Process management is the administration and constant improvement of the productive processes of a business.
When we talk about production processes, we mean that it incorporates different areas of knowledge ranging from economics , engineering and marketing , to psychology and human behavior.
Process management constantly seeks efficiency in all its productive processes, which is why it evaluates and implements measures that contribute to this objective.
What tools exist to improve processes?
Any tool that allows analyzing and taking action on a process is useful. Here some of the best known and taught in business schools.
- SWOT or SWOT:First identify Strengths, Opportunities, Weaknesses and Threats. So far it is analysis. But if the strengths are used to counteract the Threats and the Opportunities are taken to alleviate the weaknesses, it is a process improvement.
| Strengths | Opportunities |
| Weaknesses | Threats |
- CANVAS: Tool to identify and improve the internal and external processes of a business.
These tools are more linked to the commercial development of a company, but there are also others that contribute to the optimization of industrial processes, where engineering has played a fundamental role, through systems that seek the best solution. For example, linear programming, where by means of a graph a feasible region is established and finally applying a tool called SIMPLEX, the point with the best solution is found.
SIMPLEX is commonly used in Industrial Engineering and like any good tool, it has been digitized and can be found free on the Internet for academic use and by purchasing licenses for business use.
Difference between process management and management control
Management control monitors processes that are mainly carried by people, for example, sales. This management is assigned follow-up indicators, but performance is only related to people.
Process management involves processes that, although they can be led by people, are also built through industrial systematization. For example, measure the performance of an ERP software and decide to change it because the characteristics of the company demand greater efficiency and size.
Reengineering is also part of process management and means undoing everything to build from scratch; processes carried by people and by machines.
For example, changing the organizational structure of a company is process management, because it was identified that it is too rigid and bureaucratic, with processes that do not add value and generate “fat”, which translates into wasted time and money.
If new resources in modern knowledge, training and software are also applied to this reengineering, the company should change its performance in a structural way to align with what the market is demanding.
From marketing process management establishes a balance between what is spent and the profitability of marketing actions.
It is somewhat complex, because marketing is one of the most difficult things to measure accurately, but comparisons can be made between campaigns implemented in different periods and analyze what type of campaigns were the most appropriate according to the sales response.
Summary of process management
In summary, process management is a constant practice of companies to improve their production processes in all areas, whether they are carried only by people, or also between people and machines.
The evaluation of these results, as in any type of control, must have associated performance indicators so as not to bias decisions regarding the elimination or correction of a process.
In short, the process management is dedicated to work on them and the management control to supervise that they are executed correctly.
