Business Processes

A Business Process is best defined as any function within an organization that enables the organization to successfully deliver its products and services. A simple analogy would be to look at an organization as a wheel and the individual Business Processes are the spokes to the wheel.
Having just one or two spokes loose, can make a wheel out-of-balance. The longer a wheel runs out of balance the more damaging the effect to the organization. When the wheel on a cart becomes so unstable that its primary function fails, you would simply replace the wheel. Obviously, an organization cannot simply replace itself... but your Customer can and will replace the wheel (you the Supplier) if you fail to perform to the Customers' needs and expectations.

Obviously this is a very simplistic and extreme analogy about the operation of an organization. But, when you step back and look at the products and services you purchase yourself, it actually becomes a little more understandable. You wouldn't maintain a business relationship with a supplier if the suppliers' own internal Business Processes prevented the supplier from performing its best. You would probably go to another supplier.

Organizational structure throughout the many diverse industries vary, but for the most part, all organizations perform similar Business Processes. Whether you are from a large or small corporation, government agency, or a non-profit association, to a large extent, you share common Business Processes with other industries. The Business Process of Human Resources for one industry can be very similar to another. In fact, the Human Resource Business Processes may even be a Critical Success Factor for another industry such as an Employee Temp Service. So being able to Benchmark with that other industry is going to help you bring your own Human Resources Business Process to even higher standards than your own industry standard. Net effect, after implementing change from your Benchmarking exercise, you hopefully become the new Industry Leader for that particular Business Process.

So where does The Benchmarking Exchange come into play? The following list of Business Processes are just some of the many Business Processes covered on TBE. TBE members help each other by exchanging information in the form of surveys, completed benchmarking studies, question sets, list of Best-In-Class companies, and many other types of information as well as communicate with one another on the disciplines of benchmarking and process improvement.


ACTIVITY BASED COSTING
ACCOUNTING
ACQUISITIONS
ASSEMBLY
ASSET MANAGEMENT
BALANCED SCORECARD
BENCHMARKING
BILLING BUDGET
CALIBRATION
CALL CENTERS
CHARITY
COMPLAINT HANDLING
CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT
CONTRACTING
COST CONTROLS
COST MEASURING
CREATIVITY
CREDIT MANAGEMENT
CUSTOMER - REQUIREMENTS
CUSTOMER - SATISFACTION
CUSTOMER - SERVICE
CUSTOMER - TRAINING
DEBT COLLECTION
DELIVERY
DIRECT MAIL
DISASTER RECOVERY
DISTRIBUTION
DOCUMENT CONTROL
DONATING
EMERGENCY PREPARATION
EMPLOYEE - ATTENDANCE EMPLOYEE - BENEFITS
EMPLOYEE - COMMUNICATION
EMPLOYEE - COMPENSATION
EMPLOYEE - DEVELOPMENT
EMPLOYEE - EVALUATION
EMPLOYEE - INCENTIVE PROGRAMS
EMPLOYEE - RECOGNITION
EMPLOYEE - RECRUITING
EMPLOYEE - RETENTION / TURNOVER
EMPLOYEE - SATISFACTION
EMPLOYEE - SUGGESTIONS
EMPLOYEE - TRAINING
ENGINEERING
ENVIRONMENT
EXTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS
FACILITY MANAGEMENT
FAILURE ANALYSIS
FAILURE MEASURING
FAILURE MONITORING
FINANCE
FLEET MANAGEMENT
FRANCHISING
FREIGHT
HEALTH & SAFETY
HELP DESKS
HUMAN RESOURCES
INFORMATION MANAGEMENT
INFORMATION SYSTEMS & TECHNOLOGY
INNOVATION
INSPECTION
INTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS INTERNSHIP
INVENTORY MANAGEMENT
ISO
KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT
LEADERSHIP
LOGISTICS
LOSS MANAGEMENT
SECURITY MANAGEMENT
MAINTENANCE
MANAGEMENT
MANUFACTURING
MARKETING
MATERIAL MANAGEMENT
MENTORING
MERGERS
OPERATIONS
ORDER FULFILLMENT
ORDER PROCESSING
OUTSOURCING
PAYROLL
PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENT
PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT
PLANNING
POLICY
PROCESS IMPROVEMENT
PROCESS MANAGEMENT
PROCUREMENT
PRODUCT DELIVERY
PRODUCT DESIGN
PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT
PRODUCT MANAGEMENT PROJECT MANAGEMENT
PUBLIC RELATIONS
PURCHASING
QUALITY
QUALITY ASSURANCE
QUALITY IMPROVEMENT
RECORDS MANAGEMENT
RECYCLING
REENGINEERING
REFURBISHING
REGULATIONS
REPAIR
RELIABILITY
RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT
RESTORATION
RISK MANAGEMENT
SALES
SECURITY
SELF DIRECTED TEAMS
SERVICE
SERVICE DELIVERY
STEWARDSHIP
STAFFING
STRATEGIC PLANNING
SUPPLIER MANAGEMENT
TELECOMMUTING
TESTING
VENDOR RELATIONS
VOLUNTEERING
WAREHOUSING
WARRANTY
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WORKFORCE DIVERSITY