Process improvement for professionalizing non-profit organizations: BPM approach

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present a proposal for process improvement at the Department of Social Responsibility of a Colombian process-based organization, called CAJASAN. The department has four main processes: Foniñez (children fund), Fosfec (unemployment fund), Project Management and International Cooperation and Network Management and Alliances. The objective of this paper is to suggest an improvement in these processes through BPM application. Design/methodology/approach – The authors followed the BPM method proposed by Dumas et al. (2013) for process improvement composed by process identification; process discovery; process analysis; process redesign; process implementation and process monitoring and controlling. The authors modeled the processes by using the software Bizagi®. Findings – The actual processes work in an independent way and with no communication. Moreover, the department experiences short-term problems solutions and process inefficiency. It was possible to suggest changes in three out of four processes. Practical implications – Implementing BPM in non-profit organizations (NPO) addresses many of the current management challenges faced by such organizations. NPO’s researchers and practitioners should take BPM as a potential way to help in professionalizing them. Originality/value – The authors bring an original case study about a Colombian NPO. As a process-oriented organization, the authors use BPM as a management tool to solve many challenges that the company faces nowadays.