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The Complete Guide to Business Process Flow (BPF) — Designing a Project Phase Management System Where Everyone on the Team Doesn't Get Lost in "What Should We Do Next?"

Hello, this is Matsubara, CRM Evangelist.

"I have to ask the person in charge every time to find out what stage the project is at."

"The deal had stalled, but nobody noticed, and we ended up losing it."

"The next action taken when the phase changes varies depending on the person in charge."

This is something I hear repeatedly from managers who oversee sales teams.

All of these issues stem from a single problem: "Project progress is becoming dependent on individual employees."

EMOROCO CRM Lite's BPF (Business Process Flow) transforms project phase management from "something that exists only in the minds of the person in charge" to "a visible organizational design."

What is BPF? — A system for managing projects in "phases."

BPF (Business Process Flow) is a function that manages the progress of cases, applications, and responses in "phases" (stages).

[Basic Concepts of BPF]

A phase indicates the current stage of a project.

Example: Phase of a business negotiation
　Order received → Initial meeting → Proposal in progress → Negotiation in progress → Order confirmed / Order lost

You can set "completion conditions" for each phase.
By designing the system so that it cannot proceed to the next phase unless the completion conditions are met,
This prevents you from "just moving on to the next phase without really understanding why."

The greatest value of BPF is that it allows you to design a system where "you can see what to do next just by looking at the phases."

Three problems that can be solved with BPF

Problem 1: The current status of the project is "unknown unless you ask the person in charge."

Setting up BPF (Business Process Framework) makes the phase of a project immediately visible on the project list screen.
Managers don't need to ask the person in charge, "What's the current status?" because they can see at a glance on the screen whether it's "in proposal," "in negotiation," or "awaiting order confirmation."

Problem ②: "Nobody notices that the project is stalled."

By combining the phase and the "last updated date," you can automatically detect projects that have not progressed from the "proposal phase" for more than two weeks.
By integrating with workflows, it's also possible to design a system that "notifies the manager if the phase remains unchanged for a certain period of time."

Problem 3: "The next action varies depending on the person in charge."

By setting "completion criteria (checklists)" for each phase, the "standards for what needs to be done in this phase" are shared with all team members.
The quality of service will no longer differ between veterans and newcomers.

Business Process Framework (BPF) Design Examples: Industry-Specific Phase Design

Design Example 1: General Business Negotiation (B2B Sales)

Phase 1: Lead
　Completion conditions:
　　□ Registration of basic information (company name, contact person, contact details)
　　□ Completed interviews to understand challenges and needs.
　　□ Initial setting of emotional temperature

Phase 2: Initial interview completed
　Completion conditions:
　　□ Record of interviews regarding the issues (narrative)
　　□ Confirmation of decision-makers
　　□ Agreement on next action

Phase 3: Proposal in progress
　Completion conditions:
　　□ Submission of proposal
　　□ Explanation of the proposed content completed
　　□ Understanding concerns and objections

Phase 4: Under Negotiation
　Completion conditions:
　　□ Submission of quotation
　　□ Records of negotiations
　　□ Meeting with the decision-maker

Phase 5: Order Confirmation / Order Loss
　Order received: □ Confirmation of receipt of purchase order/contract
　Lost deal: □ Record the reason for the lost deal (required for learning purposes)

Design Example 2: Inheritance Registration (for Judicial Scrivener Offices)

Phase 1: Acceptance of the contract
　□ Signature and seal on the power of attorney
　□ Receipt of retainer fee
　□ Confirmation and recording of legal deadlines

Phase 2: Document Collection
　□ Collection of family register transcripts
　□ Obtaining a fixed asset valuation certificate
　□ Resident registration certificates and seal certificates of all heirs

Phase 3: Application Preparation
　□ Preparation of the registration application form
　□ Confirmation and approval from the client
　□ Calculation of registration license tax

Phase 4: Application submitted
　□ Application to the Legal Affairs Bureau completed
　□ Record of reception number
　□ Progress report to the client

Phase 5: Completed
　□ Delivery of registration identification information
　□ Receipt of payment
　□ After-sales support settings

Design Example ③: Real Estate Brokerage (Buying and Selling)

Phase 1: Customer Acquisition and Initial Consultation
　□ Hearing about desired conditions
　□ Initial setting of emotional temperature
　□ Record of budget, area, and type

Phase 2: Property Proposal
　□ Creating a list of proposed properties
　□ Setting up a viewing
　□ Update of reaction/emotional temperature

Phase 3: Application and Negotiation
　□ Receipt of purchase application form
　□ Check the loan pre-approval
　□ Record of negotiations with the seller

Phase 4: Contract
　□ Completion of explanation of important matters
　□ Conclusion of sales contract
　□ Confirmation of receipt of down payment

Phase 5: Payment and Delivery
　□ Confirmation of payment of remaining balance
　□ Key handover
　□ Confirmation of registration completion
　□ Setting up after-sales support (referral request)

Integration of BPF and workflows—automatic operation when the phase changes.

