What roles are there in process management

Process management role vs. process role

The multitude of process management roles shows just how closely process management and role management are linked together. There is

• den process manager, who is responsible for process management as such
• den process owners, process owner or process owner, who is responsible for the outcome of a process
• den Process experts or even process participants who have a lot of knowledge about a process, e.g. because they carry it out frequently
• den process modeler, which documents processes and frequently presents them graphically
• den Process optimizer, which analyses processes and identifies potential for improvement
• the internal and external Process consultant, which identifies weak points in processes and supports the owners of the other roles in process management

And the list could go on and on.

The examples given are Process management roles. These are important, but they do not focus on specific business processes, but only the roles in the overall process management process.

In addition to process management roles, there are process roles. On the basis of process roles, responsibility is assigned to individual process steps. While the description of process steps includes what (and, in the best case, how something) is being done, naming the process role therefore answers the question of who is doing it. Process roles provide clarity as to who is responsible for completing a process step within a process.

An example:

1. Process step: advertise a new position; the responsible process role is Recruiter
2. Process step: check incoming application documents; the responsible process role is HR manager
3. Process step: invite to a job interview; the responsible process role is the Recruiter
4. Process step: Conduct a job interview; the responsible process role is the Team leader of the specialist department

The fact that different people carry out the individual process steps within a process is an essential core characteristic of processes. This division of labor is accompanied by changing responsibilities for carrying out individual process steps, i.e. interfaces. Roles (descriptions) are an effective means of creating clarity regarding responsibilities and interfaces. This makes it clear that good role management is essential for effective process management.

The variety of process roles

There are different types of process roles:

Line rollers correspond to the structure of an organization. Line roles are often used to advertise and fill positions. A classic line roll is, for example, Purchasing Team Leader.

Technical Roles often go hand in hand with the (system) permissions that role owners have. Individual process steps can only be carried out, for example, by SAP administrator or the Key user be carried out.

Global roles are derived from (legal) requirements. This is how global roles such as data protection officer or the Fire protection officer cross-process cross-cutting issues.

The example of the data protection officer shows that the different types of roles are not absolutely selective: The global role of the data protection officer can also be established as a line role within the organizational structure. This usually happens when the role requires at least the effort of an entire position. Because of such dependencies, it is all the more important to clarify one's own organization-specific roles (understandings).

Another type of role is situational roles. They must be considered separately, because the situational roles always become important when neither a line role nor a technical or global role carries out the process step. This is about, for example, the vacation claim maker, the BANF trigger in the purchasing process or the Call recipient in the customer inquiry process. Situational roles describe responsibilities that often only arise in one or a few processes. It is precisely in these roles that the individuality of organizations is expressed.

Strictly speaking, the process management roles listed above are therefore situational (process) roles that are responsible for individual process steps within the process management process.

Roles provide orientation and are independent of people

Regardless of the type of process role, the following applies: Roles are organizationally standardized. Their description not only reflects tasks, rights and obligations that role owners should fulfill. They also provide a specific scope of action in which role owners are more likely to take action. In other words, roles include expectations and provide orientation.

A key characteristic of roles is that they are independent of persons: For the “Release offer” process step in the offer process, the role is offer maker responsible — not Hendrik Maier, even though he takes on this role in most cases. Why is that so important? Thanks to the person-independent role, the process description remains up-to-date even if Hendrik Maier leaves the organization or changes position within the company.

Process management and role management go together

All of this clearly shows that process management and role management belong together. On the one hand, it must be clear who is responsible for individual process steps in order to be able to fully document processes and make them effective in practice. This is the only way to make interfaces clear and to control information flows and processes. On the other hand, roles are hardly conceivable without mentioning specific activities that are (should) be carried out by the respective role holders. Ideally, process descriptions indicate which activities these are.

-----
Read part II here >> How to describe roles in a process-oriented manner and why this is so important