Over the last four years, the need for end-to-end processes has become pervasive. In fact, it’s been the number one priority in BPM challenges and priorities since 2018. To further emphasize the drive to end-to-end, our need to holistically view how work gets accomplished was reinforced by the events of 2020. And the pre-built, end-to-end processes in technologies like ERPs continue to ensure end-to-end process work remains a top priority for BPM teams.
How We Know It’s End-to-End
End-to-end processes, value chains, and cross-functional processes are all common names that organizations use for the same concept—connecting process steps across functional boundaries that are focused on the same end goal. Regardless of the term you use, end-to-end processes have four key traits:
- Use and outside-in perspective
- Encompass an entire value chain
- Focus on customer value
- Categorize processes based on their value to the organization
Benefits of End-to-End Processes
An end-to-end process mindset is often necessary to achieve organizational goals because they are rarely functional in nature. They are large-scale issues around agility, customer-centricity, or entering a new market. Such goals rely on understanding how the organization creates value and aligns the purpose of its processes.
Though we conceptually understand their value, there are tangible benefits organizations can derive from adopting end-to-end processes.
- Breaks Silos—the move from functional siloes puts the focus on a shared purpose, improves handoffs between teams, and helps reduce the blame game between functions.
- Customer Focus—because end-to-ends require outside-in thinking, organizations focus on the value created for the end-user or customer, improving their experience.
- Holistic Management—makes connections between a process and the upstream and downstream processes. Which help the organization focus on the outcome or end-goal of the processes not just the efficiency of individual components, ensures changes made to optimize a function or process do not inadvertently harm another function or process.
- Support Digital Work—most digital technologies and systems have a process foundation which spans different functions. Not only do many technologies come with pre-built end-to-ends, establishing end-to-end processes help organizations can optimize its business processes, which in turn helps the organization automate processes to improve customer experiences, costs, and efficiency.
Where Teams Struggle with End-to-End Processes
But if the ongoing prioritization and questions about end-to-end are any evidence, going end-to-end isn’t easy and organizations tend to struggle with a few key impediments.
- Where to start? How to winnow down the sheer number of potential end-to-end processes to something that is manageable.
- What’s in scope? Where should each end-to-end process begin and end.
- How do we govern and measure? Given the cross-functional nature of end-to-end its difficult to identify a singular person to provide oversight or pinpoint measures of vale for the entire value stream.
While some of these challenges are more complex than others, to get started organizations can reap benefits by combing selection criteria to prioritize their efforts and building on the work of others to save time and help scope their end-to-end processes.
Start with a Roadmap
Try not to boil the ocean. Instead, organizations should start with a handful of end-to-end process that will provide the most value. For example, CMI uses a combination of steering committee (decision makers) with a process matrix that assigns a score for each potential process, based on criteria to prioritize, and create an annual roadmap for the development of their end-to-end processes.
Common selection criteria include:
- Strategic Alignment—the extent to which the potential process is directly linked to a strategic objective.
- Process Complexity—the degree of complexity involved in the process and potential process improvements. This can include the number of functions, systems, and roles involved in the process or the complexity of business rules and degree of decisions that depend on creative, cognitive, or social interactions.
- Potential Impact—the value of the process to improve the customer experience, support digital efforts, or help achieve the organization’s mission.
That said many organizations start with their core processes (related to the delivery of goods and services to clients) because that’s where they will derive the most immediate value. The caveat to that is if the organization needs to prioritize enabling processes (which provide reusable business resources) for broader reasons such as the development of a shared services group or implementation of large-scale technologies (e.g., ERP).
Build on Others’ Efforts
Without establishing clear boundaries around the end-to-end process, organizations can become overly complex and lose the benefits of their mapping efforts before they even get started. One way to help determine what’s in and what’s not is by looking at the several pre-existing end-to-end processes available through research sites, technology vendors, and associations. While these end-to-ends may not be a perfect fit for your organization, they provide an initial scope and key elements to start your mapping efforts.
For example, APQC has developed End-to-End Process Maps and Measures based on the Process Classification Framework® (PCF). These maps provide a view of the common processes in key end-to-end processes (e.g., order-to-cash, procure-to-pay, hire-to-retire, and idea-to-market), identify common KPIs, and include definitions. To ensure its easy to adapt these end-to-end processes, there are Excel and Visio versions. Additionally, these maps are now available in MosaiQ®, to customize your end-to-end processes and manage their performance.
Stay tuned for additional end-to-end process maps and measures. To expand upon these concepts and practices, check out: