How can you manage governance and ownership of automated processes?

Crafting an effective automation strategy requires a clear vision and precise planning. Start by outlining your objectives, defining success metrics, and identifying necessary resources and skills. Ensure your strategy harmonises with overarching business goals, customer expectations, and regulatory demands. Reflect on how automation will affect stakeholders, including employees, customers, and partners. This strategic framework should inform your choices on which processes to automate, tool selection, and project prioritisation. A thoughtful approach ensures your automation efforts enhance efficiency, meet stakeholder needs, and drive your business forward.

Clarifying roles and responsibilities in process automation is foundational to governance and operational efficiency. By delineating duties across stakeholders, from developers to auditors, you establish a framework that supports accountability and seamless collaboration. Equally vital is setting up robust communication paths and protocols for issue management, ensuring swift, coordinated responses to challenges. This structured approach not only optimizes process oversight but also enhances the adaptability and resilience of automation initiatives, paving the way for sustained success and growth.

Integrating controls and audits is fundamental in managing the governance of automated processes. By establishing clear protocols for access, changes, risks, and incidents, you create a framework that ensures both compliance and efficiency. Regular monitoring and evaluation of automation performance highlight areas for refinement and enhancement. Conducting systematic audits ensures adherence to established standards and regulatory requirements, reinforcing the integrity and reliability of automated operations. This structured approach not only safeguards the process but also optimizes performance, fostering continual improvement and innovation.

In my experience, companies during or post process automation implementation have used these ways to enable governance and ownership : - Assign key Product Owners and data owners during the process dev cycle. - Enable a review cycle for the processes as they evolve, this could be done using BPMN design guidelines and tools like IBM Blueworks live. - Process test cycles are performed before any process change goes live. - An iterative playback methodology is adopted, where any changes to processes are demo to the owners and stakeholders.