Articles

Achieving Purpose and Flexibility in Service-Oriented Design: Approaches with Use Cases and Service Taxonomies

Author(s):

BPMInstitute.org

Business Relationship Manager - Product Lifecycle Management, Chevron Corporation

Over the past decade, we have learned that the challenge of building service-oriented solutions is less about technology and more about solving real-world business problems. Enterprise architects realize that any solution must revolve around an organization’s business processes, IT infrastructure, policies, and standards, and it makes sense that many aspects of service design will revolve around those key areas.

BPM, Lean, and Six Sigma – Better Together

Author(s):

Daniel Morris

Managing Principle, Wendan Consulting

Business improvement disciplines today are generally looked at as competing with one another. This article takes a different position. It is our belief that each of the major disciplines, BPM, Lean, and Six Sigma, have weaknesses that the others fill and that together, they provide a change environment that delivers the full promise of each.

The Process Practioner – An Independent Review of Appian Enterprise and Appian Anywhere

Author(s):

Karen Tricomi

Consultant, The Process Geek

Introduction This is the third in a series of articles evaluating tools used by process professionals. As with previous reviews, I approach the subject as a business professional with a need to document, analyze, and improve processes, not as an IT professional or a BPMS industry expert – I am neither. My most critical criteria are once again ease of use, a short learning curve, and good collaboration features.

BPMS Watch: Teaching Elephants to Dance

Author(s):

BPMInstitute.org

Business Relationship Manager - Product Lifecycle Management, Chevron Corporation

In these tough times, even the most change-resistant organizations are re-examining whether past practice should continue to govern standard operating procedures. Government and airlines, for example, spring to mind. Last week, I saw further evidence of this in delivering a BPMN training class to one of the many Federal agencies involved in financial regulation. I was surprised to find that most in the class were experienced process modelers already. Many had prior BPMN experience, for some including BPMN-based BPM Suites. The processes of greatest interest concerned

What is Scope?

Author(s):

BPMInstitute.org

Business Relationship Manager - Product Lifecycle Management, Chevron Corporation

“Scope” is an “everybody knows.” And that may be the biggest problem. Consider this example: After reviewing a presentation on a major initiative (tens to hundreds of millions of dollars), one senior executive proclaimed that with scope now established the need was to work specific areas. Another executive, reviewing the very same material, pointed out that it was, of course, clear that scope was still not understood!

BPM, Six Sigma and Simulation for Today’s Tough Business Environment

Author(s):

Marvin Wurtzel

Faculty Member, BPMInstitute.org and Principal Consultant, Marvin M. Wurtzel & Associates, Inc.

During the 1980s and 1990’s the use of flowcharts began to evolve. Next Business Process Management (BPM) came along to more formalize their use and combine their use with computer systems technology. Also in this timeframe, Six Sigma came into play as a means to improve processes by minimizing variability. Next, Lean six sigma evolved as a further means of reducing waste in processes.

What is the business of Business Architecture?

Author(s):

Drew Guitarte

Enterprise Business Architect, Wells Fargo & Company

Business architecture is about enhancing accountability. A business architect’s job can be compared to what an accountant does for an organization. A management accountant tracks an organization’s performance against a set budget and gleans insights in the process. The accountant shares these insights for management to take action. In the same way, a business architect highlights the traceability of business and IT initiatives against a set of performance targets. The organization’s strategic goals define these success metrics or key performance indicators (KPIs).

Modernizing Legacy Applications for SOA

Author(s):

BPMInstitute.org

Business Relationship Manager - Product Lifecycle Management, Chevron Corporation

In my last article titled “Strategies for developing a roadmap for your SOA initiative”¹ I discussed laying out a roadmap that shows how to get from the current state to the envisioned future state. One method many companies use when planning their SOA journey is to create a new presentation layer while leaving the legacy backend systems in place. This practice can be called modernizing or rejuvenating legacy systems.

Before we get too far into the discussion, let me state that the end game for SOA should not be to modernize old systems.

BPM: Selecting the Right Tool

Author(s):

BPMInstitute.org

Business Relationship Manager - Product Lifecycle Management, Chevron Corporation

In my last article I talked about BPM and Software as a Service. As organizations look at SaaS capabilities of a BPM tool, there are many other features and capabilities that must also be taken into account and evaluated prior to making the final selection. Myriad of features available to be evaluated against current investments can make the BPM tool selection a bit challenging.

Business Architecture (BA) and IT Architecture Integration

Author(s):

Ralph Whittle

Enterprise Business Architect, Independent Consultant

The Business Architecture is an integrated component of any Enterprise Architecture (EA) framework. For example, The Open Group Architecture Framework (TOGAF) has defined a Business Architecture component¹. As an architecture representing some key elements of the enterprise, it has to fit into the overall design of that enterprise. The Business Architecture is not a stand alone nor isolated component, but a fully integrated one in the context of EA.