Applying Lean, Six Sigma, BPM, and SOA to ... - IBM Redbooks

1 Front coverApplying lean , Six sigma , BPM, and SOA to drive business ResultsHans SkalleBill HahnGain a clear understanding of the benefits of BPM and SOA technologiesLearn how BPM and SOA enable lean and Six SigmaLearn what others are doing to get started now Redguidesfor business Leaders Copyright IBM Corp. 2013. All rights overviewLean Six sigma unites tools and techniques from lean and Six sigma methodologies to produce real results . It uncovers process waste, reduces non-value adding activity, and increases organizational capability. The benefits might even be felt in IT where waste is being removed from application development processes, significantly reducing costs and freeing resources and budgets for needed investments and backlogged projects.

2 business process management (BPM) technologies and service-oriented architectures (SOAs) combine with lean Six sigma to accelerate improvements and results . At the same time, they increase organizational agility and technology-enabled responsiveness. Early adopters who have worked their way past cultural and organizational barriers are seeing impressive performance and financial results such as the following examples: Improved responsiveness to market challenges, opportunities, and changes in regulatory requirements through more tightly coupled yet more flexible business and technical architectures Improved ability to innovate and achieve strategic differentiation by driving change into the market and tuning processes to meet the specific needs of key market and customer segments Reduced process costs through automation and an improved ability to monitor, detect, and respond to problems and events by using real-time data, automated alerts.

3 And planned escalation Lower technical implementation costs through shared services and higher levels of component reuse; changing and improving processes becomes easier and more cost effective Lower analysis costs through collaborative online process modeling tools, access to real-time process data, and advanced process simulation capabilitiesAs the world moves faster, the ability to change becomes a key differentiator. Rapid, technology-driven process improvement and transformation become critical to success and to survival. The rewards can be great, especially for companies that take action now to bring these disciplines, techniques, and technologies together.

4 This IBM Redguide publication is intended to help companies that are leaders in their markets or are looking for new ways to differentiate themselves from their competitors. This edition describes the key BPM, SOA, and lean Six sigma components, summarizes the linkages between them, and highlights recent results that leading firms have achieved. This 2 Applying lean , Six sigma , BPM, and SOA to drive business Resultsguide outlines the think big, start now steps that are needed to move your own initiative forward. This guide also suggests ways to successfully avoid some of the barriers that have hampered others on their lean or lean Six sigma or BPM conceptsLean, Six sigma , and today s BPM have much in common.

5 Each of these improvement methodologies uses iterative techniques to deliver financial and performance benefits through better managed and optimized processes. By combining key concepts from lean , Six sigma or lean Six sigma with the capabilities of BPM, a company can ensure that its people are focused on the most meaningful work that adds value. Such BPM capabilities include process modeling and analysis, rules-driven automation and decision-making, automated workflow, and executive dashboards that deliver real-time performance metrics to process consumers. SOAs add increased flexibility so that processes can be quickly assembled from reusable building blocks of technical functions.

6 Companies that successfully combine lean Six sigma , BPM, and SOA initiatives will realize a competitive fully understand the linkages between BPM, SOA, and lean Six sigma , and to fully realize the benefits of these linkages, it is important to establish definitions and highlight key concepts for each process managementAt the highest level, BPM is a management discipline and way of thinking that focuses on the following areas: Aligning internal and external business process performance and results with the core competencies, strategic objectives, and business goals of the organization Understanding and documenting business processes so that they can be consistently run Measuring, monitoring, and controlling process performance, including key inputs, outputs, and early warning event triggers Actively designing and improving business processes to meet or exceed the expectations of customers while achieving organizational goals, such as cost, revenue.

7 And cycle timeBPM enables companies to shift their focus from cumbersome hierarchical structures to flexible and efficient horizontal value streams that capture and retain customers in the face of increasing competition and marketplace change. Within the BPM discipline, business Lessons learned: At any company, bringing together lean , Six sigma , BPM, and SOA changes the nature of the business and IT partnership. Each organization plays a larger role in what was the domain of the other. For example, enabling process owners to change business rules directly, and therefore the business process itself, on their own with minimal IT involvement, requires technical capability and trust.

8 For lean Six sigma practitioners, it often means embracing the use of technology throughout the improvement and design cycle, rather than keeping it at arm s length as so many companies do. The rate of transformation is influenced by culture, skills, past experiences, organizational structure, strength of leadership, and timing. The transformation rate is also influenced by external factors, such as the rate of improvement of the nearest competitors, changing customer expectations and the dynamic nature of the industry itself. The result of this shift, however, is a more agile, efficient, and competitive organization.

9 Studies are showing that the effort is worth it. 3processes are normally considered corporate assets that are the source of differentiation and a value to customers and shareholders. Viewing processes as assets is an important perspective. Those people who lack this perspective often spend unnecessary time chasing and dealing with process-related problems. Time that is spent on reacting to and resolving problems (fire fighting) limits the time that is available to focus on growth and innovation. It also affects customer satisfaction, retention, and wallet share. A more disciplined approach, especially one that takes advantage of BPM technology, is proving to be worth the role of technology, then and nowFor years, technology-enabled BPM referred to application customization and the creation of large, sophisticated systems that were the source of competitive advantage and business stability.

10 Companies that invested in these systems often came to dominate their time, however, business process logic became more deeply embedded in these customized applications. It was locked away in millions of lines of often undocumented code and proprietary data structures that were slow, risky, and expensive to change. To make matters worse, as change became more difficult, the frequently chosen alternative was to duplicate the needed functionality, which meant creating even more specialized code. System users would be forced to create manual workarounds, often retyping the same data into multiple applications with checks and rechecks for errors.