The rationalization of administrative processes

One of the inalienable purposes of organizations is the creation of value for their stakeholders. In an enterprise, value is created by primary activities (logistics, operating ac-tivities, marketing/sales and services), that is, those activities that directly contrib-ute to the creation of the output (products and services) of organizations. Support activities are necessary in order for the output to be produced and distributed. However, these may risk destroying all or part of the created value, since their contribution to output creation is indirect and they take up, to carry out the processes entrusted to them, considerable human and technological resources. Among support activities, a key role is played by the administration, whose purpose may be briefly defined as the measurement and management of the value created by the primary activities. Just like the enterprise as a whole, (quote) the organization of the human and technical resources dedicated to the administration should be effective, efficient and economical. The purpose of this contribution is the identification of adequate measurement systems of the performance of administrative processes. This system may generate a rationalization of administrative processes, improve their quality and contribute to the company development. A rational, effective, efficient and economical ad-ministration preserves the created value. In the following paragraphs, the starting hypotheses of the framework will be reviewed. The framework will then be illustrated with a description of one of its possible applications. Finally, a discussion on the results and a few considerations will follow.