Many people use the terms system and process interchangeably, but we make a distinction between the two. Business Processes are the procedures that define how you do perform the tasks necessary to run your business. Systems are the ways you gather information about the processes, provide guidance to those executing them and hold people accountable to performing the processes as defined.
A system may be as simple as a checklist on the inside of a restroom door showing when it has been cleaned. Or it might be as complex as a Customer Relationship Management system supporting a large sales organization. Systems are often electronic, but they don't have to be. Anything that ensures a process is performed is a system, as is anything that tracks information used to improve a process.
The complexity of a system depends on the business need. Many years ago I was in charge of the training department in a
pharmaceutical manufacturing plant. To comply with the regulatory requirements to document each employee's training, we
had developed a fairly simple hybrid system using a computer to track the training, but maintaining a paper backup as our
official system. It wasn't perfect, but it worked.
Our upper management, in an effort to be supportive, bought a license to what they considered the best system available.
It was an excellent system, but it was built for a company that sent employees to outside training classes. All of our
training was in-house, and most of it was one on one. The fact that the system tracked travel expenses and hotel costs
provided no value at all. After spending so much money on this system, I was not given the option of not using it. So,
we spent the next year changing all of our training procedures so they could be documented using this labor saving system.
You should only have to change the process if it is a bad process. You should not have to change the process to match the
system.
Our flagship product is the TriplePoint Advantage™, a web based system to help you manage your business processes. It's a modular design makes it highly configurable, allowing you to use the parts of the system that meet your needs without including things you don't use.