Articles

BPM Center of Excellence

Author(s):

BPMInstitute.org

Business Relationship Manager - Product Lifecycle Management, Chevron Corporation

In my last article, I talked about selecting a BPM tool while keeping in mind both the short and long term needs of an organization’s process needs. But as we are all aware, whether we acknowledge it or not, tactical views and immediate implementation needs take priority over strategic needs. People tend to overlook long term process needs while focusing on only the immediate process automation needs. Moreover, while focusing on tactical needs, organizations tend to overlook areas such as process ownership and governance, roles and responsibilities, Service levels, and standards that should be associated with any process initiatives. More importantly these need to be thought through prior to embarking on the BPM journey. A BPM Center of Excellence (COE) can help with all of these areas.

Geo Transform: Geo Visualize the ROI on your SOA Infrastructure

Author(s):

BPMInstitute.org

Business Relationship Manager - Product Lifecycle Management, Chevron Corporation

A SOA implementation roadmap can be long and the SOA infrastructure, like “plumbing”, can be hidden from the end user during construction. During our SOA implementation, we used an “Early SOA” approach, where we connected a “faucet” to the SOA infrastructure and helped users “tap into” the value of the SOA infrastructure being built. Most Enterprises have Data and Processes with location attributes. We leveraged the SOA Infrastructure to transform Enterprise Data and Processes into an Open Geo Visualization Standard like KML[1] or GML[2].

Are You Set Up To Manage Process Change?

Author(s):

Neil Ward-Dutton

Research Director, MWD Advisors

When the idea of BPM as we understand it today first began to gain currency (when Smith and Fingar published their book “Business Process Management: The Third Wave” in 2003), the distinction that was clearly made between BPM and its predecessor, Business Process Reengineering, was that BPM explicitly recognises that business processes change over time, and seeks to help organisations enable and drive continuous change through the lifecycles of processes.

The Process Professional: An Independent Review of Ascentn’s AgilePoint

Author(s):

Karen Tricomi

Consultant, The Process Geek

In a continuing series evaluating the tools used by Business Process practioners, this article looks at Ascentn’s AgilePoint. Criteria for evaluation are ease of use, a short learning curve, and good collaboration features.

AgilePoint is a full-featured BPM suite. Ascentn distinguishes their market as one of “people and culture, not technology.” After looking into their products, I understand this to mean their focus is on the process practitioner.

Business Decisions and Rules

Author(s):

Brian Stucky

Managing Director, Business Decision Management, Allegiance Advisory Group

Several years ago I was asked to be part of a panel discussing business process and business rules at one of the BrainStorm conference stops. The panel included James Taylor – noted thought leader and the man who coined the term “Enterprise Decision Management”. I had had the pleasure of talking with James on several occasions prior to this panel but found myself doing a double-take when he said “the dirty secret is that business analysts don’t really care about the rules”. Blasphemy! Isn’t that why we’re all here? Isn’t that what we do?

The Role of Organizational Change Management in Business Architecture

Author(s):

Geoffrey Balmes

Business Architect Executive, Independent Consultant

Recently I described the role of the Business Architect in developing a formal Organizational Change Management program. As a result, I had an interesting conversation with a CIO. This CIO had a good understanding of and appreciation for business architecture.

Vetting Business Architecture (BA) Approaches

Author(s):

Ralph Whittle

Enterprise Business Architect, Independent Consultant

This is the inaugural year for the BusinessArchitectureInstitute.org with its recent launch this past spring. The growth of interest and the demands for information surrounding Business Architecture (BA) have increased significantly over the past few years. BrainStorm BA conference attendees and BA training class students have benefited from seeing a new approach emerge for the enterprise. Hopefully, the reader has participated in one of this year’s BrainStorm events and learned of the many opportunities associated with the Business Architecture.

SOA and Cloud Computing

Author(s):

John Moe

Principal Consultant, J Moe Associates

Cloud Computing is an emerging style of IT delivery in which applications, data, and IT resources are rapidly provisioned and provided as standardised offerings to users over the web in a flexible pricing model.

At a recent conference where I presented on the current state of Cloud Computing, I was pleasantly surprised at the level of genuine interest given the current low investment situation in which most companies find themselves.

Cloud Computing – or Whatever You Call It

Author(s):

George Barlow

Faculty Member BPMInstitute.org, Founder/CEO of Stratiza, Stratiza

Organizations are moving applications and infrastructure to servers on the Internet at an increasingly rapid rate and Cloud Computing – or whatever you call it – is changing the way people access information as well as they way they work and play. That is making the term ”Cloud Computing” more ubiquitous. Yet, as often happens with emerging technology waves, it is also making the term more confusing and vague.