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Business Process Modeling & Analysis

Uncover opportunities for innovation and continuous improvement

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Business process (BP) modeling enables the visualization of business processes and all the associated data to shine a light on areas ripe for innovation and/or improvement. Every company must understand its business processes, particularly those in industries in which quality, regulatory, health, safety or environmental standards are serious considerations. Operational insights also enable organizations to be agile and responsive to changes in markets and customer demands. By understanding how your company operates today, you can make better decisions tomorrow.

What Is Business Process Modeling?

BP modeling is part of business process management and/or business process improvement initiatives to document how an organization works, including management, operational and supporting processes. Through various charts and diagrams, it provides a graphical representation of business elements and how they interact. BP modeling is usually performed by a team of business analysts with expertise in the discipline and subject-matter experts with specialized knowledge of the processes being modeled. It’s often used to document requirements for an IT project and is also involved in change management.

Why Is Business Process Modeling Important?

BP modeling enables an organization to model, document, manage and communicate its business processes, providing a clear picture of workflows, inputs and outputs with the aim of aligning people, processes, data, technologies and applications to meet organizational strategy. BP modeling and analysis shows process flows, system interactions and organizational hierarchies to identity areas for improvement as well as practices susceptible to the greatest security, compliance or other risks so controls and audits can be implemented to mitigate exposures. Companies that maintain accurate business process models are well positioned to analyze and optimize end-to-end process threads and value streams, such as lead to cash, to enhance the customer experience or maximize employee retention.

Common Business Process Modeling Use Cases

Not everyone likes change, but it is beneficial to routinely look at process models to uncover opportunities as well as potential problems. Today’s complex, fast-paced business environment really requires BP modeling and analysis for:

Digital Transformation

Explore models to understand information assets within a business context to identify digital transformation opportunities.

Regulatory Compliance

Document and share regulatory processes, plus streamline controls and audits, to demonstrate compliance and understand how changes could impact compliance efforts.

Data Governance

Understand where data is and how it’s used in various processes to drive data opportunities while limiting risks to avoid regulatory and compliance gaffes.

Process Improvements

Identify where and how information is used throughout the enterprise and use these views to determine gaps, inefficiencies and redundancies for process improvements.

Mergers & Acquisitions

Document processes with factual models to smooth post M&A change management by aligning common processes, identifying best practices, consolidating operations and blending teams.

Knowledge Retention

Capture information and process knowledge from key individuals and publish it for key functional areas, ensuring continuity if individuals leave those roles.

Standard Operating Procedures

Convert hard-copy process documents and SOPs into digital, web-based files that are easy to maintain for employee access to and awareness of corporate policies, procedures and controls.

Enterprise Technology Deployments

Help enterprise software application deployments, such as ERP systems, run more smoothly with insights into the associated processes, potential changes and improvements.`

Benefits of Business Process Modeling

With a business process modeling and analysis platform, you can literally map out how your organization works. Visualize value streams, SOPs, RACI matrices and the data elements involved in the processes and interactions that occur across systems, procedures and organizational hierarchies for insights about how to optimize operations and overall performance. Create a culture that drives continuous improvement so you can realize these benefits:

  • Paint a clear picture of workflows, inputs and outputs
  • Gain visibility and context
  • Adopt centralized, uniform processes
  • Clarify roles and responsibilities
  • Analyze value chains
  • Enhance customer journeys
  • Streamline transactions
  • Reduce errors, bottlenecks and inefficiencies
  • Identify how to introduce more process automation
  • Improve risk management, corporate governance and data governance
  • Unlock and retain knowledge
  • Increase productivity, profitability and employee retention

Why erwin for Business Process Optimization?

Does your organization have a complete understanding of its processes? Are employees aware of and accountable for carrying them out? If you’ve really got a clear view of all your system interactions, business processes and organizational hierarchies, then you don’t need us. But if you’d like to improve alignment, decision-making and ultimately top-to-bottom governance, then you need erwin Evolve. Clearly document, define, map and analyze workflows and build models to uncover insights for greater potential and profits not liabilities and losses. We’ll help you capture, understand and articulate opportunities, challenges and risks to better manage complexity.

Centralized Repository

The hallmark of erwin Evolve is its reliable, scalable central repository for developing and capturing multiple BP artifacts for a central source of facts to share with teams, business units and senior leaders.

Role-Based Visibility

Give different stakeholders access to the specific information they need through tailored, role-based views from the central repository.

Impact Analysis

Explore BP model elements, links and dependencies to manage change with quick and easy impact analysis through heatmaps, reports, charts and graphs.

Enterprise Collaboration

Enhance cross-functional and enterprise collaboration to uncover critical insights for faster, more informed decision-making to drive successful business outcomes.

Business & IT Interoperability

Break down organizational silos and harmonize data across operational processes, applications and models.

Enterprise Architecture Functionality

Because erwin Evolve is also an enterprise architecture tool, you can link processes with the applications and technologies supporting them, the organizations and roles responsible for them, the locations, and the underlying data to make impact analysis all the more valuable.

Consulting Services

Our strategic consultants, business process engineers and trainers will apply their deep domain expertise, built on tested methodologies and industry best practices, to assess your current operations and help you plan and implement the necessary changes and/or improvements.

erwin Evolve with both business process modeling and enterprise architecture is integrated with other components of the erwin EDGE portfolio. Combined with data modeling, data catalog and data literacy capabilities, the data from all your business, technical and data architectures can be governed and optimized.

Success starts with process. Use business process modeling and analysis software to see what’s really under your organization’s hood and accelerate improvements.

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Helpful Resources

White Paper

Business Process Modeling: Tame Your Organization’s Complexity and Unleash Its Potential and Profits

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