The true power of BPF is unleashed when it's integrated with workflows.

[Example of BPF x Workflow Integration]

① Automatic notification when the phase changes
　Trigger: Change Phase = "Order Confirmation"
　action:
　　- Slack notification to manager
　　- Automatically create invoice drafts in freee
　　- Automatically generate a "Post-Order Follow-up" task after 30 days.

② Detection of long-term retention
　Trigger: Phase = No change for 21 days from "Proposing".
　action:
　　- Create a task for the person in charge: "The negotiation is stalled."
　　・ LINE notification to manager

③ Promoting learning after losing a deal
　Trigger: Change Phase = "Lost Order"
　action:
　　- Immediately generate the "Record Reasons for Lost Deal" task.
　　- Automate the request for lost deal analysis to ChatGPT (Zapier integration)

④ Check for failure to meet phase completion conditions
　Trigger: Phase change
　Action: Display a warning if there are any unchecked completion conditions.

The difference between BPF and pipeline management: "Phase management" and "pipeline management"

CRMs like Pipedrive also have a similar function called "pipeline management." Let's clarify the differences between them and BPF.

[Pipeline management (e.g., Pipedrive)]
- Drag and drop the business negotiation card to move it to the next stage.
- Primarily manage the progress of sales negotiations for "new business development."
- Managing customer relationships after receiving an order is not part of the design.

[EMOROCO CRM Lite BPF]
- You can set "completion conditions (checklist)" for each phase.
・Can also be used for follow-up and ongoing management after receiving an order.
- Integrated design with emotional temperature and narrative
• Automatic integration with workflows
• Industry-specific phase design (e.g., legal services, real estate, construction companies)

In particular, the "setting completion conditions" feature is unique to BPF.
This prevents the tendency to "just move on to the next phase without a clear plan" and ensures consistent quality.

Three steps to get started with BPF

STEP 1: Write down your company's project flow on paper (10 minutes)

First, write down the typical steps involved in completing a project for your company.

Question 1: From accepting a project to completing it
　　　　What are the different "stages"?

Question 2: What are the "must-do" things at each stage?

Question 3: What are the conditions for determining that a stage is "completed"?

The answers to these three questions form the design framework of BPF.

STEP 2: Set up BPF in EMOROCO CRM Lite (30 minutes)

Enter the exported flow into the BPF settings screen in EMOROCO CRM Lite.
You can set phase names and completion conditions for each phase without writing any code.

STEP 3: Set up one workflow for when the phase changes.

We'll start with the simplest workflow: "Send a Slack notification when an order is confirmed."
The experience of "something changing when the phase shifts" increases motivation to utilize BPF (Business Process Framework).

Summary: From "making projects visible" to "organizational learning"

BPF is a tool for "visualizing the current status of a project," but with continued use, it becomes a tool for "organizational learning."

As the completion criteria for each phase accumulate, we begin to see the patterns that lead to orders being placed by our company.
As records of the reasons for lost deals accumulate, patterns of "why we lose" become apparent.

"What were the differences between the projects we won and the projects we lost, and at what phase?" — Data that answers this question is naturally accumulated through the continuous operation of BPF.

First, start by outlining your company's project flow.
That's the first step in BPF design.

Click here for a 30-day free trial of EMOROCO CRM Lite.
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Person who wrote this article
Shinsuke Matsubara

Arcus Japan Representative Director / CRM Consultant
Click here for detailed profile
He has worked as a system engineer, architect, and consultant at Accenture and other companies, an evangelist at Infragistics (Microsoft MVP for Dynamics CRM (now Microsoft MVP for Business Solutions)), and a solutions specialist at Microsoft (in charge of Dynamics CRM products).He currently leads a service team specializing in CRM, supporting CRM implementation and business launches for companies of all sizes.At the same time, he works as a CRM evangelist, spreading the idea of "true" CRM through events and article contributions.
Having learned CRM at Accenture, and having advocated and globally popularized CRM 2.0 (platform-based CRM) at Microsoft, he is a legitimate successor to CRM and the longest-serving active CRM expert (CRM consultant/CRM doctor), having received an award at Worldwide.
Since then, as a leading expert in CRM who advocates CRM 3.0 (Personalized CRM) and CRM 4.0 (Creative CRM), he has been interviewed and received numerous awards both domestically and internationally from publications such as The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, TIME, WORLDCOM, Mainichi Shimbun (Weekly Economist), and Nippon Cultural Broadcasting. He has also been selected as a representative company of the Kansai business community by "Keizaikai" for four consecutive years.
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