How To Create Your Master Business System

This last few weeks has been a series of endings and beginnings for me.  I have finished up working with some really great clients as they are now able to manage their systems and business much more efficiently, and new beginnings as I start work with some new clients, and launch the Process Makeover DRIVE System.  Its all very exciting and this weekend before it all gets into full swing, I'm getting back to nature with a bush walk up to one of South East Queensland's most beautiful lookouts.  

The Process Makeover DRIVE System is here!   Keep an eye out in your inbox on Monday 4th July AEST time as I'll be sending out the first official email letting you know where you can sign up for the FREE video training on the Process Makeover System.  Here's an overview of this exciting new system:

How To Create Your Master Business System

What is your Master Business System?  Well, it is a holistic view of your entire business systems strategy and how all the different pieces of your business fit together.  To get started creating your Master Business System you will need to map it out on paper.  It will be a strategic document that will help to direct the development and growth of your business.  But before we get into the steps to creating a Master Business Systems Plan, it’s important to understand that systems exist in your business at the highest level, and within each system there will be a number of processes.  Within each process, there will be a number of steps required to execute it.  These steps are your procedures and it’s likely that each step in the process will be a separate procedure and therefore require a separate procedure document, such as a checklist.

First you need to identify the key areas of your business.  These could include high level areas such as marketing, operations, fulfilment, finance, and sales. 

Once you’ve worked out what the key areas of your business are, you need to identify what things are important to you in those areas – these are called your performance measures.  This is where you’re looking to see what you would want to measure and track on a regular basis because it directly impacts the success of your business.  For example, some important measurements are:  the number of new customers that you get each month, the number of refunds you get each month, the number of enquiries you get each month, the average dollar sales per month, and the average number of transactions per month.

The next stage of creating your Master Business System is to identify the existing processes that you have in your business, followed by the new additional processes you will need to measure the things that are important to your business.  Right here what you’re doing is just identifying the name of the processes that you currently have and that you will need.  It’s important to note here that a process could have a number of procedures attached to it if there are many different steps.  For example a procedure could actually be needed to do each step of the process if it is complex.

After you have you processes identified, you will need to take each one separately and work out the steps for part of the process and determine what procedures you will need.  You’ll then need to make a note of all the different procedures required for each process.

 Next you’ll need to work out what roles (or jobs) to assign to each of the processes.  Its a good idea to work out at a role level who does what so that if the person leaves, that function is tied to a job, not a person.  For example you will identify if certain processes are to be done by an Admin Officer, Virtual Assistant, Book Keeper, Purchasing Officer, Marketing Manager etc.  This exercise is also useful to clarify if you have things that need doing in your business where you don’t currently have a role (or a person).

Finally the last step is to allocate people’s names to the various processes and to link your performance measures.  This way a person will be responsible for performing a role, and the role is responsible for performing certain processes where there are performance measures linked to it.

Creating your Master Business System Plan is not a quick or easy process.  But it is a worthwhile one and one that will help you to clarify what you’re actually doing in your business and more importantly, WHY you’re doing it.