Introduction

We are barraged by the images of our sliding economy on a daily basis. The news media is spreading fear, agony, and despair. Many companies are reacting by deeply cutting staff, reducing services, decreasing quality and squelching morale. Everyone is told that they are simply going to have to do more with less (work harder or lose your job).

Then there are companies that see this downturn as an opportunity to strengthen their company and emerge from the other side stronger than their competition.

So, you have just returned from a great conference where you learned that BPM (business process management and BDM (business decision management) will address many of the issues you face within your company. You now have the proof, from the experiences of other companies, as to how these methodologies can benefit your company. You’re so excited over the opportunity to make real difference in your organization. You share your excitement with a few co-workers but quickly realize that getting upper management to buy into this newfound methodology may be harder than you think.

Have you ever worked on a project where the rules to be automated were very complex? Where the business representatives described the rules differently (but essentially used the same logic)? Where the rule inter-relationships made it seem like the rule logic was circular? Where they were difficult to document in a clear and precise format? Where it seemed like the stakeholders each spoke a different language? Where defining the concrete rules to be automated seemed impossible? Well, you are not alone.