In simple terms, Business process management is the process of designing and maintaining an environment in which individuals, working together in groups, efficiently accomplish selected aims.

It is worth pointing that this basic definition needs to be expanded as managers carry out the managerial functions of planning, organizing, staffing, leading and controlling. Furthermore management applies to any kind of organization. As a matter of fact it applies to managers at all organizational levels. In an ideal scenario the aim of all managers is to create a surplus. Moreover Business process management is concerned with productivity implying effectiveness and efficiency.

If experts are to be believed, many scholars and managers have found that the analysis of business process management is facilitated by a useful and clear organization of knowledge. Thats why when studying management, it is quite mandatory and is of utmost importance to break it down into five managerial functions involving planning, organizing, staffing, leading and controlling. More often than not the knowledge that underlies those functions needs to be organized around these five functions.

Furthermore believe it or not managers are charged with the responsibility of taking actions that will make it possible for individuals to make their best contributions to group objectives. Theoretically speaking always remember that management applies to small and large organizations, to profit and not-for-profit enterprises, to manufacturing as well as service industries. Always remember that the term enterprise refers to businesses, government agencies, hospitals, universities and other organizations. If experts are to be believed, in business process management, all managers carry out managerial functions. Though, the time spent for each function may differ. Thats why top-level managers spend more time on planning and organizing than do lower level managers. On the other side of the coin, leading, takes a great deal of time for first-line supervisors. Moreover the difference in the amount of time spent on controlling varies only slightly for managers at various levels.

It is worth mentioning in this regard that business process management, like all other practices such as medicine, engineering or baseball, is an art. In other word it is know-how. As a matter of fact it is doing things in light of the realities of a situation. Yet fact of the matter is managers can work better by using organized knowledge about management. More often than not it is this knowledge that constitutes a science. Thats why, managing, as practice is an art; the organized knowledge underlying the practice may be referred to as a science.

Theoretically speaking Six Sigma was devised to incorporate continuous improvement in the industry procedures through its methodological systems of identifying faults and correcting them. In other word, it minimizes the number of errors that may occur while a task is being performed. It is worth mentioning in this regard that this is achieved by way of daily scrutiny of the process and sharpening the techniques used therein. In the start, Six Sigma was implemented only in the manufacturing stream but eventually moved on to other fields where it has proved its mettle.

Though, with advancing technology and increasing complexity of situations faced each day mere Six Sigma implementation is not enough. And thats where the Business Process Management gets integrated with Six Sigma to create a better performance-enhancing tool.

BPM

If experts are to be believed, Business Process Management are those set of activities, which are undertaken by a corporation to either better the current processes or alter them to suit new age requirements. Fact remained that this phenomenon supports and modifies the company's processes and gives them useful management strategies, models the data flow, manages people, resources and systems at any given time.

Reason For The Merger

It is worth pointing that the coming together of Business process management and Six Sigma was initiated since what one lacked the other could provide, thereby leading to a better approach towards analysis, understanding and improvising business techniques. For example, remember that Six Sigma lacks the ability to collect large amounts of data, which is instantly provided for by BPM. Pretty much similarly, BPM is deficient in analytical tools to solve a difficult and complex business crisis and needs Six Sigma methodology to intervene.

Usefulness Of The Union

There is no denying that integrating Six Sigma and BPM has led to expansion of a corporation's scope of functionality and its service quality. The below mentioned points explain the changes occurring due to the collaboration.

* First and foremost it helps in processing long-term performance results of the organization since there is a considerable amount of reduction in the number of errors and useless inventory, which in turn eliminates customer dissatisfaction.

* In addition the entire value chains of the institution are illustrated in a better and detailed manner, understood in depth and managed properly.

* In an ideal scenario both the processes together give near perfect estimations, which aid in altering business policies if required and also bring about necessary changes in management procedures that enhance performance levels.

* In simple terms, as Six Sigma fails to effectively control business processes and most of the time relies on the manual methods and control mechanism, which hampers performance initiatives greatly. There is no denying that BPM involvement aids the controlling process and terminates the drawback instantly.

* According to experts, since Six Sigma cannot gather the extensive data required for any research and policy implementation, BPM fills in for this lapse by enhancing the projects by accelerating the collection and distribution of critical data.

* Whats more the product design is improved due to combine application of BPM and Six Sigma. Theoretically speaking such companies are at a better advantage of creating a superior product right at the inception time.

* Always remember that initializing physical, feature wise market growth is possible by focusing on customer expectations and undertaking surveys since BPM is apt at supplying buying patterns and customer attitude records. Believe it or not, punching Six Sigma data into the BPM system is much faster and more precise.