BPM, Six Sigma and Beyond

These days, most organizations have an eye turned toward reducing costs and maximizing efficiency. Some of them turn to a Business Process Management approach, while others exclusively utilize Six Sigma to optimize their processes. However, using one approach exclusively may limit a company’s growth and potential. Integrating both methodologies can bring about improved performance.

BPM Lifecycle: DMEMO

BPM phases were created to be iterative in order to develop alongside of business processes and to facilitate continuous change in businesses, based on the understanding that organizations are constantly adapting.

Design – The design phase is about understanding the process in place, which requires an organization to analyze its processes clearly and honestly before developing improvements. Design can include anything from fundamental usability, to advanced rule systems and clean user interfaces, but it only works if the analysis is clear and the suggested improvements are well-founded.

Model – Designs, by nature, can be difficult to examine. They’re conceptual elements, and using your mind’s eye to troubleshoot and improve different scenarios can get overwhelming very quickly. That’s why modeling is so important. This phase is about testing the design in various scenarios and what-if situations to measure the effects of certain factors and changes.

Execute – This phase is the culmination of all the design and modeling work the business has completed. Here, the diligence demonstrated in analyzing and problem solving the processes gets put to the test. Executing means deploying the solutions to a live production environment.

Monitor – In this phase, an organization measures key process flows like time, effort and cost, and it analyzes how close the initial design has come to creating an optimized process.

Optimize – Using the data collected during the monitor phase, a business can pinpoint whatever inefficiencies remain in the process. Removing errors and wastes can help an organization improve the overall process and make it as efficient as possible.

Six Sigma’s DMAIC

At first glance, the Six Sigma methodology appears linear, but like the BPM Lifecycle, it’s actually iteratively executed. The phases are designed to optimize businesses by promoting stabilization in their processes and consistency in their outputs.

Define – Progress is difficult if all parties involved don’t have a singular goal. In the define phase, everyone on the process improvement team agrees on the problem, its impact to the business and the areas of improvement in the current process.

Measure – Once the problem has been defined, the next task is to identify the source of the issue. The problem can usually be pinpointed by understanding the abilities and limitations of whatever processes are currently in place.

Analyze – Identifying, testing and verifying root causes of problems uncovered in the first two phases need to be done prior to discussing possible solutions.

Improve – Proposed solutions need to be tested and validated. If a solution doesn’t resolve the issue, reduce costs and improve the process, then further strategy is required. However, if the solution does prove effective, it should be piloted and implemented.

Control – The control phase is about optimizing the solution and making sure no problems arise or reoccur based on its implementation.

Integrating the Approaches

Some organizations have designed new processes that combine elements of the BPM and Six Sigma methodologies. Both BPM and Six Sigma can be successfully married, as long as an organization allows each of them to operate naturally. For example, a business can use Six Sigma to improve a process upfront, after which it can implement BPM to automate and manage the new process down the line.

Six Sigma is designed to make improvements to business processes, while BPM focuses on maintaining those improvements into the future.