BPM - A working definition
There is great confusion as to the definition of BPM [business process management]. We have been trying to sort this out for years - I believe this is on the money...
Let’s define a process as a collection of related, structured activities [a chain of events] that produce a service or product. They are performed daily and their costs are not insignificant. A product can be a manufactured item, an insurance policy, software, a home mortgage, medicine, etc.
Let’s identify another process - the process to define, measure and improve your processes – we call it a ‘process optimization process’. This process should get more attention than it does, because this is where you uncover improvement opportunities.
And, Business Processes exist on 2 levels – the people and the technology. In casual conversations, you will discover that there are 2 camps in the BPM world. There are those who focus first on the people and there are those who focus first on the technology.
On the ‘people’ level
Some pundits see BPM as a philosophy. Management could be saying to underlings that they want their business processes managed more effectively.
A Business Line Manager could be managing his own business processes. They could define their process, they could measure it [see how long the process takes], they could look for trouble spots and they could make improvements to the process. They could have their own optimization initiative.
Either of these strategies could be manual and they are considered BPM, even if they do not utilize technology. In the manual environment, you have a documented process that people follow and when you make changes to that process, you distribute a new documented process for them to follow.
On the ‘technology’ level
Some pundits see BPM Software as Business Process Management. They skip over the people level and go right to the technology.
Other technologists only see that information must move between enterprise software packages. They think of SOA and BPM as synonyms.
While still others believe that modeling is needed to create that ‘perfect’ process. Therefore, modeling is BPM.
Our Thoughts...
You would be mistaken if you chose to leave any of these ‘angles’ out of the definition of Business Process Management. Business Process Management includes all of the activities required to manage business processes.
Hot tip: Companies that have implemented BPM successfully will start with their ‘people’, because it is your company’s ‘people’ that define your business processes and your business processes drive your technology choices.
Your Thoughts...
There is great confusion as to the definition of BPM [business process management]. We have been trying to sort this out for years - I believe this is on the money...
Let’s define a process as a collection of related, structured activities [a chain of events] that produce a service or product. They are performed daily and their costs are not insignificant. A product can be a manufactured item, an insurance policy, software, a home mortgage, medicine, etc.
Let’s identify another process - the process to define, measure and improve your processes – we call it a ‘process optimization process’. This process should get more attention than it does, because this is where you uncover improvement opportunities.
And, Business Processes exist on 2 levels – the people and the technology. In casual conversations, you will discover that there are 2 camps in the BPM world. There are those who focus first on the people and there are those who focus first on the technology.
On the ‘people’ level
Some pundits see BPM as a philosophy. Management could be saying to underlings that they want their business processes managed more effectively.
A Business Line Manager could be managing his own business processes. They could define their process, they could measure it [see how long the process takes], they could look for trouble spots and they could make improvements to the process. They could have their own optimization initiative.
Either of these strategies could be manual and they are considered BPM, even if they do not utilize technology. In the manual environment, you have a documented process that people follow and when you make changes to that process, you distribute a new documented process for them to follow.
On the ‘technology’ level
Some pundits see BPM Software as Business Process Management. They skip over the people level and go right to the technology.
Other technologists only see that information must move between enterprise software packages. They think of SOA and BPM as synonyms.
While still others believe that modeling is needed to create that ‘perfect’ process. Therefore, modeling is BPM.
Our Thoughts...
You would be mistaken if you chose to leave any of these ‘angles’ out of the definition of Business Process Management. Business Process Management includes all of the activities required to manage business processes.
Hot tip: Companies that have implemented BPM successfully will start with their ‘people’, because it is your company’s ‘people’ that define your business processes and your business processes drive your technology choices.
Your Thoughts...
