Policy, Process And Business Management

Developing effective policies and meaningful processes has been a business' most trying experience, especially for small and mid-sized businesses, but it doesn't need to be. Historically, companies have relied on consultants that deliver a thick binder's worth of recommendations on what to do to make your business more efficient. In these same binders, there is rarely, if ever, a simple, fast and effective means to ensure that the processes and policies proposed are capable of working as designed or are adaptive to the ever-changing business environment. One key missing ingredient is usually the how.

Adopting an innovative enterprise content management and workflow solution can allow your business to 1) design both ad hoc and rules-based business processes, and 2) provide a dynamic platform for optimizing business policies based on measurable process metrics. With an advanced technology in place, users can take a document-centric approach to policy and process development to "Simplify the Workplace" and take the burden out of business.

Policy sets the guidelines for a successful outcome and is based on a previous accomplishment or failure. In addition, policy should provide a course of action that will hopefully yield positive results. It's a treasure map with a legend, set trail and all the booby traps uncovered. If this is not the case for your business policies, than there is room for improvement. For example, a good policy for an Accounting Department would be to "ensure that in every order, invoice number X matches with purchase order number Y and that purchase order number Y matches the items on the shipping document before posting payment." By specifying the parameters for a beneficial outcome, the process provides the needed "checks and balances" to prevent fraud, fines and costs of audit.