In previous articles I introduced Business Decision Management (BDM), answered some of the most frequently asked questions about it and discussed operational business decisions. BDM involves the automation of operational business decisions and this leads us to the topic of this article – what technology do you need (and can you use) to implement BDM?
What Business Architecture tells you that you don’t already know
Every executive and business unit leader has a strategy, formal or informal. Every business unit and IT organization has a set of initiatives designed to achieve some objective. And every initiative was funded based on anything from a formal business case to informal common sense. Most of these initiatives are launched without the benefit of business architecture and some of these initiatives actually succeed in meeting their respective objectives.
So why does the enterprise need business architecture?
SOA and Evolution of Data into Information
This paper analyzes the differences between data and information, the importance of, and the justification for, making such a distinction and its relevance as a critical undercurrent of a successful SOA.
Improving Process Capability across the Enterprise with Enterprise SPICE
Suppose you want/need to improve performance across your enterprise. As you pursue organizational excellence, there are many improvement models, standards, and approaches available. Each might help with part of the business, or address selected compliance requirements, but using several separately can be expensive, confusing, and ineffective. How can an enterprise reap the benefits of the knowledge in a bewildering variety of standards and models? How can this be done efficiently and effectively?
Organizing for Innovation
How should information be organized? Better yet, how should it be organized for innovation?
BPMS Watch: Bringing Method to the Madness
As BPM takes hold, organizations are finally beginning to acknowledge the need for a common language for process description, something that allows a broad base of users spanning departments, geographies – both business and IT – to look at a process diagram and understand what it says. And in BPMN, the business process modeling notation standard from OMG, we finally have near-unanimous acceptance from tools vendors of what that language looks like.
Version 1.x of the standard is supported by the majority of BPM Suite vendors as a front end to process implementation tools, as well
RESTful Web Services Part I: Concepts and Design
An increasing industry backlash to the mounting complexity of the WS-* SOAP specifications is resulting in many organizations considering RESTful Web Services. In fact, a recent poll by Information Week found that 58% of IT professionals believed that SOA introduced more complexity and resulted in cost overruns. Some industry pundits, such as Tim Bray echo this sentiment declaring WS-* an embarrassing failure.
So why turn to REST?
Define Your BPM Strategy Before Selecting a Tool
With the wide range of available tools on the market today together with the large number of white papers, articles and books on BPM, determining the correct solution for your organization can be daunting. With so much emphasis on the effectiveness of BPM tools for improving productivity, streamlining the value chain and gaining competitive edge, it’s easy to get caught up in all the hype and end up with a much more sophisticated and expensive solution than the business really needs.
Without Metrics, Process Improvement Can Be Hazardous to Your Business Health
Imagine yourself as the owner of a business domain within a government agency. Let’s say you’re the Deputy Administrator of entitlement programs in an organization that processes claims for benefits.
Implementing Decisions in Modern Technology
“Bridging the gap between business and technology for true collaboration” has long been the mantra of Business Rule Management Systems (BRMS) and Business Process Management Systems (BPMS). Although this has too often been a strictly technology-based approach, methodologies and approaches have been forwarded in both the rule and process realm. The problem?