Process analysis in change

‘Examine and Challenge the Status Quo’ - Process analysis in change projects

Estimated reading time 10 min
What is this article about?

Optimisation projects often fail because the focus is placed unilaterally on the design of improved processes and the people involved are not given sufficient consideration. Conversely, the success of change or transformation projects depends to a large extent on the process-related framework conditions allowing or favouring the desired change in the best possible way.

Process analysis is an important tool for uncovering, taking into account or optimising these framework conditions. This article describes the situations in which it is used, how it actually works and what needs to be taken into account.

Change projects and their influence on organisational processes

It is no longer a secret that continuous improvement and further development are necessary in order to remain competitive as an organisation. Accordingly, change projects take place at various levels. An important tool for understanding and visualising existing process-related framework conditions is process analysis.

Depending on the objective and context - some possible scenarios are described in the following sections - the process analysis provides differentiated findings that serve organisations as a valuable basis for making decisions on necessary measures or adjustments to the overall change project.

1) Targeted increase in efficiency in existing structures

Changing process results, a high rework rate due to poor quality, duplication of work or dissatisfaction among process participants can be signs of a necessary change. The process analysis helps to identify the (intersecting) points or process steps where changes need to be made in order to achieve an increase in efficiency.

2) Optimisation following comprehensive organisational changes

After a major organisational change, new challenges in collaboration often arise. Individual processes or responsibilities may not have been adapted in the course of the change and, in cases of doubt, may even contradict the objective of the overarching change project. It is not only the processes that were directly affected by the change that need to be considered for adaptation or improvement. Adjacent or systemically affected processes are also taken into account and analysed. The process analysis provides clues as to which processes have an influence on the state to be changed.

3) Structure-based reorganisation

If the target structure of the reorganisation has already been defined, the process analysis reveals possible procedural obstacles or risk factors that could cause a change to fail. This allows a special focus to be placed on the most critically assessed processes and process-related framework conditions to be adapted in line with the change. With the help of the process analysis, the basic orientation of the processes is compared with the target image, while at the same time inevitable mergers of existing processes, newly emerging interfaces and associated risks are identified.

4) Value stream-based reorganisation

If a reorganisation is aligned with the value stream, the organisational structure adapts to the process organisation, i.e. the structure follows and supports the process. However, this approach - which is often more time-consuming than structure-based reorganisation - is often more sustainable and targeted. As a basis for planning the reorganisation, the value stream of an organisation can be identified using process analysis. In addition to all value-adding business processes, the necessary non-value-adding activities are also taken into account and integrated into the strategic orientation.

What is process analysis and what processes are we talking about?

The process analysis serves to understand the existing situation. In concrete terms, this means breaking down processes into their individual parts in order to achieve transparency for the process:

What exactly do the individual process steps look like?
Who is responsible?
How does one process step interact with the next?
How are interfaces, input and output specifically defined?
How are the process steps supported by IT and is this support consistent?
Is the process designed end-to-end and orientated towards the customer?

Once answers to these questions have been found, in many cases this already provides an indication of the potential for optimisation. Depending on the objective of the change project, processes should be considered at the appropriate level. If changes are taking place at an operational level, processes are analysed at the process level (formulation of specific workflows).

If an improvement is sought at the organisational level, it makes sense to analyse the process structure levels and thus the interdependencies of different processes (control processes, core processes, support processes).

The four steps of a process analysis
What are the key elements of the process analysis?

Regardless of which level is to be analysed: A process analysis involves going through four steps, which are described in more detail in the diagram below.

The process analysis provides an insight into which obstacles need to be overcome in order to achieve the target image and what should be paid particular attention to in the course of the change project. At the operational level, the measures focus on adding specific process steps to workflows, defining responsibilities more clearly or harmonising input and output (e.g. through interface discussions or role definitions).

If the analysis identifies major challenges, it may be necessary to completely redesign a process. It is advisable to set test points in order to analyse effectiveness and applicability. As a final option, but one that cannot be ruled out, the effectiveness of the entire change project is analysed again and adjusted if necessary.

What to look out for?

As with all change projects, it is essential to involve the employees who are directly involved in the process analysis. Thanks to the expertise and wealth of experience of those directly involved in the processes, it is possible to uncover the actual obstacles and challenges and identify potential that will have a lasting impact on the organisation.

The larger the organisation, the higher the process level and the more extensive the change, the more people need to be involved in preparing the process analysis. If personnel or expertise is saved in the preparation process, this has a direct impact on the quality of the result and therefore the effectiveness of the process analysis.

Why is process analysis becoming increasingly relevant?

If we take a look at medium-sized and large organisations, we often see complex and historically evolved structures. Driven by globalisation and digitalisation, there is often not enough time to regularly review processes, structures and roles or adapt them to new requirements.

This is compounded by ever-increasing automation. Systemic process steps, i.e. invisible processes that take place without human influence or personal assignment, make traceability more difficult. Although the automation of certain process steps can reduce sources of error, the increase in information flows requires new skills from employees, which must not be ignored. Here, process tools such as process mining help to automatically read out data-based processes in order to obtain an objective basis for optimisation or even suggestions for improvement.

The general orientation of organisations has also changed. While the market was strongly product-driven in the days of Taylorism, it is now focussed primarily on the customer. Organisations have to face unknown challenges: This means drastically shortening development loops in order to remain responsive and actually setting up processes in a customer-centred way: Why does this process exist, does it pay off in terms of customer benefit and does it fulfil its purpose?

Fazit

The process analysis enables transparency and understanding of activities, responsibilities and interfaces. It creates awareness of the potential for optimisation as well as the structural adjustment requirements of an organisation. Since many human and subconscious processes take place in larger change projects, process analysis can be used to establish a factuality of the status and processes that can be discussed objectively and in a solution-orientated manner. However, as with any change, it takes sensitivity to recognise what else affects those involved in the process on a very individual level in addition to the process analysis. Because at the centre of every change is always the person who makes success possible.

This article appeared in the 09 Winter 2021 issue of the trade journal Changement!

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Estimated reading time 10 minWhat is this article about?