Measuring Business Processes

Often the wrong people are making these decisions, they aren't bad people but they should rely on those who work with Technology and understand the implications of making the wrong choices. One of the best ways to prevent the wrong people from making I.T. decisions is to make sure all business processes are well documented and measured (weighted). Why you ask?

* If all subject matter experts in your business were to document their business processes, you would know exactly what each staff person has to do each and everyday to get the job done. * You then have a foundation to measure the right software applications for your business * These business processes can now be measured and weighted to help make I.T. decisions for your organization

Those are just few but you should be getting the idea.

There are many ways of handling the task of measuring business processes but I'll try to keep it simple for you. There are two things I would recommend:

1. Build a Database (MySQL or SQL) to store your business processes & the weighting 2. Build Excel Worksheets to enter & pull these processes and weights from the Database

Years ago I had a couple of really sharp guys working for me, they built a nifty application (system) for us to measure our business processes against features in software applications. We wanted to have a snapshot of how each application matched up against each other, the problem is we didn't have an easy way to see all our requirements on one page. We also didn't know which processes were more important than others.

The first step is to pull your key subject matter experts together, get all business processes documented for each role in the organization. This ensured you knew what tasks had to be completed each and everyday to do business. Depending on your business this can be an easy job or a labour intensive one. I highly recommend this gets done regardless of how hard or how long it takes, because it makes future upgrades and or the decision to change a core application in your organization much easier.

Once you have your business processes documented you have something to work with when deciding what software or ERP systems implement, this job takes time but it's well worth it. Enter these processes into your database, then build spreadsheets to pull that data out for review.

In your database you want to also store a measurement we'll call weighting for this example. Why? When you sitdown and have software demonstrated you can ask key questions, does this software do this and that from your database. Afterall, you are asking directly from how you do business (your documented business processes). You now want to be able to give that process a score or measurement when sitting in these demonstrations. Your scale might look like this:

1 - Does it well and is easy to use

3 - Does it but not well - not easy to figure out or use

5 - May need to be modified

9 - Not sure - need more information

0 - Doesn't do it at all

In your spreadsheet you would use the above scale to measure the software you are looking at on a business process by business process basis. Sounds tedious doesn't it? It is when setting things up the first time, after that it gets much easier because you don't need to build it again.

This is just one way of measuring your business process against software, you could and should group your business processes by importance as well. That way you know exactly what you MUST have and what the NICE to have's would be.

I hope that helps, feel free to contact me if you have questions or wish to go through this process for your business.

I would love your feedback, what do you think and do you have a better way?

Owning a Successful Toning Tables Exercise Business Is Rewarding and Easy

Do you remember way back, sometime in the 80's finding a place to exercise that made the whole thing easy? The inches fell off. Every week when you got measured you lost more weight. The sizes just melted away. You felt like a million dollars with all your new found energy. You never looked better. Your husband didn't even complain about spending the money. The results came so fast the system was addictive.

Traditional exercisers scoffed at the notion that exercise results could come so fast and without pain. The old saying "no pain no gain" was tossed aside in the face of the truth of thousands of women who achieved incredible success and loved to tell their friends about their fantastic exercise system.

This place was totally relaxing. Music played softly in the background. Every exercise table had curtains drawn around it for the ultimate in privacy. You could wear whatever was comfortable for you. Some women wore jeans and a T-shirt, while others wore their work attire for the day. You could come in to exercise after work feeling stressed and frazzled and an hour later feel so rejuvenated, you felt like you had a massage. The results you achieved were undeniable. Your skin no longer sagged in your underarms, your thighs lost their bulges, your legs became shapely again. Your face is sculpted, your abdomen flat. Gee, when you look in the mirror, if you didn't know better, you would think you lost 10 years!

Who can argue with results? When someone talks about how something should or should not work, it's just conversation. However, when actual results come pouring in by the thousands, you have to pay attention to it. It goes from being a "claim" to being a "fact".

The basis of effective exercise stretches muscles, making them more elastic and flexible and by nature stronger. The tighter the skin clings to the bone framework, the more toned and streamlined the physique appears. Physical Therapy is based on using a repetitive series of particular range of motion movements to achieve the desired goal whether that is pain reduction, rebuilding a torn muscle or restoring balance.

The only effective exercise system in the world is the one you will actually use. It doesn't matter if you have a membership at the most prestigious club, if you do not go there and exercise. Following an exercise instructor on TV is perfectly fine, if you can do what the instructor is showing you how to move.