While many, most, organizations know they need to focus on business processes, a matching focus on operational decisions is less common. The effective combination of Business Process Management (BPM) with Business Decision Management (BDM) is emerging as a critical element in successful organizations.
The Intersection of Process and Decision
Business Process Management is well established in organizations of every size. Many, most, organizations identify, document, model, automate and manage their business processes. Many of these organizations have adopted a technology stack, a Business Process Management System, to support their BPM work. Despite the importance of operational decisions, most do not yet similarly manage business decisions. This is changing as more organizations adopt Business Decision Management as well as Business Process Management so they can work at the intersection.
Business Decision Management
Business Decision Management or BDM is all about identifying, managing, automating and improving operational decisions. Like BPM it is both an approach and a technology stack. BDM is an approach that treats operational decisions as a business asset and part of an overall business architecture. Regardless of whether the decisions are automated or not and independent of any technology used, adopting BDM requires a focus on operational decisions at both the project and enterprise level. Adopting BDM means explicitly defining decision-making requirements for projects, it means seeing decision-making as a reusable element of enterprise behavior and it means seeking to systematically improve and optimize decision-making over time.
