Business processes serve a variety of operational needs and objectives.  Each process is typically made up of a series of steps and decisions.  Based on those decisions the process may take a different path.  Often, a multifarious process can become so complex that it becomes highly inefficient.  Other times, processes are not robust enough to ensure adequate control and effectiveness.

At Pyramus Consulting, our approach to Business Process Improvement (BPI) starts with understanding the process' objectives.  We must first understand why we are performing this process before we can start to improve it.  From there we seek to understand the current or "as-is" nature of the process and we do that by fully mapping the existing process including roles and responsibilites, decision points, escalation protocols, and key process definitions.  Depending on the process we will capture baseline performance metrics around quality, cycle time, cost, and others so we can eventually measure the impact of the improvements.

From here, we perform analyses to identify process gaps, control breakdowns, and other inefficiencies.  Potential improvements are inventoried and prioritized based on their impact to the process in review.

Once improvements are chosen the process will be redesigned and roles and responsibilities will be established where necessary.  Many consultancies may stop here in a process improvement engagement, but Pyramus Consulting does not.  Effective Implementation of the improved process is critical for success.  Change management intervention and training may be required for organizations where improvements result in significant change to individuals' roles.

The performance metrics are measured against the baseline as part of a continuous improvement mechanism enabling you to monitor the process on a ongoing basis and make necessary adjustments where appropriate.