Why?

The People phase (Figure 18.1) is a crucial phase in any BPM process implementation, and unless it is handled thoroughly and to a high standard, the rest of the project will be put at risk. It is important to understand clearly that this is different from the Implement phase, which focuses on the roll-out of the solution. The People phase will usually be conducted at the same time as the Develop phase of the project. The Develop phase creates the automated (or otherwise) solution, and People phase creates the roles and people measurement solutions.

Figure 18.1: People phase.

The purpose of this phase is to ensure that the activities of the individuals who will be executing the new processes are in alignment with the agreed organization and process goals established in earlier phases of the project.

At the end of the day, it is people that will make processes function effectively and efficiently, no matter how much they are automated. If you do not get the people on board with the project and new processes, then they will find a way to ensure that the processes either do not work or do not work efficiently.

(Note: While this statement is true, it has to be balanced with commercial reality, and we will cover this later in Step 4 of this chapter.)

This phase is where business staff and management have their job goals defined and job descriptions redesigned or created. The manner in which their performance will be...