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What Is the Relationship Between a Business Process Management (BPM) System and Six Sigma?

Posted by Marbenz Antonio on April 6, 2022

Every organization/company has a set of policies, practices, procedures, and processes that they follow. They are mostly utilized in the development, deployment, and execution of strategies. The purpose of the whole business process is to generate performance data, which is subsequently used by executives to make decisions. It gets more difficult to manage a firm and its personnel as it grows. Organizations may opt to deploy a typical Business Process Management (BPM) solution to handle this issue.

What is Business Process Management and What’s its use?

BPM is a set of techniques for optimizing and enhancing operational processes. It aids companies in achieving the maximum levels of efficiency in terms of both time and money. For a long time, BPM’s modular structure has been the guiding philosophy for a successful firm. Frederick Winslow Taylor (Father of Scientific Management) developed the four scientific management concepts in 1911. They go like this:

• “Rule of thumb” should be used instead of working. Study work using the scientific approach to identify the most effective technique to complete certain tasks.
• Rather than assigning people to any task, match them to occupations based on their capabilities and motivation for optimal efficiency.
• Worker performance is monitored, and directions and supervision are given.
• Distribute tasks among managers and employees so that supervisors can focus on planning and training.

According to Workflow Management Coalition,

“Business process management (BPM) is a discipline involving any combination of modeling, automation, execution, control, measurement, and optimization of business activity flows, in support of enterprise goals, spanning systems, employees, customers, and partners within and beyond the enterprise boundaries.”

The Association of Business Process Management Professionals defines BPM as,

“A disciplined approach to identify, design, execute, document, measure, monitor, and control both automated and non-automated business processes to achieve consistent, targeted results aligned with an organization’s strategic goals. BPM involves the deliberate, collaborative, and increasingly technology-aided definition, improvement, innovation, and management of end-to-end business processes that drive business results, create value, and enable an organization to meet its business objectives with more agility.”

BPM can be interpreted in a variety of ways. However, the definition only leads to one conclusion. Any approach used to manage a company’s business processes is referred to as BPM.

Business Process Management System

In mid-to-large enterprises, a Business Process Management System is employed. Through a variety of workflow tools, the system aids in the automation of corporate operations.

Expense reporting, PTO requests, employee onboarding, invoicing, account management, compliance management, loan origination, CRM, project management, and more are examples of data that may be organized, analyzed, or enhanced utilizing the lifecycle process.

Rather than delivering one-time remedies, the system prefers to focus on long-term analysis and development.

A BPM system offers the following to provide pointers:

• Allows for the establishment of complicated businesses that span several divisions and locations.
• Processes are monitored and maintained to guarantee optimal performance.
• Change current procedures to make them more flexible.

Business Process Management and Six Sigma

Six Sigma is a process management methodology, similar to BPM, that aims to improve process quality by eliminating errors and defects. In many organizations, success is measured by examining the Six Sigma implementation and calculating the return on investment. However, there may be certain reports in the sheets that have saving mistakes. This occurs when CEOs are unable to quantify a specific sum since their savings are stored in silos. This does not have a significant influence on the enterprise level, but it does have an impact.

This is where BPM and Six Sigma come together to form a unique framework that allows executives to quickly address any flaw.

Business Process Management and Six Sigma Offers

In today’s world, the Six Sigma technique is a driving force that may affect BPM. As a result, BPM may be thought of as a more comprehensive strategy, whereas Six Sigma offers tools and processes. Six Sigma aids project execution by demonstrating how measurements and data should be analyzed and conclusions are drawn.

Two important components underpin this combined BPM and Six Sigma approach:

• Boost the efficiency and speed of your company processes.
• Customers will be wowed by your timeliness and quality.

When BPM is used in conjunction with Six Sigma, favorable results are achieved in the following areas:

• Providing a Framework — The combination of BPM with Six Sigma helps in the discovery of data that promotes the elimination of non-value-added activities. It demonstrates how it may be addressed by a well-defined action or a series of phases.
• Weakness Coverage – Each of the processes, BPM and Six Sigma, has its own set of flaws. Combining them eliminates those flaws, giving you a complete, reliable, and productive approach to operational excellence.
• High-Profit Margin — It is well recognized that employing either BPM or Six Sigma results in a greater return on investment. Imagine the return on investment if these two companies joined!

End Thoughts

The BPM can model and examine inputs, outputs, and performance to understand processes and workflow. It has its times when it may fall off, but with Six Sigma’s rigorous approach to data gathering and analysis, one can fill in the gaps. Both processes are intertwined, with one monitoring process improvements and the other providing tools to automate and integrate those improvements across the enterprise.

Here at CourseMonster, we know how hard it may be to find the right time and funds for training. We provide effective training programs that enable you to select the training option that best meets the demands of your company.

For more information, please get in touch with one of our course advisers today or contact us at training@coursemonster.com