Applying BPM Principles to Restructure the Government Procurement Process
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The Marriage of Process and Data Governance: Key to BPM and SOA Initiatives’ Success
Business Process Management (BPM) and Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) initiatives can either be easy or difficult depending on your approach.
At first glance BPM and SOA offer a very good value proposition. However, the more you learn, the more you discover that everything is not exactly as expected.
BPM and SOA initiatives are made up of process and data. Too often, a lack of focus in one area or the other occurs and has pervasive effects on business results.
The Greatest Innovation Since the Assembly Line
The most profound innovation since the assembly line is staring us right in the face. But we don’t see it because we are so busy looking for something else. For most of us the word “innovation” still conjures up images of amazing new gadgets such as technology to turn water into gasoline, black boxes to project moving 3D holograms from our TV sets, and bio-tech breakthroughs that reverse the aging process.
Committing to the Business Architecture
BPMInstitute.org and BrainStorm Group hosted Business Architecture (BA) events at their conferences in San Francisco, Washington, D.C. and New York in 2006. Interest in BA across all industries is growing with attendance at all BA presentations increasing. The conference attendees are coming prepared with excellent questions, expecting answers and seeking information about BA initiatives.
BPMS Watch: Measure Then Model? An Alternative Process Lifecycle
BPM users are familiar with the process lifecycle. It starts with process modeling. Business analysts document the as-is process, and analyze its shortcomings – handoff inefficiencies, exception handling, inconsistent application of policies and rules. From the model they can define KPIs for the process and estimate their value using simulation analysis. Then they model proposed process improvements, and project the expected benefit using simulation, before committing resources to the implementation.
The next step in the standard lifecycle is process design.
Can your Enterprise See, and Mashup, the Emerging Web?
Web 2.0 is one of those marketing words I don’t like to use that often, but unlike SOA 2.0, the Web 2.0 is a reality. It’s really a change in platform at its essence, but there are also many social issues there as well…information sharing, collaboration, and social networking to name a few. But can your enterprise see the emerging Web?
What’s important to remember is that there is a huge resource that is being created on the Web these days.
Where It Begins: The Super-System View
In a bulletin last year I wrote about the value of defining an organization’s processes by using a Processing System Hierarchy, which identifies and links “levels” of process, starting with the external environment and then cascading down through the organization’s value chain, primary processing systems, key processes and sub-processes, and finally down to individual performers. In this article I am focusing where the Hierarchy starts.
At this topmost level is what we at the Performance Design Lab (PDL) call the “Super System” view.
Key Drivers for BPMS Growth
Forrester has predicted that the BPMS (business process management system) market will grow from $1.2 billion in 2005 to over $2.7 billion in 2009. What is driving this growth? The tools are forging tighter links between IT and business users and significantly enhancing the effectiveness of process improvement efforts. Specifically, BPMS tools support:
The Eight Wastes in a Process
Taiichi Ohno, a major contributor to the Toyota Production System, identified seven wastes that can exist in processes. Jeffery Liker, a professor at the University of Michigan added an eighth. If the wastes are removed or reduced, significant benefits can be realized. These benefits are:
- Dramatically lower costs
- Much faster processes
- Exceeding high quality
- Less frustrated workers
- Happier customers
As each of the wastes are explained, look for examples in your own organization.
SOA, Business Process and Enterprise Architecture: Putting it all together
Ken Orr is the founder and chief scientist for The Ken Orr Institute, a business technology research organization. He is an internationally known and recognized expert on technology transfer, software engineering, information architecture, and data warehousing.
