Enterprise Architecture and Business Process Management
What is Enterprise Architecture?
Enterprise Architecture (EA) provides a common framework and language for executives and stakeholders to understand and communicate how a system is structured to meet strategic goals and manage business processes. EA subject-matter experts (SMEs) work with executives to construct a diagram of the organization’s current Information Systems architecture. Using this diagram, experts can analyze and plan the future IS landscape and share recommendations with executives. This process empowers executives to implement policies that will enhance and improve the IS infrastructure to more effectively support the enterprise.
What are the benefits of EA?
Enterprise Architecture provides a standardized way to create enterprise transformation within an organization. By improving executives’ ability to see Key Performance Indicators based on Business Processes, they can align Infrastructure Planning with the Enterprise’s Resources, Capabilities, and Value increasing ROI for Information Systems. We approach this process through our own custom developed methodology above, based on TOGAF, TBM, and NIST Standards and best practices.
What is Business Process Management?
BPM is Business Process Management. When companies want to transform a portion of their business, they look to the various aspects of their business to see what is working effectively: their employees, their various projects, and the returns on investment from operations. One crucial thing for all companies to be proactive and successful, is that the ability to look at the processes they have for making their business run. A company must assess its current state (“As-Is”) before making any changes that will affect their future state (“To-Be”).
Management is able to justify and measure the effects of decisions and actions through a holistic view of these processes by using business process modeling. Business Process Modelling allows them to formalize and understand their business process flows. This is done using several different graphing methods, which include UML Diagrams, Flowcharts, and other Business process modeling techniques. Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN) provides a visual representation of how departments and employees get their work done. By leveraging BPMN, management uses a common language to communicate and plan for organizational change across their various departments.
What are the Benefits of BPM
Efficiency – Once processes align with company objectives, the company becomes more profitable and competitive. There is never one way to make great improvements to business processes, but once those changes are made, it will lead to increased productivity, better outputs, higher profits.
Agility – Companies that are inflexible in their practices are at risk at getting left behind in innovation. Being open to introspection and seek out change to one’s business processes will allow for faster adjustment to cultural innovation and change that has become norm in business.
Standardization – Within a company, it is likely that many departments do the same work but take a very different approach in the development. By streamlining the process of work products, it’ll ensure that all employees are using the same and efficient method to do your work.
Transparency – By having the processes of your business defined, it will allow for communication of goals and strategy. It will also provide for greater accountability of those who own parts of a process.
Metrics – When an operation is supporting the company mission, the company must first be aware of that success before they allocate resources. Building in metrics into existing processes can provide management with a justification for further investment.
Why Choose Red Sun
Red Sun has the offerings to conduct Business Process Modeling for your business. We first conduct requirements gathering interviews to identify the “As-Is” state of your processes. We then conduct interviews with your stakeholders, department heads, and business analysts to the identify the product or workflow you would like to assess. We will take that raw information and turn those data points into the steps in a workflow chart, using BPMN. We will conduct routine check-ins with your steering committee to gauge what needs to be delved into more and what should not be addressed. By creating these workflows, we will be able to see every part of your business processes and see where things work effectively and target areas of improvement. Formalizing the processes also provides various business metrics helping to drive more efficient and productive business processes. Ultimately our goal is to help your business to streamline its processes by shining a light on your highest value processes and create changes to give you the best return on investment.