Search for software tools to automate the business process. Automation of business processes as a prerequisite for the effectiveness of the company. The terms of the project are being delayed

Automation of business processes is sometimes presented to the manager as a magic wand. Just how to automate business processes in the best way? So that the work is arguable, the papers are not lost, the regulations helped, the team acted like a well-oiled mechanism?

In the article, we will analyze the nuances of building and automating business processes, consider how to avoid mistakes, what are the goals and objectives of automating business processes and where to start. If you are thinking about improving business processes and possibly implementing electronic system manage them, read the article carefully. And take it on a pencil!

Three whales of chaos in business: how to automate processes that do not exist

Before talking about the opportunities offered by the automation of business processes, let's think about what difficulties you are facing now.

The three bad "whales" on which chaos in business rests are universal. Most likely, you are also familiar with them:

Regular mistakes. Petrov made a typo, Sidorov signed an unverified document, Vasechkina sent an invoice with incorrect details. Errors like this bring temporary and financial losses, twitching eyes and work at night.
Downtime. The document is under approval for a week, then the second, the work is worth it. A key employee is on vacation or quit without transferring the case.
General confusion. Where did the necessary paper go? Why did the secretary not notice in the pile of sheets urgent document? Where to run to a specialist when a client contacts, if the right person missing? This confusion and running around corridors with reams of paper is annoying and certainly not conducive to productive work.

Even 10 years ago, modeling of business processes seemed to most companies to be expensive, time-consuming and therefore unnecessary work. Some people think so even now, having read horror stories about unfinished projects and spent millions, or even having approached automation from the wrong side. But it turned out that companies working on the automation of business processes grow faster, better overcome crisis times and outperform competitors. In such companies, employees feel more comfortable, which creates the right working atmosphere in the team. Examples include the stories of Toyota, Amazon, McDonalds, as well as our customers, whose feedback on business process automation.

Today, the ability to build business processes and the knowledge of how to automate them are becoming an important competitive advantage.

Business processes: what are we automating, comrades?

Sometimes the management of a company, busy with strategic issues, is delusional: everything is fine with us. But if Petrov knows that if a marketing problem arises, you need to contact Ivanova, this is not a business process. But a specific action map, which universally describes the steps that employees go through to achieve a specific result, it already looks like a business process.

A flow chart, to call it a business process, must take into account three factors:

Stability of the described connections: the multiplicity of choice of actions, transitions, conditions are taken into account.
Regulation of actions during the process: calls, letters, attachments, appeals, sightings.
Logical conclusion: specific achievable goal.

A clearly modeled business process will allow you to both see the result and control the work at all stages in order to prevent losses and mistakes "at a low start".

Depending on the emergence of "thin spots", the business process is changed, its stages are adjusted, and which links are weak. If you have any difficulties with the development of algorithms, we are ready to help you. After all, the development of business processes is preparation for the project of their automation.

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The main goal of business process development is to magically transform chaotically intertwined chains of intra-company interactions into orderly, coherent and understandable algorithms. May there be order at work, in the office, in the heads of employees and in the minds of managers!

Uri, where is the button? Business process automation goals

Now the question is: how to manage all this? Well, you need a whole staff of employees - to keep your finger on the pulse and carefully monitor the "thin spots", "weak links" and the execution of everything that must be performed!

A quarter of companies follow this path, expanding quality departments, expanding the management and secretarial staff. But it is much more useful to ask the question of how to automate business processes and transfer the function of control over them into one space. Such a business process management system will be both a designer, and a monitoring mechanism, and a controller that gives signals when something goes wrong. But for the "magic button" to work, you still have to work hard.

Of course, the goals of automating business processes are not only about a convenient way to control. As a result, the use of an automated business process management system will help:

Arrange regular tasks.
Minimize the human factor.
Clearly separate areas of responsibility within processes.
Keep all the details of the process under control.
Include in the customer interaction scheme.
Create a unified IT infrastructure with different access rights.
Save time, yours and your employees.
As a result - to save money on company management.

As you can see, the goals of automating business processes are largely the same as yours!

Business Process Management - One Company System

To make it even clearer, we will analyze the specific functions of the business process management system - "1C: Document flow 8" - with examples.

We clearly saw what automated business process differs from the “designed on the knee”. It remains to be seen how to achieve this level of automation.

Secret Ingredient: How to Automate Lossless Business Processes

You've probably heard stories about company N, which implemented a supersystem, tinkered with it and, spitting, returned to Excel. This happens when a company is faced with unforeseen difficulties. Then the employees sabotage the unusual way of working. Then the established processes do not lend themselves to regulation. Then the implementation budget goes beyond the desired. Then the system itself is heavy and incomprehensible, but it is necessary that "there is a button here, I press it, and everything works."

Managers often forget the rule: the first stage from which business process automation is built are tasks. The document management system has a huge functionality that can satisfy the requirements of the most whimsical business. But first, these requirements must be presented.

Our research confirms that 70% of business difficulties arise precisely at the stage of recording requirements and results. Therefore, we provide initial consultations, as well as offer a pre-project research service. This step helps:

identify "bottlenecks" in the company,
determine what goals are in front of automation system,
understand whether the typical functionality is suitable for the company or if changes need to be made,
find out what set of functions will be optimal for the business,
determine which processes to automate in the first place, and which can be postponed. For example, areas that hinder the work of the entire company should be prioritized, even if the work on them is not the easiest one.

Capturing system requirements and deliverables correctly is the secret ingredient to the success of an automation project. Sometimes at this stage it becomes clear that there is a problem with business processes. Then you need to modify them or build from scratch.

Having decided on the tasks facing the automation of business processes, we proceed to the formation project team and to the implementation of the project.

Do you want to know what results your specific business can achieve? Contact us for free consultation- we will tell you!

What is the automation of business processes of an enterprise is the ability to free up resources, respond in a timely manner to market changes, make quick decisions and plan further actions. This is important for any organization that is going to grow and develop in modern conditions fierce competition and in constant multitasking mode. This is part of the success, without it it will be difficult to achieve results. It remains to figure out how the implementation will affect the improvement of the firm's performance.

