Process thinking and stakeholders
You will be able to: Describe any process by trigger, steps, roles, controls, exceptions and output; Identify the stakeholders of an ERP project and what each needs; Classify stakeholders by power and interest and plan how to engage them.
- Read not done yet
- Self-check: not taken not done yet
- Lesson complete not done yet
Process thinking means describing work as a flow of steps instead of a list of screens. For each process you can ask the same six questions, and the answers become your discovery notes.
- Trigger: what starts it? A customer call, a stock shortage, a month end.
- Steps and roles: who does what, in which order?
- Documents: which paper or electronic record is produced at each step?
- Controls: who approves, checks or signs? What stops a mistake?
- Exceptions: what happens when stock is short, a price is wrong, a cheque bounces?
- Output and measure: what is the result, and how would the owner know it went well?
Exceptions deserve extra time. Clients describe the happy path first, but most software configuration, and most arguments, come from exceptions.
Who is a stakeholder
| Stakeholder | Typical person | Cares about | What you need from them |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sponsor | Owner or general manager | Cost, risk, daily visibility | Decisions, budget, public backing |
| Process owner | Sales, purchasing or warehouse manager | Their team's speed and control | Process knowledge, sign-off of their part |
| Finance lead | Accountant or finance manager | Correct books, VAT, month-end | Chart of accounts, opening balances, accounting rules |
| Key user | Experienced clerk or storekeeper | Not being slowed down | Testing, training colleagues |
| End user | Cashier, salesman, data-entry staff | Simple screens, no blame | Attendance at training, honest feedback |
| IT contact | In-house IT or outside provider | Network, PCs, security, backups | Access, hardware, printers |
Power and interest
Plot each person on two scales. High power and high interest: manage closely, with weekly contact. High power and low interest: keep satisfied with short summaries. Low power and high interest: keep informed and use as testers. Low power and low interest: monitor.
Practise in the demo
- Pick any business you know. Write the six process questions for its sales process.
- Open Settings and find Daily Owner Report. Read what it can send and to whom.
- Open https://demo.zeyto.app/demo-app/ and sign in with the demo login. This is a public demo with sample data, so nothing you do there affects a real business.
Public demo company, sign in as admin / demoAdmin123. Data refreshes nightly.
- Describe every process by trigger, steps, documents, controls, exceptions and output.
- Exceptions drive most configuration, so ask about them early.
- Map stakeholders by power and interest, and name an accountable owner for each process.
Check yourself
2 questions on this lesson. Not timed, not the exam, and you can try again. Score 60% or more, and read the lesson, to complete it.