Introduction
Automating a business process is one of the most effective ways to improve efficiency and reduce costs. The value of process automation in your organization can be enormous, but it requires careful planning and execution. If you are considering implementing a new automated solution or adding to an existing system, this guide will give you step-by-step guidance on how to build a successful project from start to finish.
Define your objectives and scope.
Before you start building a process automation project, it’s important to know what you’re trying to achieve. Defining your objectives and scope will help keep the team focused on the right things and prevent them from getting distracted by less important issues.
If you don’t define your goals first, then there is no way of knowing whether or not they’ve been achieved once the project is finished. If your goal is to lose weight by running 5 miles per day for 3 months, then this should be clearly defined so everyone knows what needs doing (and how much time it’ll take). If someone else has a different idea about what success looks like–such as losing 10 pounds instead of 5 or doing more cardio than running–it could cause conflict between members of the team who may feel differently about how best achieve their goals together.
The point here isn’t necessarily about setting one specific objective; rather it’s about making sure everyone agrees on what success looks like before starting work on anything else!
Determine the scope of process automation.
Before you start building a process automation project, it’s important to know what problem you’re solving. This may seem obvious, but many organizations jump right into a solution without first defining their goals and objectives.
You need to identify the problem before defining the solution. If a business has multiple problems, it’s best practice to prioritize them and tackle them one by one so that they can achieve tangible results quickly.
It’s also important not to worry about what other people think their goals should be; focus on your own personal fitness goals instead! You might have heard this advice before: “Be ambitious” or “dream big,” but at some point an overzealous approach will backfire on itself if it isn’t grounded in reality–and there are plenty of examples where ambitious and unrealistic aspirations have led directly into failure (see: The Titanic).
Select a project team.
Now that you’ve identified the business need and scope of your project, it’s time to start building out the team.
The importance of having a project manager cannot be overstated. A PM is responsible for ensuring that everything is on track with respect to both time and cost–and they’re also responsible for making sure that everyone stays focused on delivering results throughout the entire life cycle of a process automation project. This person will help lead meetings and make sure everyone has what they need in order for them to do their job well; as such, this role requires someone who’s comfortable taking charge in situations where there may not be a clear answer yet (or even if there is).
The rest of your team should include training specialists who can teach employees how best use new software applications like JIRA or Salesforce; UX designers who understand how humans interact with technology systems; data analysts who can analyze large datasets; etcetera!
When selecting individuals from these categories (or any others), keep these things in mind:
- Are they knowledgeable enough about what they’re doing? This might seem obvious but often times people get confused when hiring new employees because they don’t know exactly what kind skillsets are needed–and end up hiring someone who doesn’t fit into one particular job description but could potentially fill multiple roles within an organization!
Design the solution.
Design the solution.
You’ve got a problem, and you want to fix it. You’ve identified the objective, scope and team capabilities that will help meet your goals. Now it’s time for some design!
The best way to begin designing your process automation project is by creating a high-level overview of what it will look like when finished. This can be as simple as writing out an outline or creating an Excel spreadsheet with major milestones and tasks listed in order of priority; however you choose to do this step is up to you as long as all parties involved understand what needs done next based on their role in the project (e.g., developers need more information before they can start coding).
Test and deploy the new process automation system.
Once the new process automation system has been developed, it’s time to test it. This can be done in several ways:
- Test the system before deployment. First, you should run through all of your tests on a staging server or other test environment that mimics production as closely as possible. You want to ensure that there are no issues with performance, security or any other potential problems before putting this into production where they could cause big problems down the road.
- Test after deployment but before any change management has been completed (e.g., training). This can help identify bugs and other issues related only to installation rather than those related specifically to user interaction with our software solution
Establish ongoing support for your new process automation system.
Now that your new process automation system is up and running, it’s time to make sure that it stays that way. To do this, you need to establish ongoing support for your new process automation system.
First and foremost, establish a support team–a group of people who are responsible for maintaining the day-to-day operations of the software. This could be as simple as having one person take on this role or an entire department devoted solely to managing it; however you decide to divvy up responsibilities within your company will depend on its size and resources available at any given moment in time (another reason why establishing clear lines between roles is so important).
Next up: establish a support plan so everyone knows what they’re doing when they need help with something technical or out-of-the box related issues come up during their daily work routine(s). This includes things like: how often should we check back in with each other? What are some common problems we might encounter? What steps should we take if something goes wrong? Do we need additional training before tackling certain tasks? How long should our meetings last each week/month/quarter etcetera…
A successful process automation project is one that is designed and implemented well, with a clear understanding of objectives, scope and the effort required to build it
Before you start on a solution, it is critical that you define the problem. You need to be clear about what exactly you are trying to achieve and how much effort it will take. This step is often overlooked by people who get excited about new technology or want to jump into a project before they really understand its purpose.
One of my clients recently told me that he wanted his team members “to be more motivated.” That’s great! But how do we measure motivation? What does motivated look like? How will we know when our goal has been achieved? These are all questions that need answers before any process automation project begins–and this goes for any kind of goal-oriented work: from fitness goals (exercise 5 times per week) through business goals (grow revenue 15{b863a6bd8bb7bf417a957882dff2e3099fc2d2367da3e445e0ec93769bd9401c} year over year) all the way up through personal development goals (learn Spanish).
Conclusion
A successful process automation project is one that is designed and implemented well, with a clear understanding of objectives, scope and the effort required to build it. It’s also important to understand what your users want from the system before you start building it!