What it is

Often, the management of the enterprise makes great efforts to move towards the achievement of the goal and increase the efficiency of the collective work of the personnel. They realize how much depends on the clear and well-coordinated performance of the functions of each employee throughout the organization.

The attempt by one department to complete its part of the task without interacting with other departments is more harmful than good. Employees who are aimed at coping with the task without thinking about solving the issue or achieving a common goal - as a result, they get several disconnected, poorly executed parts of one whole.

Automated business processes allow workers to visualize their own role in creating the final product. This brings positive dynamics, because people clearly see what will happen in the end if they act together.

Automation can be applied in any area of an organization's activities. Along with goal setting, this is HR, sales, marketing, unit preparation, even a merger with a small company.

To achieve optimization, you need to create the right framework:

Determine what data and materials are required to complete the full production cycle of a unit of production, ensure their availability.

Create a verified algorithm without unnecessary elements, according to which a program or a person will work all the time.

Determine in advance the result for which the resources of time and effort are expended.

Business management process is a concept for the development of an organization. Its main task is to introduce automation into management and improve business efficiency.

What BPM does:

studies what the firm does, what goes on inside it;

looking for inconsistencies, difficulties, slowdowns in operations, application manual labor where mechanized or automatic can be used;

is looking for ways to improve each identified violation.

The use of the company's business process automation system allows the organization to be flexible and quickly adapt to changes in the surrounding business environment. With their help, the weaknesses and vulnerabilities of the units are identified and the methods of strengthening are selected.

This is a partial or complete transfer of repetitive cycles and tasks under control. As a result, employees' time and finances are freed up, labor productivity is increased, and efficiency also becomes higher.

History of creation

This term was first used by mechanical engineers of the 20s of the last century. Initially, it was used only in relation to the stages of production, now it has been rethought and used much more widely.

In the 80s, a slightly different approach to theory was developed, supported by economic calculations and computer technology... At that time, copiers and printing machines and then PC. An even greater breakthrough was achieved with the development of the Internet. Now they are used to develop original approaches to automating business processes, setting new tasks and solving them.

In the modern business environment, it is actively developing, and there are unusual areas of use for it. So it turns out to achieve optimization in many departments. This is possible due to the division into separate stages for the implementation and implementation of developments.

Main directions for development

As a rule, it is carried out in 2 equally important areas:

Manufacturing business processes. Depending on the activities of the company, this can be sales, communication with visitors, production of products. It boils down to a direct increase in the indicator - an increase in volumes or quality, profitability of the enterprise as a whole.

Supportive. No less serious industry. This includes reporting, office work, bookkeeping and others. This does not directly affect the increase in profits, but with the introduction of automation it becomes possible here to reduce the cost of hours and finances for performing monotonous work.

Goals and objectives of business process automation

This system aims to automate everything that is slow or poorly functioning, to remove inconsistencies and elements that hinder production. This may be an extra deputy with a minimum set of duties, without which the papers go directly to the director and are promptly resolved.

This includes secondary intermediaries who delay delivery to the final consumer and charge storage fees. Statistics show that it is often enough to have one trusted carrier than many small non-binding companies that can fail at an unexpected moment.

Old equipment, a remote warehouse, lack of additional training for new employees act as such a braking element, even a conveyor belt that is too long affects the production speed and creates a lost profit. This is only part of the optimization action.

Among the main tasks are:

organization of secure storage of information and software elements;

high-level operation support;

prompt preparation and printing of documents for suppliers, partners, contractors from invoice to business proposal;

formation of a report on the state of affairs of the company for any period of time;

revision financial costs in relation to employees, increasing the efficiency of using employees' hours by setting the same type of occupation to an automatic mode;

improving the quality of customer service;

Examples and ideas

Thus, it becomes possible to release human and financial resources, labor productivity increases, and the development strategy operates more efficiently.

Most firms do not follow a clear sequence of actions. As a result, managers are constantly busy, no one knows when the project will be completed and at what stage it is today, many tasks and reviewers are duplicated. It turns out that everyone is busy, and the process is extremely slow.

But we must act differently. One manager should have as many projects in his daily planner as he can actually complete. Its purpose is to monitor them, track performance, report on results. If you lower more on it, then all or some of them will be made worse or slower. But in many organizations, the same task is reviewed by several people at once.

All employees who interact in any way with each other or with production are involved in business processes. Therefore, optimization often begins with personnel.

Sometimes the procedure helps to establish even simple, but time-consuming tasks:

calculation of discounts;

keeping statistics;

processing of incoming orders;

systematization of any data.

There are many successful examples of its use. If you introduce materials or products for sale into orders, then there will be no downtime and overloading of warehouses with the same type of product.

Main advantages

What is needed for - the main point here is to establish effective work, maximum return and profit. The goal is not to replace or redistribute employees performing the same type of operations to robots. Thanks to optimization, these workers will get rid of the daily routine of small reports and repetitive actions that only take work time and do not allow you to move on to more meaningful, interesting or research tasks.

People are better at coordinating collaborative activities because they work together and through the same programs. The consistency will be higher, and the result will be more accurate. Now more and more organizations large and small are adopting automation for these reasons. Main advantages:

actions of employees will be more consistent;

the number of errors due to the human factor will decrease;

manual routine work will be replaced by mechanics or an automatic machine and the reproduction of cycles will be accelerated;

from the inside, the enterprise will become more transparent and technologically advanced;

the quality of the tasks performed will increase;

it will be easier to make decisions for standard situations;

a large volume will become easier to handle.

Business Process Automation Trends, Technologies and Experiences

Proven paths are gradually emerging, the movement along which leads to an increase in profits and minimization of losses. One of them is the use of special Low-code platforms.

Programs like these allow executives to solve business development problems quickly. For this, several convenient user tools are built in. With their help, you can simulate the current situation and make changes. Thus, it becomes real to radically shorten the implementation time of IT solutions that help organizations adapt to a constantly changing environment.

