In today's hyper-connected business landscape, organizations are under increasing pressure. Rapid digitalization, reliance on third-party providers, and the rising frequency of cyberattacks have made operations more complicated. Disruptions like the 2008 financial crisis, IT failures, and major data breaches highlight the devastating impacts on customer trust and entire industries. 

Recognizing these vulnerabilities, regulatory bodies have responded by introducing stringent requirements. For example, the EU’s Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) mandates that financial institutions and service providers operating within the EU meet strict resilience standards by January 2025. Other jurisdictions have introduced similar frameworks, urging businesses to implement robust risk management systems, ensure continuity in critical functions, manage ICT risks, and conduct resilience testing. 

The challenges organizations face 

Compliance with these regulatory requirements comes with several hurdles: 

• Inadequate documentation: Many businesses struggle to fully document their IT infrastructure and operational processes. 
• Breaking down silos: Operational resilience is no longer just the responsibility of IT or risk management teams. Regulators are pushing for a company-wide approach, requiring active involvement from leadership across the entire organization. 
• Data complexity: With risks emerging from both internal systems and third parties, organizations must integrate a wide array of data into a unified framework—a daunting task for many. 
  

A unified process model is the key to addressing these challenges. By mapping out the organization’s processes and connecting them with critical operational data, companies can build a "ground truth" model—a common language for everyone involved. The Process Inventory Framework offers a practical solution, enabling businesses to streamline collaboration and risk management across all departments. 

The first step in creating this model is to conduct interviews at every level of the organization, starting with leadership. By translating their responses into standardized process names (using a verb-noun structure), a detailed inventory can be built. The result is a taxonomy that not only maps the organization’s activities but also incorporates crucial metadata like ownership and alignment with products or services.

Most companies have vast amounts of operational data but struggle with siloed information. To overcome this, businesses must consolidate data on systems, vendors, and processes into a single repository. Anchoring this data to a unified process model ensures consistency and provides a holistic view of operations.

ARIS offers a world-class platform that supports this approach, offering robust tools for managing the complexity of operational processes. ARIS excels in operational resilience by providing: 

• Process modeling: A comprehensive, well-structured taxonomy that offers stakeholders a clear view of how processes function. 
• Data integration: Libraries that connect key operational data, such as IT systems and third-party vendors, with the processes they support. 
• Impact analysis: The ability to visualize the relationships between resources and processes, giving IT and risk teams the insights they need to prioritize controls. 
• Process mining: Real-time insights into process performance, revealing discrepancies between how processes should function and how they are executed in reality. 
• Governance: Workflow and governance features that ensure the process inventory remains up-to-date and accurate. 
  

With this model in place, collaboration across functions can become seamless: 

• Business leaders can identify which processes are critical to the company’s success. 
• IT departments can assess the infrastructure supporting key processes and identify where resilience measures are necessary. 
• Risk managers can evaluate processes from a consistent business-oriented perspective, simplifying risk identification, assessment, and reporting. 
• Testers can define the scope for resilience testing, ensuring all critical processes are accounted for. 
• Third-party risk management  teams can better understand the role of external vendors in supporting key processes. 
• Incident managers can quickly identify the scope of processes and resources needed during a disruption. 
  

To achieve accurate reporting, businesses must integrate their process taxonomy with their risk repository, whether it's part of a GRC (Governance, Risk, and Compliance) platform or another system. This approach provides a unified view of risk across all three lines of defense, offering executives and regulators a comprehensive risk landscape.

As organizations evolve, so must their process inventories. Establishing a  Process Center of Excellence (CoE) ensures that processes are regularly updated, verified, and aligned with business changes. This team can also manage the supporting infrastructure and governance standards. 

The benefits of this model extend far beyond operational resilience. A well-maintained process inventory supports strategic planning, enables efficient transformation programs, improves operational excellence, and fosters a more agile IT environment aligned with business goals. 

While developing and maintaining this process model requires upfront investment, the returns are significant. With improved resilience, satisfied regulators, and enhanced customer protection, this approach delivers long-term value that far outweighs the costs.