Exploring what a business process entails, and some of the challenges within the waste and recycling sector.
What’s a “Business Process”?
A Business Process – A set of tasks & activities in a sequence.
A business process or business method is a collection of related, structured activities or tasks that produce a specific service or product (serve a particular goal) for a particular customer or customers. It may often be visualised as a flowchart of a sequence of activities with interleaving decision points, or as a process matrix of a sequence of activities with relevance rules based on data in the process. A business process can be any grouped set of operations, such as scheduling a range of jobs, an accounting transaction, or a banking procedure.
Also, what radically improves speed, efficiency, accuracy and information is the use of master data. This is one set of data used in one system, not interfaced or re-entered anywhere, so for example, when a weighbridge transaction is completed the job uses pricing master data which is then paid or charged from that data – the weight confirms the price, the purchase or sales order raised, the journals posted automatically to the correct nominal code. (That same price is used in the quote at the start of the end to end process, one set of data, one software solution). That’s the difference in true INTEGRATION. No one-directional interfaces, no different accounting software, and certainly no rekeying of information.
Why use a Business Process?
Avoid Siloes: A business process begins with a mission objective and ends with achievement of the business objective. Process-oriented organisations break down the barriers of structural departments and try to avoid functional silos. The analysis of business processes typically includes the mapping of processes and sub-processes down to activity/task level.
Add Value & Increase Efficiency: Business processes are designed to add value for the customer and should not include unnecessary activities. The outcome of a well-designed business process is increased effectiveness (value for the customer) and increased efficiency (less use of resources).
Business Process Represented in Workflow: Business Processes can be modelled through numerous methods and techniques. For instance, the Business Process Modelling Notation is a Business Process Modelling technique that can be used for drawing business processes in a workflow.
Labour Division for Productivity: Output can be increased through the use of labour division. By dividing work into a set of simple tasks performed by specialised workers, productivity can increase.
Aid Customer Delivery: Some processes focus on the organisation’s external customers, either to produce and provide a service, others or to aid the effective management of the business to help costumer delivery.
What’s the “Scope” of the project?
The scope of the project – The “end to end” process and includes anything that the business deems important.
When we talk about scope, we mean that it’s what the customer wants, or needs to provide a range of integrated benefits, to relieve the challenges and pains of their existing software applications.
The scope of the project is all the business processes put together in an end-to-end process, including things like hundreds of reports, triggers, alerts and vast improvements in administration, time saving and accuracy. The benefit for you is that all tasks, activities and data are in one place, consolidated, quick and correct. In essence, it’s the target objectives of the project, what you want the software to do.
How we can help
For ISB Global we have the unique proposition of being able to cover the entire “end to end” process – so that’s the scope for us. This covers everything a business, in our specialist industry vertical in waste logistics and recycling materials, might do. Mobile quotes, planning vehicles, jobs and materials movements and raising invoices to pay and charge suppliers and customers, the accounting, banking and management information from all these activities – or processes.
To help companies improve their business processes we sell Waste & Recycling One, an integrated suite of waste logistics and recycling materials applications, across the whole waste and recycling sector, broking, logistics and reprocessing companies.
In Waste & Recycling One we can manage an entire range of different process, “out of the box” or which have been “preconfigured” i.e. they exist already. So, from first contact with a customer, like generating a lead, to the last, say, a banking transaction confirming a payment is received, all stages can be managed in the one software solution. Waste & Recycling One utilises one set of data, hence the name, Waste & Recycling One for SAP Business One. We call this the “end-to-end process”.
How is this managed in the project?
The project is carefully delivered in several stages, starting with a “Blueprint” document that details the entire end-to-end process, which may fall in and out of scope. If there are any changes, what are the financial, operation, strategic and technical returns and most importantly, what is going to be delivered in consulting services for the customer’s investment.
What’s delivered?
The end-to-end process is carefully migrated on to SAP Business One, Waste and Recycling One taking into consideration what else might be required, through discussions before the project starts and paid-for changes that are uncovered in the project and additions we can deliver free of charge.
How do you gauge success?
Success is gauged by the performance of the new processes, the Financial, Operational, Strategic and Technical returns.
Therefore, we deliver an increase in your profit and increase the speed of operations by being more accurate through the entire management of the end-to-end process. We also aim to deliver a platform in which your business can grow (software shouldn’t hinder growth, it should help businesses in every way).
Want to know more?
We have a number of clients in the UK, Europe, North and Central America. We state that we can improve business process, on average between 20-80%, this has been documented and can be proven.
If you think we might be able to help your company, we would love the opportunity to speak in more depth and show you around the mobile, operations and accounting software we have.
Contact us, or for more information about our software solution, see our Waste and Recycling One page or our read our Why use integrated cloud software platforms article.