What features might be required

Since all business processes usually consist of different actions performed by different people, the software should be able to present all points in a graphical and visual form. This is how the staff understands what needs to be done and how. And the management is looking for where to optimize.

All programs require intuitive menus and ease of use. The ability to use the software for any employee is important, therefore, for medium and large companies, systems from cloud storage... Access here opens to anywhere in the world without being tied to specific PCs or tablets.

Have software notifications of optimization participants and the ability to send notifications about the completed stage should work. The skill of managing several business processes simultaneously leading to a common goal is required. So the introduction of discounts on groups of goods and the parallel write-off of balances lead to an optimizing procedure and an increase in profits.

Access control works separately. Not all personnel need all the analytical information at the same time, so this data requires a separate entry by role.

How to automate your business

First of all - to understand that it is necessary. When profits stop growing, frequent and unpleasant complications of simple processes appear - it's time to correct the situation. It is important not to stop and constantly develop so that competitors do not get ahead. Most managers start the procedure with what takes many hours and is often the same: accounting and warehouse accounting, document flow, marketing.

How to start:

Cloud technologies. If the company does not have its own server, then this is a great way for small and medium-sized businesses.

Machine-to-machine communication. Options between two different machines or complex business processes eliminate human error.

Typically used in large organizations to simplify database processing.

Analysis at the moment. Gradually, the software evolves and it becomes available to monitor changes and reports when convenient. This allows you to make quick decisions.

To figure out how best to automate your enterprise, you should contact Cleverence. The company will help analyze production and select the best ways to optimize costs and increase profitability.

Stages of business process automation

There are several successive points:

Preparatory. Search and description of existing problems, the number of employees who will use the programs.

Analysis. Developers study internal regulations, conduct interviews with heads of departments, and determine the real situation.

Preparation of technical specifications. This is a document that will indicate all the nuances and functionality of the future software.

Preparation of premises. All places where innovations are introduced.

Installation and configuration of the system. Then everything is tested.

Education. To ensure that everything was not created in vain, the staff should be trained to use the software.

Examination. Here, workers test the functioning of the automation under the supervision of the creators.

Correction. Edits are made upon request from the customer.

Commissioning.

Key areas and software

It is important to understand that you need to approach the task comprehensively and focus not on the structure of the company, but on the processes taking place in it. This approach will make the business more agile, reduce reaction times to sudden difficulties, and speed up the creation of the final product. Everything that happens within the organization is individual. But the main divisions are always the same.

Control

budget control;

security of information and economy;

management;

legal support.

Business process automation is a very important task for every company that is focused on constant growth and development. The criteria that determine when it is time to automate certain processes, develop or integrate existing IT solutions depend on the size of the company and the stage of its development. At the first step, most companies implement CRM, then ERP, and when the business grows up, they think about BPM. What is hidden behind these abbreviations and at what point should each of the solutions be applied in your company?

Build customer relationships

A CRM system is perhaps one of the first IT solutions that should be implemented by a company selling goods or services to customers. If your business is not a shawarma stall near the metro or manufacturing company with a single customer, CRM will definitely come in handy for you. A good sign that you have come is the fact that you can no longer keep in mind all the agreements and interactions with current customers.

CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management, so it's not just a database with customer addresses and phone numbers and transaction amounts. First of all, it is a system that helps to build stable relationships with your users. And this includes not only leading the client through the sales funnel - from application to deal - but also the participation of the entire user base in email marketing, trigger mailings, special promotions and, as a result, repeat sales.

Without a CRM system, a business can grow in breadth within certain limits (thanks to the influx of new customers), but it will be quite difficult for it to increase the average check, profit per customer and build up a loyal user base.

“We have a step-by-step approach to automation: as the number of orders increased, we standardized and transferred business processes to automatic rails using off-the-shelf solutions available on the market. First of all, we automated our work with clients as much as possible, so as not to waste time searching for important information and to give the most prompt response to our customers' requests. We have implemented a CRM system to see and constantly analyze the history of customer relations - calls, orders, correspondence, feedback. If you suddenly need to quickly raise the history of orders, and the responsible manager is ill, these systems make life very easy. If you need to transfer cases to a new employee, then this is also not a problem.", - says the managing partner of the Kinodoktor company Evgeniy Nepeivoda.

Automate processes within the company
During the first months and even years of life, the company can grow and develop spontaneously: new departments and functional units appear, tasks are split, the load is redistributed between different employees. At this point, confusion can arise: who is responsible for what tasks? How long should this work be done?

If such questions become relevant for your company, then it is time to automate processes within the organization. To do this, use ERP systems (Enterprise Resource Planning- enterprise resource management)... ERP helps to integrate all departments and functions of a company into a single system. As a result, all employees work with a single database, it is easier for them to exchange various kinds of information, distribute tasks (both within a department and between different departments).

"A signal that it is time to start automating resources within the company - problems with organizing processes at the department level and between departments: the process may not be followed, slow down or be incomprehensible to executors and management", says Maxim Kainer, business analyst at DIRECTUM.

Delve into business processes

If the main task of ERP is to optimize business processes in the company by reducing material and time costs, then the systems BPM (Business Performance Management) solve problems more high level... We can say that ERP systems are geared towards solving tactical issues, while BPM is more about strategy. If ERP is based on resources and the current state of the business, BPM helps to look deep into the business processes. A BPM system is needed when a company has several non-trivial business processes (which can be constantly changing), and there is a need to accelerate them, make them more standardized and transparent.

“Business automation is essential at the stage of active growth of a company. Without it, you will be tied to your company with a thick rope, moreover, it will be difficult to achieve significant business scale.
Two of my companies are now fully automated. This means that without me, both the sales and marketing functions and management functions making decisions, including strategic ones.
You can implement automation of this level when you already thoroughly know your business. At what point should you do this?
● When a company starts to grow and it becomes unrealistic to manage it in a “manual” mode
● When there is a need to free up their time or the time of managing managers
● When you started to feel depression and a complete lack of desire to further develop this business on your own
● When you want to run new project
● When you need time to figure out how to explode your current business
To correctly implement automation, it is necessary to very clearly understand all business processes, the sequence of actions that need to be automated - that is why you first need to go through the path of "manual" work. But it is important not to "hang" in the manual labor stage for a long time. The corresponding habits and norms are so ingrained within the business and the team that automation becomes alien and difficult to implement. ", - says the founder of the network of photo schools Like and the network of urban cafes "Sweater" Galiya Berdnikova.

