You can’t attend a BPM conference or webcast nowadays without hearing how SOA provides the critical technology underpinnings of BPM software. And there is even a grain of truth in that statement. For example, most BPM Suites provide integration adapters that can introspect backend systems and turn them into process components that are, in an important sense, service-oriented.
Case Study: BPM – From Ideas to Action
The overall challenge for BPM is, how does a company manage these efforts into an action plan that supports company strategy and contributes to the bottom line? People in different parts of the organization see BPM projects from different perspectives, which can mean different goals and procedures and divergent outcomes. Coordinating the efforts requires management to see each project from an overall perspective, including the individual efforts on each process that is being improved.
The overall challenge for BPM is, how does a company manage these efforts into an action plan that supports company strategy and contributes to the bottom line? People in different parts of the organization see BPM projects from different perspectives, which can mean different goals and procedures and divergent outcomes. Coordinating the efforts requires management to see each project from an overall perspective, including the individual efforts on each process that is being improved.
Barriers to Process Redesign
Changing a process and the relevant jobs, structure, and controls presents unique challenges, so a process redesign project will almost always encounter obstacles, barriers, and pitfalls.
Changing a process and the relevant jobs, structure, and controls presents unique challenges, so a process redesign project will almost always encounter obstacles, barriers, and pitfalls. Research conducted on reengineering projects has uncovered the barriers listed in Table 1.
Table 1: Barriers to Process Redesign
Build your SOA: Maturity and Methodology, Part II
SOA maturity model is a term that I coined in an attempt to help organizations define architectural guidelines and a process for achieving a greater level of maturity and predictability in their overall information technology (IT) architecture initiatives. The model described in this article is designed to enable your organization to identify itself on a scale of 1 to 5 (with 5 being the most advanced, or mature, level) in terms of architecture maturity.
Determining Your BPM Software Requirements
“A software package implemented using phantom business requirements, or those born of the IT developers’ imagination, will most likely generate discord, inefficiencies, and occasional outright resentment of the tool.”
-unknown author
BPM ROI For IT, Business, and User Communities
It is always exciting to see successful BPM deployments. Recently, I heard of a substantive BPM project that went live within five weeks, with tangible ROIs! That is unheard of when compared to traditional “Java” or “.NET” based development approaches. One of the main reasons BPM is fast becoming mainstream is precisely because of the tangible ROI one can achieve through a well designed and thought through BPM solution. BPM is known to yield considerable ROI in the majority of projects. Where do the benefits and the returns on investment stem from?
Four BPM Lessons Learned
After a number of engagements with clients who are in the middle of BPM projects I’m developing a growing collection of “lessons learned”. Four of these lessons come up time and time again when I’m called in to support a BPM initiative, often when it is already going off the rails.
Don’t even start the project without having a clear business outcome in mind
Business Rules, Business Process, and Compliance
One of the key uses of business rule management systems (BRMS) and business process management systems (BPMS), is to help with issues of compliance. The growth of regulations such as Sarbanes-Oxley and HIPAA, as well as long standing regulation in areas such as Insurance and banking means that more companies have to deal with compliance than ever before. Many companies are turning to technology to address the issues this growth of regulation brings.
There are many challenges that come with compliance, but three are particularly relevant when considering how technology might help.
BPM Success Requires a Change in the Mindset of Leadership
This article originally appeared in the members-only quarterly BPM Strategies Magazine. Join today to receive your own copy.
Accelerating BPM and BRs: Why, How and Who Is Doing What?
Barbara von Halle is the founder of Knowledge Partners, a company leading clients through successful business rules projects through the licensing of KPI STEP, a Business Rule Management Took Kit. Von Halle is a pioneer in Business Rules and received the Outstanding Individual Achievement Award from the International Data Management Association. As a journalist, she wrote for Database Programming and Design Magazine and co-authored several books.