Articles

Process Mapping – Collaboration is Key

Author(s):

Karen Tricomi

Consultant, The Process Geek

Wherever a business is on the continuum of process analysis, improvement, or re-engineering, the initial step is to understand how people do what they do. A process map can get you started.

A process map defines how an organization performs work: the steps involved and their sequence; who is responsible for each step; and how work groups interact.

There is no shortage of software tools to help map your processes, and myriad formats to choose from. No matter what format, tool, or technology is chosen to document the “As Is”, though, collaboration is key.

Case Study: Architecting a Segment Across Geographic Locations

Author(s):

BPMInstitute.org

Business Relationship Manager - Product Lifecycle Management, Chevron Corporation

Many organizations have headquarters and field offices. Distance and separate management structures can make forming a cohesive architecture difficult. The challenge grows when the complexity and size of the organization require a segmented architecture.

Our approach addresses this challenge. Segment and Regional Architects examine intersections of shared systems and/or business processes between field offices and headquarters for a segment, and the redundancies each sees from their perspective, while looking for opportunities to leverage enterprise-wide solutions.

Can Enterprise Afford To Be ‘Not Ready’ For BPM?

Author(s):

BPMInstitute.org

Business Relationship Manager - Product Lifecycle Management, Chevron Corporation

Whether they realize it or not, the only thing Enterprises do is run Business Processes (BP). However, how effectively and efficiently they do this depends on the state of an Enterprises’ Architecture and the state of mind of the companies’ leaders.

Most Enterprises still have their processes formulated by Business Analysts (BA) as textual requirements. Then these requirements go to the IT side, where digital simulations of them are designed. These simulations are supposed to behave as the original processes were intended to.

BPMS Watch: Hey You! Get Outta My Pool!

Author(s):

BPMInstitute.org

Business Relationship Manager - Product Lifecycle Management, Chevron Corporation

One of BPMN’s most important elements is unfortunately also the most misunderstood. It’s called a pool, a rectangular shape that serves as a container for a process. So in that sense a pool is synonymous with a process, and that’s as basic as you can get. The confusion sets in when you understand that a business process diagram (BPD) – the top-level object in BPMN, describing a single end-to-end business process – frequently contains multiple pools.

A Formula to Measure Business Agility

Author(s):

BPMInstitute.org

Business Relationship Manager - Product Lifecycle Management, Chevron Corporation

This weekend I spent an afternoon sitting in a coffee house in my downtown Chicago neighborhood pondering what it means to be agile and how to measure it. The place was busy but I got lucky and snagged the cushy armchair next to the plate glass window in front that looks out on the sidewalk and the apartment building across the street. Watching the other patrons, looking at the people who pass by, and enjoying that burst of mental energy induced by a fine café-au-lait is often a good way to get inspired and be creative.

Using the Tools of Structure

Author(s):

BPMInstitute.org

Business Relationship Manager - Product Lifecycle Management, Chevron Corporation

Problems worthy of innovation range across the map from seemingly simple ones like the design of low-function objects (think tableware) to complex systems so multifunctional it’s hard even to know where to start. For complex problems, as you might expect, we usually insist on some kind of structure to work from; but for the “simple” ones, we almost never feel the need. Somehow it seems right to innovate within structure for a big problem, but its OK to treat lesser problems as one-shot idea generation exercises.

Reasons for Six Sigma Deployment Failures

Author(s):

Marvin Wurtzel

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

As a Six Sigma consultant I am often asked: “Have there been any Six Sigma deployments that have failed?” My answer is ambiguous enough to make me sound like a presidential candidate. That answer depends on your definition of the term “failure.” My definition of a failure would be a result that does not deliver the Return On Investment (ROI) anticipated by the company. Using this definition, I am not aware of any company that would admit to failed deployment.

BPM Governance

Author(s):

Andrew Spanyi

Faculty Member, DBizInstitute.org and Managing Director, Spanyi International

Let’s agree on a fundamental principle. Companies create value for customers and shareholders via the effectiveness and efficiency of activities or work which flows across traditional organization boundaries – often referred to as the firm’s cross-functional business processes. In order to optimize and sustain business process improvements it’s essential to overlay some form of governance that creates the right structures, metrics, roles and responsibilities to measure, improve and manage the performance of a firm’s end-to-end business processes.

Don’t Underestimate the Importance of the Business Process Model to Your System Replacement Project

Author(s):

BPMInstitute.org

Business Relationship Manager - Product Lifecycle Management, Chevron Corporation

The reasons to replace an existing system may be technical in nature such as upgrading the platform or notice that key software will no longer be supported by the vendor. Or, it may be due to changing business conditions and the need to respond quicker in an increasingly more dynamic market and customer demands. In these cases, the decision to replace the system is often accompanied by a mandate that there be no change to the underlying business process.

How Do We Do Requirements?

Author(s):

Larry Goldberg

Managing Partner, Knowledge Partners International LLP

Attending the recent IBM Rational Conference, I listened to some very interesting conversation around the subject of requirements – Rational now has not one, not two but three different “Requirement” tools – its ‘legacy’ product, Requisite Pro, the newly acquired Doors product from Telelogic (now an IBM company) and a newly announced “Requirements Composer”, part of its new software development portal dubbed “Jazz”.