Own or factory?

At the automation stage, many companies face a dilemma - should they write their own solution or use a boxed solution?

Most large IT companies such as Microsoft, SAP and 1C provide ready-made business automation systems. There are also many small vendors that offer factory solutions - due to the smaller scale when working with such vendors, you can achieve more customization of programs for your business. However, many companies are trying to make self-written solutions.

« When I worked for a small SEO company, the need for a service for setting tasks to copywriters, monitoring their execution and tracking time arose when the staff size was more than five people. At first, a self-written solution was used. But it became difficult to maintain, and it exhausted its functionality after a year and a half, with a staff of 15 people: three salesperson accounts, four programmers and a copywriting department. We have purchased an annual subscription to a cloud solution that combines CRM, simple workflow and time tracking.
This is a typical scenario: first, managers think “we will do everything ourselves,” but then there is an understanding that there is ready-made solutions from vendors who have been developing and improving them for years.
There are cases when, even with a staff of more than 20 people, firms manage with self-written services, but for this they need their own IT specialist who will constantly work on this solution - it is not cheap, ”says Maxim Kainer.
But still, ready-made factory programs cannot solve all the customer's problems - you must always understand that they will have to be adapted to your needs.
“Be prepared for the fact that any“ boxed version ”of an IT product for automation will not be able to take into account all your specifics and will require additional customization for your processes. And the refinement of the system will continue in the future - as your business grows and becomes more complex ", - says the managing partner law firm Revera Dmitry Archipenko.

How to choose an automation system that suits your business at this stage? Leave your email and we will send you a list of suitable solutions!

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Examples of successful enterprise automation are rare. Considering that the measures to establish it are very laborious and not cheap, it is worthwhile to first figure out what automation of business processes is for, how it will help you in solving pressing problems.

In this article, you will learn:

What exactly is it
Popular automation systems
Where should automation begin in a company?
What to look for when choosing funds
4 tips on how you can save on it
Pitfalls »business process automation
What to Control During Automation Management

What does business process automation mean?

Business automation is usually understood as the process of transferring ordinary repetitive operations and tasks under control. software package or information system. As a result, the management of the enterprise gets the opportunity to free up human and financial resources, increase labor productivity and more effectively manage the development strategy.

A typical example of managing an organization, when a clear sequence of actions is not followed, can be presented in the form of the following diagram:

This management method is accompanied by serious drawbacks:

managers and line managers experience a constant high load, since the work process takes place exclusively with their direct participation;
in the process of performing tasks, in addition to the main performers, employees of related departments are involved;
no one knows at what stage the solution to the problem is;
areas of responsibility are not divided, many functions are duplicated;
the timing of decision-making is not closely monitored;
employees participating in the process are not motivated for the ultimate goal.

As a result of this approach, everyone is busy, and the solution to the tasks set leaves much to be desired.

The process approach is fundamentally different from this state of affairs, since it is based on the optimal order of actions and control of execution at each stage.

The purpose of the process approach is the compliance of the enterprise's activities with certain regulations and the interconnectedness of internal business processes.

The process approach has the following advantages:

orderliness of business processes;
solving problems in the shortest way;
personal responsibility of employees for their area of work;
control over the execution of tasks;
motivation of employees to achieve optimal results;
scheduling by the timing of tasks;
simplification of the internal hierarchy organizational structure enterprises.

What exactly is the automation of business processes

Automation systems allow you to simulate business processes of any complexity online. An accessible task manager is provided for users, combining convenience and versatility.

With its help, employees have the opportunity to appoint responsible persons for solving specific tasks, receive statistics on the time spent on individual processes, and also make plans to optimize their activities. A reminder of deadlines will help you avoid missed deadlines for certain tasks.

Customer information management

At the heart of each business process automation system is a database that unites all information about the company's customers. When this information is used correctly, the organization can operate as efficiently as possible.

The system organizes data and makes it possible to group them depending on specific tasks. The customer base includes the full range of information needed to optimize the customer experience.

All data is grouped into convenient blocks, the system provides a convenient opportunity to send a letter, make a call, remind history joint activities and will even show profiles on social networks.

Sales process automation

The main functions of the business process automation system include helping managers in effective sales management. Thanks to the system, work on several transactions can take place simultaneously. Each step is guided by users to help them plan their next step most effectively.

Having before his eyes a history of cooperation with a particular client, the manager will easily offer him exactly the product that most likely will satisfy his needs.

The sales funnel and other analytics methods make it easy to identify weak points in the sales process, paying attention to which employees will get the best result. Convenient visual tools of the system make it possible to make sure that the client's profile contains all the necessary information, as well as the data on transactions are reflected as accurately as possible.

Lead management

Lead management is an equally important function of a business process automation system. Users can get an idea of the needs of customers, both included in the company's base and potential customers.

Each new lead is subject to automatic registration in the system, after which it itself prompts the manager the steps that will be most effective in a particular situation.

Customer Service Management

Long-term relationships with clients are impossible without a well-functioning service. The business process automation system allows you to set up a high quality multichannel service. Customer cases and service requests are managed based on a reference process.

Information about customers, incoming and outgoing calls is focused in one window. The system is able to offer the necessary form of the contract, determine the skill group, calculate the time frame in which the application will be completed, and make a call back to the client.

Document flow automation

The automation system allows you to put in order the company's document flow in order to further increase the efficiency of managing contracts, invoices, protocols and incoming correspondence. The program offers to use ready-made templates for the formation of various documents.

It is possible to attach scanned copies for quick access to printed versions. Electronic storage contains the entire volume of enterprise documentation. Convenient search allows you to find required document in a split second. Possibility is provided group work, as well as sightings for the purpose of reconciling accounts.

