the total duration of the project.

Another important point in project planning for describing business processes is the loading of project participants. In addition to working in the project, its participants continue to perform functional responsibilities in the company. This is especially true for Business Process Owners and Experts. Their workload on a project can rarely exceed five hours a week, and this must be taken into account when determining the duration of the work.

Business results of the project to describe the company’s processes

“Whereas IT used to be judged solely on how well it delivered technology projects, in the next five years it will be judged on how well those projects themselves help the business operate.” This was written in CIO Magazine back in the early 2000s. The time has come to evaluate the performance of IT departments based on business results. A project to describe business processes will undoubtedly help a business in its activities and will contribute to:

● increasing the transparency of the company's activities;

● assigning areas of responsibility for company employees;

● improving interaction between departments;

● solving the problem of “irreplaceable employees”.

And if a project to describe a company’s business processes is initiated by an IT department, then it can achieve the listed results only in close cooperation and mutual understanding with the business. There was a good expression on this matter in the speech Eduard Savushkin(Incom Corporation) at the 2007 CIO Congress in Kyiv: “There are no IT projects - there are business projects involving IT”.