Censure (verb): To express severe disapproval of something. Related verbs include dis - to show disrespect for, disparage, belittle, insult, or criticize - and shun - to deliberately avoid or keep away from something.
Business transformation takes many forms, including Business Process Reengineering (BPR), business process improvement, Lean, digital transformation, enterprise systems modernization, performance management, and related strategic initiatives. Each is intended to improve organizational agility, enterprise effectiveness, operational efficiency, and customer and business value.
Whether an organization is evaluating Digital Transformation vs. Business Process Reengineering (BPR), modernizing enterprise applications, or undertaking a major process transformation, I maintain that the foundation of the initiative begins with a solid current-state - or “as-is” - process map and sophisticated current-state analysis.
I’ll go a step further and draw an unequivocal line in the sand: current-state mapping and analysis are essential to successful business transformation initiatives. They provide the factual foundation for identifying process problems, understanding business requirements, performing Business Process Gap Analysis, and determining what truly needs to change.
Why Current-State Mapping and Analysis Matter
My experience is that the vast majority of organizations - and the subject matter experts, stakeholders, analysts, technical professionals, and managers within them - clearly and intuitively understand the value of current-state mapping and analysis.
However, from time to time I encounter small but steadfast pockets of management, staff, and even business and systems analysts who censure - or dis - the value of current-state mapping and analysis and shun its inclusion in transformation initiatives.
These positions often emerge when organizations focus prematurely on future-state design, technology selection, BPR tools, or implementation methods without first developing a rigorous understanding of how the business operates today.
Common refrains from this camp include:
“We already know what we do. Let’s just skip to what we need to be doing going forward - so there is no need to map and analyze existing processes.”
“Our current processes are dysfunctional. We are going to radically transform to new lean, agile processes - so there is no need to map and analyze existing processes.”
“We are implementing new enterprise systems and adopting best practices provided by the solution vendor - so there is no need to map and analyze existing processes.”
- and on and on it goes.
The Risks of Skipping Current-State Analysis
At a minimum, the censure camp does a disservice to the organization by creating uncertainty among management, subject matter experts, staff, and other stakeholders about the value of current-state mapping and analysis. That uncertainty can reduce stakeholder engagement in the transformation initiative and contribute to less-than-optimal outcomes.
Far more frequently, however, censuring current-state mapping and analysis can unintentionally inflict significant harm. Organizations may begin designing solutions before they understand the underlying business problems, process gaps, dependencies, business rules, data requirements, and root causes that the transformation is supposed to address.
This is one reason BPR initiatives often fail to deliver transformative results. Without a disciplined understanding of the current state, teams can mistake symptoms for root causes, automate ineffective processes, overlook critical requirements, or design a future state that fails to address the organization’s real business needs.
Rigorous current-state analysis is also closely connected with effective Change Management. When stakeholders understand the current environment, the reasons for change, and the gaps between current and desired performance, they are better positioned to participate in and support the transformation.
10 Perilous Misconceptions of Censuring Current State Mapping & Analysis
This post and the associated 18-page in-depth white paper examine 10 Perilous Misconceptions of Censuring Current State Mapping & Analysis. They are intended for two audiences: the large majority of professionals who already recognize the value of current-state analysis, and the smaller group who question or censure its role in business transformation.
For those already committed to current-state mapping and analysis, the post and white paper provide a strong business case for the discipline and useful perspectives for socializing its value among project participants, executives, business stakeholders, and transformation teams.
For those in the censure camp, my experience is that the resistance often stems from a prior bad experience with current-state mapping and analysis. Poorly facilitated workshops, excessive documentation, analysis without purpose, or techniques that fail to engage business stakeholders can understandably create skepticism.
My hope is that this post and the associated white paper provide new perspectives that enable those professionals to jettison that baggage, reconsider the role of current-state analysis, and recognize how disciplined mapping and analysis can contribute to successful transformation.
Current-State Analysis as a Foundation for Transformation
Current-state mapping is not about preserving the status quo. It is about understanding the business well enough to determine what should be retained, eliminated, redesigned, automated, simplified, or transformed.
In that sense, current-state mapping provides a practical foundation for how to analyze a business system: understanding business processes, activities, information flows, business rules, systems interactions, organizational responsibilities, performance gaps, and the requirements that connect the current state to the desired future state.
The same discipline is important when evaluating the benefits of IT modernization. New technology creates value only when it supports the right business processes, requirements, data, decisions, and operating model. Technology modernization without sufficient business analysis can simply automate existing problems at greater speed and scale.
It's a complex, globally competitive, rapidly changing business environment. Ask yourself some critical questions: Are your organization’s business processes and supporting applications keeping pace with ever-increasing demands for organizational effectiveness, operational efficiency, and enterprise agility?
Does your team have the critical-thinking skills and analysis techniques needed to rapidly identify, analyze, and articulate essential business requirements? Can you define and specify those requirements at the level of detail necessary to support business-system requirements and effective solution design?
If you can, what are the benefits? If you can’t, what are the risks? Successful transformation and modernization require deep business knowledge, disciplined analysis, sound judgment, and seasoned experience.
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