Product portfolio management

TO usual opportunities business process automation systems added tools that allow you to structure the nomenclature and manage the product catalog. To make your search easier, you can install a convenient filter. Accounting for prices and discounts will become much easier, as well as the selection of products for an order.

Popular business process automation systems

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Each enterprise has its own business processes. Their combination can be grouped in several directions and subsequently automated both in general and within one process:

Complex automation of business processes

Automation of business processes, carried out in an "island" way, without interconnection between individual systems, rarely brings tangible benefits. When it comes to optimizing individual areas of activity, the goal is not to improve the efficiency of the company as a whole.

A unified system for automating business processes, on the contrary, is a set of tools that allow you to manage the financial and economic activities of an enterprise as a whole, to maintain operational, accounting and management accounting.

ERP - concept unified system for the management of companies - began to be used in the late 80s, over the years it has become more and more popular thanks to the appearance of the corresponding software.

The ERP system is based on the principle of a single information space, with the help of which it is possible to track and analyze data on business processes occurring in various divisions of the organization.

ERP systems use a modular principle to build, have a structure consisting of independent blocks responsible for a separate process. This allows you to refine and expand the capabilities of the system along with the emergence of new technological or legislative aspects, as well as changing customer needs.

A typical ERP system consists of the following groups of modules:

logistic;
industrial;
marketing;
supplying;
sales, etc.

ERP systems in Russian business began to be used by the largest companies at the very end of the 20th century, today no enterprise can do without them, regardless of its size.

Having implemented an ERP system, the company no longer needs numerous programs with a narrow focus - work with a warehouse, finance, logistics, office. Consequently, IT support costs are significantly reduced.

In 2017, the top three leaders in the global ERP systems market were SAP (20%), Oracle (13.9%) and Microsoft (9.4%). They are followed by the following companies in descending order: Infor, Epicor, Sage, NetSuite, IFS, IQMS, Syspro.

Oracle was recognized as the champion in terms of speed of implementation, and SAP in terms of return on investment.

The most popular Russian ERP system in 2017 was 1C: Enterprise. Slightly less popular are Galaxy ERP, SAP ERP, Microsoft Dynamics AX, Microsoft Dynamics NAV.

Where should the automation of business processes in a company begin?

In the course of establishing the automation of business processes, the enterprise goes through the following stages:

Analysis of business processes, their adaptation or revision.
Determination of immediate needs for automation.
Selection of software or development of customized software.
Implementation of the system at the enterprise and training of personnel in its use.

In this list, absolutely all stages are important.

To begin with, let's decide what will be discussed. A business process is a complex of activities that obey a common goal, occurring in a given sequence and proceeding within the framework of established requirements.

As a result of such activities, resources are transformed into a final product that is valuable to the consumer. If you look at the business process from the outside information technologies, it will look like a sequence of works related to production activities enterprises, the purpose of which is to create surplus value.

The business process includes the structure of several actions aimed at achieving goals in the information system, such as enterprise management, product quality analysis, and resource support for its release.

It is often necessary to see how management hopes to establish interaction between the divisions of the company by automating business processes. Yes, Information Systems- an integral part of management, but they cannot fundamentally change an illiterate organization.

Many enterprises work with huge amounts of data, for the analysis and use of which modern systems are simply necessary, and automation will help the company reach a new level of development.

When it comes to the fact that the collection of information is absent or its reliability is in great doubt, the divisions of the company do not interact with each other, it is first necessary to establish a management system.

That is why the first task before the management is to assess Current state and determine if automation will help solve problems.

With the help of automation of business processes, today it is possible to provide a solution to the following tasks:

Increase the speed of information processing within the company(for example, the instant receipt of an application from the sales department to the warehouse).
Achieve business transparency(for example, find out the amount of debt of counterparties).
Control the amount of information(for example, customers have the ability to leave applications through the site).
Increase interaction between departments(for example, an item booked by a customer will not be sold to another).
Increase the indicators of the manufacturability of the business(for example, prices and taxes are calculated automatically), etc.

However, in order to solve such problems as attracting new customers, timely delivery of tax reports and strategic planning, business process automation alone is clearly not enough.

As a rule, its implementation is required in the following cases:

reorientation of the enterprise to meet new challenges(manufacturing of other products, entering new markets, equipping production with modern technological lines);
implementation of reforms or changes in management principles;
the inability of the old automation system to meet the needs of the enterprise;
preparing the company for sale(as a result of automation, its market value will increase).

The next most important step is to decide which area of the company's activity needs to automate business processes in the first place. The easiest way to do this is for small and medium-sized businesses. They only need to determine which employee is involved in the storage and processing of data, reporting and similar activities.

Accounting and sales departments, warehouses, etc. are the first to come to mind. There are business processes that need to be automated without hesitation - personnel, accounting, inventory accounting.

Another way to determine which area of the company's activity needs priority automation of business processes is to identify the weaknesses of the enterprise. The factors of dissatisfaction can be different - the timing of the process, its cost and quality.

For example, you can draw up a development plan without using software. Naturally, the calculations will not be accurate enough, and their implementation will take at least a week. At the same time, a large number of mistakes cannot be avoided, and labor costs will be excessively high.

For small and medium-sized businesses, it is worth first of all to automate communication with clients and all its components:

taking orders;
feedback;
complaints, wishes, suggestions.

Work with clients should be built on the basis of a detailed algorithm, starting with an incoming call or e-mail and ending with order fulfillment and warranty support.

The goal of automating business processes should be the passage of information from receipt to implementation without the slightest delay and additional effort on the part of the customer. We must not forget that the company's clients are the source of its prosperity, it is from them that the money comes, which can be used for further optimization.

Concerning large companies, then they should first of all automate the production and work of warehouses, which will allow them to process the maximum number of orders.

Some Russian companies traditionally regulate their business processes according to job descriptions, therefore, the work in them is adjusted on the basis of achieving the specified indicators.

This means that several divisions can be engaged in sales at once, as a result, a conflict of interest arises, which negatively affects the overall situation with sales and the final profit.

