What is Business Process Maturity?

Business process maturity is an indication of how close a developing process is to continuous improvement.

Before beginning the analysis process, it is important to understand the maturity of the organisation in relation to the Business Process Maturity scale that is defined in the chapter “Enterprise Process Management (Chapter 9) of the CBOK. Understanding the maturity of the organisation in process management will help define the level of analysis preparation needed.

An organisation that is relatively new to the idea of process management will need, first, to be briefed on the concepts of process management that are described in the CBOK. They will need to understand the purpose of process management and the benefits it will provide the organisation. Alternatively, an organisation that already manages its business by process knows the benefits and simply needs to analyse a process in question.

Rating your organisation’s process maturity

There are five levels of process maturity from level 1 (minimal maturity) to level 5 (peak maturity). There is also level 0, which indicates that process mapping has not begun for this activity.

Level 0 – This is for scenarios where the process is not yet documented. At this stage, it is best to begin recording how your processes are currently carried out. This requires rigorous supervision to ensure that you have a full understanding of the activities and all of the details are on the table.
Level 1 – At this point in the processes’ maturity, the activity has been documented and approved. However, as the documentation has only just taken place there is doubt over whether the process is carried out this way consistently and by everyone.
Level 2 – At this level of process maturity the documentation is being deployed, but there are still doubts over inconsistencies. Specifically, the process may not be set up correctly in all locations or understood perfectly by all workers. This would mean that the documentation does not take into account variations in location or circumstance.
Level 3 – By this point deployment is completely consistent across the board. All variations are accounted for and processes link together seamlessly. This results in much greater consistency and communication across the organisation.
Level 4 – The process is now set specific achievable goals, for example, timelines, customer satisfaction and cost. These metrics are measured using custom software and process management platforms.
Level 5 – The methods of how these goals are being met is analysed deeply, in an attempt to identify areas for improvement. The metrics for success are not only being met consistently but are getting tighter and tighter as the team becomes more efficient and effective.

Further resources:

Read how to assess the process maturity of your business
Business Process Management Common Body of Knowledge (BPM CBOK, 2009), The Association of Business Process Management Professionals

Explore more about different process improvement terms in our BPM Glossary.