Article Contents:
Business process checklist:
Running a small business is no easy feat.
As a business owner, you juggle countless responsibilities, from managing finances to ensuring your products or services meet customer expectations.
Amidst all this, it’s easy to overlook the importance of clear, well-defined business processes. Yet, these processes are the foundation that keeps your business running smoothly.
Think of business processes as the roadmap that guides you and your team through daily operations.
They help you stay organized, ensure consistency, and make it easier to scale your business as you grow.
When each function of your business—whether marketing, sales, operations, or finance—has a set process, you can tackle challenges with confidence, knowing you have a plan in place.
This article is here to support you in that journey. It offers a function-wise checklist of business processes explicitly crafted with small business owners like you in mind.
Whether you’re just starting or looking to refine your operations, these checklists will help you streamline your efforts, reduce stress, and focus on what matters—growing your business.
Business process checklist :OPERATIONS function
- Do you know the critical equipment/processes affecting your production delivery schedule?
- Do you have critical equipment/process performance metrics to track daily effectiveness?
- Have you leveled your production rate equally on all the days?
- Do you know your existing capacity utilization index?
- Are you seeing a reduction trend in your delivery lead time?
- Are you taking measures to reduce your lead time compared to last year?
- Are you meeting 100% delivery actualization for all customers?
- Do you have a measure for inventory?
- Daily, do you track OEE measures in your critical machine/manufacturing line?
- Are you tracking changeover loss from one customer product to another?
- Are you tracking rejection costs for each customer?
- Is there a reduction trend in rejection cost for each customer?
- Are you tracking equipment downtime loss every day?
- Do you have a system to review your operations performance daily?
- Is your operation’s team aware of DAILY PRODUCTION TARGET?
- Does your team practice structured problem-solving methodologies, tools, and techniques?
- Is your plant layout helping you improve the material/communication flow?
- Are you tracking safety incidents daily?
- Is your team aware of safety practices in preventing and detecting mechanical/electrical/fire hazards?
- Are you tracking the cost of quality in your organization?
Business process checklist :FINANCE function
- Are you tracking your profit and loss every month?
- Are you tracking your expenses in each category of customers/functions/processes?
- Do you have organizational initiatives to reduce the cost?
- Do you track inventory every month?
- Are you regularly calibrating your system vs. physical stock inventory?
- Do you have key ratio metrics for your business operations?
- Do you have a budget for each process/plant/function/customer-specific expense?
- Do you know your breakeven point for your business operations?
- Do you have exclusive KPIs for cost and profitability areas?
- Have you identified and made anyone accountable for statutory compliance on time and quality?
Business process checklist :SALES & MARKETING function
- Are you tracking sales performance for each customer every month, quarterly, and annually?
- Do you have a sales target for each month, and have you communicated it to them?
- Do you have a lost sales order analysis every month?
- Do you have a standard policy on pricing decisions and estimation?
- Do you have a single point contact for handling customer orders?
- Do you compare your intended profitability and achieved profitability for each customer?
- Do you have a structured process to execute the sales order on time and cost?
- Do you have a strategy for improving sales performance for each customer based on volume and value proposition?
- Do you have the sales forecasts and order fulfillment plans on a common platform for the next three months?
- Do you have a forum to discuss the operational performance of sales together?
Business process checklist: PEOPLE MANAGEMENT function
- Have you assessed your organization’s talent mapping?
- Do you have an organizational structure with clear roles and responsibilities?
- Do you have a competency mapping of your employees?
- Do you have plans for developing your employees, at least for those in critical positions?
- Do you have any engagement initiatives in your organization?
- Do you measure attrition/absenteeism as your priority measures?
- Do you have a communication forum with your team?
- Have you created a conducive environment for the team to experiment or take risks?
- Have you systematically created a process for recruitment?
- Do you have a system or process to capture the employee’s voice about the organization?
Business process checklist: STRATEGIC FOCUS
- Do you have a growth plan for the next 3 years?
- Are you spending 30–40% of your time on growth and developmental aspects rather than operational issues?
- Do you have factory master plans for 3–5 years?
- Are you depending on one customer or industry too heavily?
- Do you have diversification across industry customers/demographic customer base?
- Do you have a broad succession plan at your level?
- Do you have the clarity to increase our profitability or sales turnover?
- Have you ever evaluated your business risk?
- Have you initiated lean system thinking in your organization?
- Have you identified your core competency and nurtured the same?
Business process checklist: New Product focus
- Are you meeting your customer’s specified development time in your new product development?
- Do you have project management practices in your new product development process?
- Do you have a dedicated team for value-creation activities?
- Do you have a reliable, consistent plan to reach new customers?
- Do you have any measure to evaluate the success of developmental efforts?
- Are you responding to your potential customer’s query within 2 days’ time?
- Do you have an exclusive team to manage the customer’s requirements or expectations?
- Do you have a development or marketing budget in your organization?
- Do you have an updated website?
- Do you track development expenses exclusively?
- Do you have practices of adding value to customer’s designs/materials or processes?
- Do you have a structured and informal process to get the customer’s feedback about your product and services?