Having automated relationships with customers, you can start transferring other business processes to an information basis - warehouse, procurement, production, etc.

The next step should be the introduction of automation in payroll accounting, the formation statistical forms, accounting of precious metals.

But that's in theory. Practice shows that first the automation of financial and material flows, that is, accounting, warehouse accounting, cash. Then they proceed to sales, purchasing, production and quality control.

The final stage is the automation of personnel activities. The total duration of the project implementation can take from one and a half to three years.

What to look for when choosing tools for automating business processes

When thinking about purchasing software for automating business processes, you can consider two options:

create a system based on a typical product;
develop and implement software taking into account the individual needs of the company.

The standard product will be more cost effective and easier to implement. Its disadvantage can be considered the limited ability to adapt to the needs of the company, provided by the developer. This also applies to cloud services.

To select the optimal software, you need to answer several questions:

What business processes are subject to automation?
Do functionality of the chosen program to the tasks that it has to solve?
Is it possible to adjust it to the specifics of your process?
Is there a possibility of promptly making changes to the system without stopping its use, if the need arises?
Is the system easy to use?
Is it possible to integrate the system with already installed services or automation programs?
Who will provide technical support and under what conditions?
How much will it cost to implement and own the system?

It is unlikely that you can do without the help of professionals, so you should seek advice from vendor companies that develop specialized software. It will be useful to analyze the experience of partners and competitors.

Based on all the information received, taking into account the specifics of your own industry, you can start choosing a specific product. The decision of the question of whether the automation of business processes will be complex or it is possible to get by with an ERP system depends on the characteristics of the enterprise.

How much will it cost to automate business processes of an enterprise?

It is rather difficult to give an unambiguous answer, since the cost of automating the business processes of a particular company is directly dependent on several conditions that must be taken into account:

what tasks the software should be designed for;
the system should be typical or customizable;
what resources are required for its implementation;
how many workplaces should be connected to the system.

For example, the purchase of the most popular program in Russia "1C: Enterprise" will cost from 40 thousand rubles for 20 jobs to 400 thousand rubles - for 100.

Several factors also affect the cost of automation:

the price of the system itself, including the "box" or rental payments, if the "cloud" version will be used;
the cost of services for setting up an automation system and training employees to work with it;
payment for technical support.

Indirect costs such as key user and management time spent on project participation should be included in this cost item.

Council number 1. Make sure that the description of business processes is kept up to date.

Draw up regulations for maintaining and coding the NSI analytics (normative and reference information). Check management and staff on a regular basis for knowledge of the company's business processes and quality control systems. This guarantees savings of the IT project budget up to 30-40%.

The employees of the enterprise should have a clear idea of what exactly is subject to automation and why it is necessary. With an understanding of the essence of the processes, the development of the program or the adaptation of the "boxed" version will not present any difficulties for the IT director.

You can implement the project both independently and using the services of specialized companies.

There are examples of implementation integrated automation business processes of large corporations, whose turnover is billions of dollars, in just two months. Such a result may be considered impracticable, but it should be borne in mind that this was the final stage of preliminary work on the NSI and reporting forms, which lasted more than two years.

Council number 2. Apply free programs to automate repetitive operations on a computer.

Sharing responsibilities will help you get rid of the routine.

Council number 3. Benefit from automation implementation services provided by IT companies who have already completed projects in your industry.

They understand the specifics of your business, which will significantly reduce costs.

Council number 4. Deal with IT companies that sell and install various automation systems, that is, multi-vendors.

The qualifications of the personnel of such firms allows them to look more broadly at the problems of implementing systems, they can compare various software products, highlight their pros and cons. Hence, there is a high probability that the optimal solution will be selected for your business.

"Pitfalls" in business process automation

Don't strive for excellence

The first stage of preparation for the implementation of automation systems is research, accompanied by voluminous reports on the company's business processes. At the same time, many are faced with such a characteristic problem as the delay in the procedure for agreeing on the details of the future implementation and the repeated transfer of documentation from the customer to the contractor.

Excessive thoroughness and striving to bring the project to the ideal in this case should be avoided, since all this delays the deadlines and increases expenses, while not giving a tangible positive result.

To prevent this very common mistake will help the indication in the contract of the terms of preparation of the documentation, the number of necessary approvals and strict adherence to them.

Decide on the choice

When developing a system design, a common problem can be called the choice of an option according to which the gap between the description of business processes and the standard type of the installed system will be realized.

In solving any problem, varying degrees of automation can be applied. So, the need to replenish the selection zone from the reserve is implemented in several ways:

manual formation by the user of a task to replenish the selection zone as required;
automatic generation of a task when a certain parameter reaches a certain critical level;
automatic task formation, taking into account all potential orders;
automatic formation of a task, based on taking into account all potential orders, deliveries, etc., and also taking into account the increasing complexity of execution.

The biggest problem in this case is the choice of the optimal solution. For maximum speed, the goals of the project and the timing of its implementation should be determined. The points of view of all interested parties must be taken into account.

One task may look different to IT professionals and warehouse workers. It should be solved so that the system does not cause difficulties for its main users.

Fear of innovation

The stage of implementation of automation systems often becomes the reason for the dismissal of personnel who refuse to learn to work in a new way. Cases when half of the warehouse employees preferred to change jobs instead of mastering new technologies for accounting for goods are quite common.

The management can take some preventive measures, namely, conduct training, while paying special attention to its availability for the majority of employees, explain the benefits that the company and the employees themselves will receive as a result of the implementation of the automation system.

However, if the resistance of the staff is too great, it may be worthwhile to rely on the recruitment of new employees who are ready to master new forms of work. This solution to the adaptation problem is quite common. Newly hired workers are not bound by the framework of "how it was before", so they easily accept the new conditions.

The features of automation systems, which minimize the need to memorize huge amounts of information, allow a person to get used to the workplace in a few days.

What to control during business process automation management

The implementation of business process automation systems requires constant monitoring of the main areas of work both on the part of the customer and on the part of the performers. To the most important points it is worth mentioning the cost of the project, the timing of the individual stages, the activities of the personnel, the quality of intermediate work.

