Making Business Processes Flow
Book review: Managing Business Process Flows
Any great textbook on Operations Management will not be remembered for
its insightful exploration of the way in the English language can be molded
into its most poetic form.
Ravi Anupindi’s Managing Business Process Flows does
not defy this paradigm. If you are teaching a course in Operations Management,
or if you are seeking an Operations Management degree, however, this textbook
is essential. With 288 information-packed pages, the authors of Managing
Business Process Flows appear to have set out to make sure you
get an A+.
Indeed, apart from streamlining the real-life implementation of an automated
workflow solution for many professionals actively working in the field
of Operations Management, this book has been shown to be highly useful
for students who are taking courses at reputable universities in North
America and Europe.
But now the question: what does Managing Business Process Flows
really tell you that other books on business process management don’t?
First of all, it’s important to understand that the thought process
binding these pages together works largely by exposing the inherently
mechanical nature of managing business operations: if a viable BPM solution
is in place, a manager is then easily able to place local controls on
process drivers, and thereby leverage the entire scope of workflow to
optimal performance levels.
And how do the authors suppose that readers will be able to achieve these
goals? The answer is simple: through careful design at the onset of a
BPM plan, and continued management and maintenance, company managers are
able to ensure the most efficient and productive functionality of these
systems—and they give us plenty of paper-and-pencil problems to
demonstrate the solvability of BPM.
Indeed, the writers of this book do far more than simply outline a thought
process. By providing complex problems that Operations Management degree
students must work through, the book is a real learning tool. Yet despite
the fact that this text is highly acclaimed as the number one of its kind
for any course in Operations Management, a select few students have complained
about the lengthiness of the calculations. As it turns out, this book
isn’t one you just “open to any page with.” Much of
the solutions are attained by having followed through problems that build
and build upon themselves, often spanning several chapters.
If this textbook were intended to be a bestseller, then it has hugely
missed its mark. However, as a textbook, one can expect a certain continuity.
It may not be the most captivating read, but if you can follow it, you’ll
learn a lot.
The authors outline the major points over which managers have the most
control. These are capacity, quality, inventory and cycle time. From this
basis the authors take us through a rigorous and reasonable step-by-step
approach to achieving success in process management. First and foremost,
we are told, the project involves developing the necessary outlook: build
a model for flow and then make sure that you have and understanding of
the process. After that, it is emphasized that managers should pay close
attention to how enterprise process structures apply to performance metrics.
At this point, the book urges managers to move forward and develop an
actual analysis of how managerial actions and hypothetically eliminated
process drivers affect workflow overall.
Good stuff, huh? And undoubtedly, these are all fascinating ideas. Managing
Business Process Flows sure makes for a good read (well, as far
as textbooks go, that is) -- but what about its real life implementation?
How far will these theories fly?
For starters, let’s start with school. In the academic realm, these
ideas are played out quite well. Many MBA students find that this book
is that one on the list that they really do need to pay attention to:
it’s the one that provides an active guideline for the implementation
of simulated process management exercises. If you are teaching an Operations
Management course, I highly recommend Managing Business Process
Flows.
|
