Faces of BPM
Point of View
One point where there is agreement is that today we work in area dominated by terminologies which do not have clearly defined meaning and is open to interpretation. Good example is: Business Process Management (BPM). BPM has been divided into various categories human or system centric, structured and unstructured, etc based on the nature, actors, etc. In this article we will try to explore the various faces of Business Process Management.
Business Process Management discipline is “a synthesis of process representation and collaboration technologies that removes the obstacles blocking the execution of Management intentions and can have multiple players who are either Human or System.”
Business Process Management can be discussed from the perspective of a discipline and available packages enabling implementation of BPMS as a discipline.
BPM as a Discipline
BPM discipline emphasizes on overall approach to coordinating work across all resources - people, information, machines and systems. Coordinating the interactions across this broader set of resources requires workflow technology, embedded in the BPM suite to coordinates the interactions between all resources. Workflow is just one of the many technologies found in a BPM Suite today some of the other critical technologies are BAM, Rule Engines, quick UI creation toolsets, and a graphical authoring environment ideally based on Explicit Process Models.
In conceptual terms, BPM is used to facilitate the following sequence of activities needed to:
- Move data between applications to change status of “systems of record” or provide ability to an actor to act based on certain set of well structured steps and Business rules.
- Facilitate collaboration between knowledge users as they use their expertise and judgment to decide upon the next set of actions based on the uncertain situations.
Having said that, BPM discipline can be categorized as Structured and Agile BPM as described below.
Structured BPM
In structured Business Process Management, rules and processes defined as design time drive the flow of the Business Process. Structured BPM can be used to allow software/hardware devices as well as Human to integrate with each other in certain set of well structured steps and Business rules defined at design time. An excellent illustration of this is found in the financial industry, where clerical workers - who have very little knowledge about the claim and processing but is able to processes claims.
Agile BPM
The fundamental distinguishing characteristic of this approach is that knowledge workers, rather than rules and processes, drive decisions, Whereas structured BPM tasks are guided by defined (and inflexible) algorithms, Agile BPM allow users to interact with each other and set their own parameters. Agile BPM will work only if knowledge workers are allowed free hand to evaluate the request and if necessary propose alternatives rather than a task being assigned by the manager with the expectation of a binary outcome (done/not done). Knowledge workers decisions should drive the sequence of flow, who will participate and SLA of the Business Process.
Takeaway
In an ideal world, the negotiated commitment should be the essential unit of Agile BPM software solutions. The problem with most of the BPMS packages implementing BPM is that they are built on the “command and control” framework used for structured BPM in which orders are given and expected to be followed. Although with the exposure of Business Rules and advance Business Process Modeling capabilities, there is some form of agility that BPMS packages provide there by enabling development of hybrid Business Process combining structured as well as some aspects of Agile BPM Business process.
Package implementation of Business Process Management
Business Process Management Tool/Package can be Human centric or System Centric depending upon the capabilities that they provide.
Example of some of the rich Human centric BPMS package features:
- Independent environment for Process Modeling.
- Rich User Inbox features.
- Task Management.
- User Management.
- Task Search Capabilities.
- Task Notifications.
- Task Escalation.
- 360 view Reporting.
- Business Process visibility - BAM.
- Efficient KPI / SLA Management.
Example of some of the rich System centric BPMS package features: 1. Enterprise Integration capabilities. 2. Workflow capabilities.
Most of the packages today provide both system as well as human centric capabilities; it is the depths of these capabilities were one product scores over the other.
Conclusion
Business Process Management discipline should not be categorized into Human Centric or System Centric; on the contrary Human and Systems are just actors participating in the lifecycle of a Business Process. Extent of Human or System involvement totally depends upon the nature of the Business Process and the kind of problem that it is trying to solve. BPM can either be Structured or Agile, although most of today’s BPM solutions implemented using BPM packages are hybrid (a combination of Structured or Agile). BPM Tool/Package can be Human centric or System Centric depending upon the capabilities that the tool provides. BPM packages have not matured enough to support in principle Agile BPM.
