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The Big Six Sigma Myths
Six Sigma has an attractive value proposition. Increase profits and improve customer satisfaction through more effective and efficient business processes. What company could say no to this idea? But, the Six Sigma methodology often is associated with daunting myths that prevent companies from taking advantage of its potential. For example, it’s assumed that Six Sigma is strictly for manufacturing processes, doesn’t work with Business Process Management (BPM).
Innovation? It’s the Customer, Stupid!
“It’s the economy, stupid,” was a phrase in American politics widely used during Bill Clinton’s successful 1992 presidential campaign against George H.W. Bush. It was coined by Democratic Party strategist James Carville in order to keep the campaign on message. Today, just substitute “the customer” for economy, to keep your business innovation strategy on message. Since 2000, innovation has become all the rage in business, and for good reason now that we are competing in a high-change global economy.
BPM/SOA Market Consolidates
This article originally appeared in the members-only quarterly BPM Strategies Magazine. Join today to receive your own copy.
The convergence of the BPM and SOA markets continues to make news this year and the pace of consolidation has increased in recent months.
BPMS Watch: BPMN Training Revisited
When I launched my course “Process Modeling with BPMN”, I discussed in this column why so many people beginning to “do” BPM were looking for training in modeling, and why that was especially needed for BPMN. Now, having delivered the training for five months, I have a better appreciation of BPMN’s strengths and limitations, a better understanding of what students really want, and what they really need to know about BPMN modeling.
Effective Case Management
Almost all government and commercial organizations practice some form of case management. The “Effective Case Management” white paper defines case management, explains how case management is conducted today in many government agencies, and reveals how to overcome the challenges associated with administrative, investigative, and litigative case management.
Transforming the Management of Government
Truly transforming the management of government business requires both an architectural and process-oriented approach. This transformation is the strategic goal of the 2001 Presidential Management Agenda (PMA) and is enabled by the Federal Enterprise Architecture (FEA). The Business Reference Model (BRM) is one of five reference models in the FEA and is the first layer of the FEA and it is the main viewpoint for the analysis of data, service components and technology specified in the FEA. It is also the primary reference model that establishes the relationship with BPM.
Integrative Thinking: A Path to Instrumented Business Agility
From management and economic theories through technical architectures, many ideas offer the promise of creating a perfect realm for businesses competing in today’s globally networked world.
BPM without BAM is like a plane without an instrument panel
Business Activity Monitoring (BAM) has become an essential technology component of a Business Process Management (BPM) solution. After all, what could be more helpful than viewing real-time information about process performance? How about the ability to automatically trigger corrective actions? Or, better yet, being able to diagnose issues before they take place? Just as a pilot wouldn’t fly a plane without being able to view, diagnose and correct its systems, you shouldn’t consider automating processes without being able to have a complete
BPM without BAM is like a plane without an instrument panel
Business Activity Monitoring (BAM) has become an essential technology component of a Business Process Management (BPM) solution. After all, what could be more helpful than viewing real-time information about process performance? How about the ability to automatically trigger corrective actions? Or, better yet, being able to diagnose issues before they take place? Just as a pilot wouldn’t fly a plane without being able to view, diagnose and correct its systems, you shouldn’t consider automating processes without being able to have a complete understanding of how they
Modeling the True Business Architecture
It has been said that one picture is worth a thousand words, but the veracity of this ancient maxim is radically understated when it comes to modeling the business architecture. Indeed, a well-modeled business architecture is worth its weight in gold, not to mention market share.
A Step Towards Revolution
This article originally appeared in the members-only quarterly BPM Strategies Magazine. Join today to receive your own copy.
SOA Watch: Is Your Enterprise Architecture Healthy?
Working directly on SOA projects, as an independent, I’m exposed to many more organizations than when I was building technology. As such, I see some common patterns or issues emerging.
The largest and most disturbing issue is the fact that there seems to be a huge chasm between the traditional enterprise architecture crowd and those looking at the value of SOA. Indeed, enterprise architecture, as a notion, has morphed from an approach for the betterment of corporate IT to a management practice, at least for some.
FlowCentric 3.5
Established in 2000, FlowCentric is a small privately held BPMS supplier headquartered in the UK, with regional entities serving Europe, North America, Middle East and Africa, and Asia/Pacific. Most product development is done in South Africa. The FlowCentric product is based on and heavily leverages Microsoft’s evolving BPM platform based on .Net and Windows services. FlowCentric is a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner with ISV, Business Process and Integration and Information Worker competencies.
The FlowCentric BPMS is intended to be used by business analysts and consultants without programming. The FlowCentric solution provides a single user interface that is simple enough that even unskilled staff can use easily. The product is primarily sold through channel partners, and is aimed at “supporting partner consultants to define, develop, deploy and maintain composite process applications, to extend the functionality of ERP, CRM and other business management applications.”
Take Your Visio® based Business Process Analysis Project to the Next Level
Are you engaged in or investigating an enterprise wide business process analysis initiative? Need to convince your Visio process modelers to migrate to a more structured environment?
The success of your business process analysis and enterprise architecture depends on the quality of your models. But if your users are modeling without structure and controls, then their models are probably unrelated, non-standard and disparate. Many organizations use Microsoft Visio®, a convenient solution for part-time business modelers.
Getting Started with Business Process Management
The set of ideas, tools, and techniques that deal with business processes, known in short as Business Process Management (BPM), has been around for a couple of decades. Even though forward-thinking professionals in business and IT recognize the importance of BPM, it does not get the mainstream attention it deserves. Large-scale ERP and client/server implementations absorb the attention of IT departments and distract the innovators.
Integrating Business Processes in a Business Architecture
Many corporations have successfully completed one or more Business Process Management (BPM) initiatives.
Process Optimization for the Real World
Many Business Process Management (BPM) vendors talk about how their software allows you to optimize processes with just the click of a button. It’s a nice dream to believe in this “Nirvana” extending to processes outside your immediate scope of control, but the reality is that most people find that their corporate cultures do not empower just one person alone to change thresholds, adjust approval levels, or make wholesale changes to longstanding business processes. In most cases, process involves collaboration and involves other groups and decision-makers.
Goals and Definition
This article is about getting started on a development project. In a way, it is about problem finding. In particular, it is about deciding what is of concern and what is not, and what aspects of policy are important in setting a course toward a plan.
But before I get into that, I have to get something off my chest. It is becoming a real peeve, but it is highly relevant to this article and so worth talking about up front.
Everything is Connected
SOA Institute is aligned with the BPM Institute and with the Business Architecture conference. This is more than just a convenient coincidence. It’s a recognition that an organization needs to address all of these skills and approaches to truly align business and IT in an agile and flexible manner.
And, it takes more than just addressing these issues. They must be addressed in a coordinated and integrated fashion where one aspect feeds into the next aspect of the system development process. In other words, defining business processes alone will not affect alignment.
SoftwareAG/webMethods BPMS 7.0/7.1
Founded in 1996, webMethods was an early pioneer in the development of web services middleware for business integration, particularly for B2B commerce. More recently, the company evolved toward SOA infrastructure and BAM, and in the past year launched a comprehensive BPM Suite. Today BPM, SOA, Integration, and BAM form the key pillars of the webMethods platform, called Fabric 7.0. webMethods has over 900 employees and operates in 45 locations around the world, including development centers in US and India. In June 2007, the company was acquired by SoftwareAG of Darmstadt, Germany, creating the world’s largest independent provider of business infrastructure software. Following the transaction, SoftwareAG indicated that the webMethods BPMS will be sold and supported as the combined company’s sole BPM offering.