Avoiding deviations from planned indicators, stipulated by the contract, timely adoption of measures to eliminate the identified deficiencies constitute the bulk of the tasks facing the leadership on both sides.

Deadlines

The increase in the time of the project implementation, implying additional expenses, can be called a classic problem of any introduction of new technologies. As a rule, it occurs as a result of side factors. Special management mechanisms will help to minimize the likelihood of delays.

The main one is the project implementation schedule. It regulates all the work that needs to be done, in mutual connection. A schedule is necessary to monitor the passage of control points for the implementation of project stages and control the deadlines set for each of them.

In this document, it is necessary to provide for reserves of time in case of unforeseen circumstances, as well as the dates of control meetings. Successful implementation the project depends on how well the teams will interact.

Maximum accuracy and detail in scheduling increases the likelihood of adherence to the schedule.

Increase in value

The cost of project implementation, as a rule, increases due to a change in the scope of tasks compared to previously established ones and an extension of the deadline. The rise in value in itself can be a factor provoking new problems.

Particular care must be taken when considering increasing the functionality of the system being deployed. Yes, often the need to add new features manifests itself only during the installation work, it was extremely difficult to foresee it in advance.

But for the most part, the project participants insist on expanding the functionality, in an attempt to realize their creative ideas. This pursuit of the ideal can be a reason for delaying deadlines, so it is better to include initiatives to improve the system in the plan for subsequent work.

The foreground should be the timely implementation of the project to automate business processes and the achievement of the goals set at this stage. This is justified from an organizational and economic point of view. Striving for endless improvement of the system can lead to the loss of its relevance.

Personnel issue

This is one of the key factors affecting the success of the project. Personnel in the IT sphere, as well as in other industries, where the outcome of an activity largely depends not on equipment, but on a person, plays an important role.

Consequently, the absence of problems in the implementation of the project and minimization of risks are guaranteed when the performers are distinguished by high professionalism, responsibility and a desire to achieve the best results.

Often, the introduction of new projects is accompanied by a negative attitude from employees, obvious opposition, and the division of spheres of influence.

Another common problem related to personnel is the lack of the customer's employees with the necessary qualifications to participate in the implementation of the project.

There are several ways out of this situation:

to replenish the staff with a new employee with a sufficient level of knowledge to carry out project activities;
temporarily hire an employee of the executing company who will represent the interests of the customer in the framework of the project (this option is not suitable for everyone, but in the practice of some companies it is found);
transfer to outsourcing of an independent IT company the functions of project control on the part of the customer.

When implementing a project to automate business processes, constant monitoring of the achievement of intermediate results fixed in the schedule is required. The purpose of such monitoring is to keep track of how the steps taken are in line with the ultimate goal.

For this there is a mechanism of checkpoints - certain parameters that must be achieved by the appointed date. Analysis of the completeness of solving problems at a specific moment helps to understand whether the progress of the implementation of the automation system deviates from the planned one.

At meetings of the project leaders, the indicators are compared on both sides and the following objectives are set.

In conclusion, I would like to say that the automation of business processes is a complex but fascinating process in which several parties are involved at once. It is distinguished by its multitasking and will be successful only if several important conditions are met:

the experience of a company that implements an automation system;
the level of qualifications and reliability of the team working on the project;
the selected implementation technology.

At the same time, particular importance should be attached to the legitimacy of the procedures being carried out: to use licensed software, to contact specialists who have been certified to perform the relevant services.

After making sure that the IT company, which you are going to entrust the automation of the business processes of your enterprise, has been working in this area for a long time, has a lot of successful completed projects, works exclusively with licensed programs, you can expect that the implementation of the system will become the starting point for the development of the company.

At the current level of development, process automation is one of the approaches to process management based on the use of information technology. This approach allows the management of operations, data, information and resources through the use of computers and software that reduce the degree of human participation in the process, or completely exclude it.

The main goal of automation is to improve the quality of the process. An automated process has more stable characteristics than a process carried out in manual mode... In many cases, process automation can improve productivity, shorten process execution times, lower costs, and increase the accuracy and stability of operations.

To date, process automation has covered many industries and areas of activity: from manufacturing processes to shopping in stores. Regardless of the size and scope of the organization, almost every company has automated processes. The process approach provides for uniform automation principles for all processes.

Although process automation can be performed at different levels, the principles of automation for all levels and all types of processes will remain the same. These are general principles that set the conditions for the efficient execution of processes in an automatic mode and establish rules. automatic control processes.

The main principles of process automation are:

consistency principle... All actions in an automated process must be consistent with each other and with the inputs and outputs of the process. In the event of a mismatch of actions, a process malfunction may occur.
integration principle... The process being automated must be able to integrate into the overall environment of the organization. Integration is performed differently at different levels of automation, but the essence of the principle remains the same. Process automation should ensure the interaction of the automated process with external environment(in relation to this process).
principle of independence of execution... The process to be automated must be carried out independently, without human intervention, or with minimal human control. A person should not interfere with the process if the process is carried out in accordance with the established requirements.

The listed general principles are detailed depending on the considered level of automation and specific processes... For example, the automation of production processes includes such principles as the principle of specialization, the principle of proportionality, the principle of continuity, etc.

Process automation levels

Process automation is essential to support management at all levels of the company's hierarchy. In this regard, the levels of automation are determined depending on the control level at which the automation of processes is carried out.

Management levels are usually divided into operational, tactical and strategic.

In accordance with these levels, the levels of automation are also distinguished:

lower level of automation or the level of performers. At this level, the automation of regularly running processes is carried out. Process automation is aimed at performing operational tasks(for example, execution production process), maintaining the set parameters (for example, autopilot operation), maintaining certain operating modes (for example, temperature regime in a gas boiler).
production management level or tactical level. Process automation at this level ensures that tasks are distributed among the various lower-level processes. Examples of such processes are production management processes (production planning, service planning), resource management processes, documents, etc.
enterprise management level or strategic level. Automation of processes of the enterprise management level provides the solution of analytical and forecasting problems. This level of automation is required to support the top management of the organization. It focuses on financial, economic and strategic management.

