Discover insights on the importance of structuring business processes with both functional and end-to-end hierarchies, as well as the challenges of process ownership across organizations.
A new LinkedIn newsletter of Caspar Jans was published on Feb 28, 2025 with the original title:
S04E02: The Process Hierarchy and Politics
Overview:
The latest episode discusses the critical importance of process hierarchy in managing business processes. It emphasizes maintaining two connected hierarchies: a functional hierarchy and an end-to-end hierarchy. The content also addresses the complexities in assigning ownership to processes across different functions.
Core content:
- The discussion centers around establishing a functional hierarchy starting from broad functional domains and decomposing them into specific business processes.
- An end-to-end process hierarchy is essential for managing processes that surpass functional boundaries, such as procure-to-pay and order-to-cash.
- Assigning ownership of end-to-end processes can be politically sensitive and should focus on the process with the greatest impact.
- The need to adapt process hierarchy for variations across countries or product lines is highlighted, complicating the structure further.
Learnings:
- Understand the significance of a functional hierarchy in structuring business processes for effective governance and management.
- Learn the value of an end-to-end hierarchy in addressing processes that involve multiple functions and ensuring seamless operations.
- Grasp the critical considerations in process ownership assignment within cross-functional processes.
- Recognize the challenges and considerations in differentiating processes according to various operational contexts.
The original content was published in English.