Automation of processes at each of these levels is ensured through the use of various automation systems (CRM systems, ERP systems, OLAP systems, etc.). All automation systems can be divided into three basic types.

Types of automation systems include:

immutable systems... These are systems in which the sequence of actions is determined by the equipment configuration or process conditions and cannot be changed during the process.
programmable systems... These are systems in which the sequence of actions can vary depending on the specified program and process configuration. The choice of the required sequence of actions is carried out by a set of instructions that can be read and interpreted by the system.
flexible (self-adjusting) systems... These are systems that are capable of making a choice of the necessary actions in the course of work. Changing the configuration of the process (sequence and conditions for performing operations) is carried out on the basis of information about the course of the process.

These types of systems can be used at all levels of process automation individually or as part of a combined system.

Types of automated processes

In every branch of the economy, there are enterprises and organizations that manufacture products or provide services. All these enterprises can be divided into three groups, depending on their “remoteness” in the natural resource processing chain.

The first group of enterprises are enterprises that extract or produce Natural resources... Such enterprises include, for example, agricultural producers, oil and gas production enterprises.

The second group of enterprises is enterprises that process natural raw materials. They make products from raw materials mined or produced by enterprises of the first group. These include, for example, the automotive industry, steel mills, electronics industry, power plants, etc.

The third group is the service sector enterprises. Such organizations include, for example, banks, educational institutions, medical institutions, restaurants, etc.

For all enterprises, general groups of processes associated with the production of products or the provision of services can be distinguished.

These processes include:

business processes are processes that ensure interaction within the organization and with external interested parties (customers, suppliers, supervisors, etc.). This category of processes includes marketing and sales processes, customer interaction, financial, personnel, material planning and accounting, etc.
design and development processes Are all processes associated with the development of a product or service. These processes include development planning, collection and preparation of initial data, project execution, control and analysis of design results, etc.
production processes Are the processes required to produce a product or provide a service. This group includes all production and technological processes... They also include demand planning and capacity planning processes, logistics processes and service processes.
control and analysis processes- this group of processes is associated with the collection and processing of information about the execution of processes. These processes include quality control processes, operational management, inventory control processes, etc.

Most of the processes related to these groups can be automated. Today, there are classes of systems that provide automation of these processes.

The technical assignment for the "Warehouses" subsystem is an example of the Terms of Reference for the automation of warehouse management of an enterprise.

This document is an example of a real Terms of Reference, on the basis of which a warehouse automation system for an industrial enterprise was selected and implemented.

The document is 26 pages long. Document format - Microsoft Word 2002. Compatible with all versions of MS Word. The document can be edited and changed.

The TOR for the "Document flow" subsystem is an example of the Terms of Reference for the automation of document flow process management.

This document is an example of a real Terms of Reference, on the basis of which a document management system for an industrial enterprise was selected and implemented.

The document is 17 pages long. Document format - Microsoft Word 2002. Compatible with all versions of MS Word. The document can be edited and changed.

The TOR for the "Procurement" subsystem is an example of the Terms of Reference for the automation of procurement and supplier management processes.

This document is an example of a real Terms of Reference, on the basis of which a procurement automation and supplier management system for an industrial enterprise was selected and implemented.

The document includes 23 pages. Document format - Microsoft Word 2002. Compatible with all versions of MS Word. The document can be edited and changed.

Process automation strategy

Process automation is a complex and time consuming task. To successfully solve this problem, you must adhere to a specific automation strategy. It allows you to improve processes and gain a number of significant benefits from automation.

Briefly, the strategy can be formulated as follows:

process understanding... In order to automate the process, it is necessary to understand the existing process with all its details. The process must be fully analyzed. The inputs and outputs of the process, the sequence of actions, the relationship with other processes, the composition of the process resources, etc. should be defined.
simplification of the process... After analyzing the process, you need to simplify the process. Superfluous operations that do not bring value should be reduced. Individual operations can be combined or performed in parallel. To improve the process, other technologies for its execution can be proposed.
process automation... Process automation can be performed only after the process has been simplified as much as possible. The simpler the order of actions of the process, the easier it is to automate it and the more efficiently the automated process will work.

The benefits of process automation

Automation of processes can significantly improve the quality of management and product quality. When implementing a QMS, automation gives a significant effect and makes it possible for an organization to significantly improve its work. However, before deciding to automate processes, it is necessary to evaluate the benefits of executing processes in an automatic mode.

Typically, process automation provides the following benefits:

the speed of performing repetitive tasks increases... At the expense of automatic mode the same tasks can be completed faster because automated systems are more accurate in their actions and are not subject to a decrease in performance from time to time.
the quality of work increases... The elimination of the human factor significantly reduces the variation in process execution, which leads to a decrease in the number of errors and, accordingly, increases the stability and quality of the process.
increased control accuracy... Through the use of information technology in automated systems it becomes possible to save and take into account a larger amount of data about the process than with manual control.
parallel task execution... Automated systems allow you to perform several actions at the same time without losing the quality and accuracy of work. This speeds up the process and improves the quality of the results.
quick decision making in typical situations... In automated systems, decisions related to typical situations are made much faster than with manual control. This improves the performance of the process and avoids inconsistencies in subsequent stages.

Despite the obvious advantages, process automation is not always advisable. After analysis and optimization, it may turn out that process automation is unnecessary or economically unprofitable.

In a number of situations, manual execution of processes may be preferable to automation:

process operations are difficult to automate... From a technological or from an economic point of view, some operations of the process can be very difficult to automate.
short life cycle products... If the product has to be developed and implemented in a short period of time, or the duration of its existence on the market is short, then automation of the process may be impractical. Manual execution of processes will be less costly and faster than automation.
unique or one-of-a-kind products... When a consumer needs a product with unique handicraft characteristics, such a product can only be released if the processes are performed manually.
sharp fluctuations in demand... A change in the demand for a product requires a change in production volumes. Such changes are easier to accomplish when you manually complete the process.