Articles

Towards Business Rule Stewardship and Governance

Author(s):

Brian Stucky

Managing Director, Business Decision Management, Allegiance Advisory Group

Corporate adopters of a business rules approach over the past decade have often been limited to individual projects within an organization. It was not surprising to find disparate (either geographically or functionally) areas of the same company initiating independent efforts often resulting in a completely different methodology for applying business rules – and in some cases with different business rule management software. The latest generation of business rule software has, however, been created with the enterprise perspective in mind.

Who, What and How of a Business Rules Analyst

Author(s):

BPMInstitute.org

Business Relationship Manager - Product Lifecycle Management, Chevron Corporation

In my first article, I emphasized the vitality of the role of an IT Business Analyst and how it is expanding due to business demands for high performance. Business Analysts identify the business needs of their clients and stakeholders to help determine solutions to business problems. They play a vital role throughout the project life cycle by understanding and representing stakeholder needs, documenting and organizing the requirements for a system, and communicating requirements to an entire team.

Planning Process Change Effort for a Technology-driven Project

Author(s):

BPMInstitute.org

Business Relationship Manager - Product Lifecycle Management, Chevron Corporation

Whether developing and updating processes as an improvement initiative, in support of a software upgrade, as part of an automation effort or introduction of a new line business, it is important to identify the required work and to estimate the time, cost and resources required to achieve the desired goals. When the purpose of the project is to develop or improve a process, it is easy to see why a project plan to identify the tasks, milestones, resources and timelines is required.

Business Process, Business Rules and the Agile Enterprise

Author(s):

Tom DeBevoise

Co-Author of The Microguide to Process Modeling in BPMN 2.0, www.tomdebevoise.com

Business Process Management and Business Rules Approaches (BPM/BR) are agility technologies. Yet, for most early adopters they are the last step in inoculating agility into an organization. First business, government and non-profit organizations must identify and recognize a challenge arising from changes in demand, missions and charters. Next the challenge must be incorporated into a project portfolio then lastly carried out.

The ‘A’ in SOA is for Architecture

Author(s):

BPMInstitute.org

Business Relationship Manager - Product Lifecycle Management, Chevron Corporation

Are you confused about the term service-oriented architecture? Is the lack of a formal definition of SOA causing governance issues within your organization? You’re not alone.

An Innovation Discipline Model

Author(s):

BPMInstitute.org

Business Relationship Manager - Product Lifecycle Management, Chevron Corporation

Chicago-based Doblin, Inc. is an internationally recognized innovation strategy firm. Doblin’s staff is composed primarily of business strategists, cultural anthropologists, contextual researchers, design planners and information designers. Doblin is well known for its proprietary innovation landscape diagnostic tool, which is used to identify patterns of innovation within an industry. This article explores Doblin’s approach to treating innovation as a repeatable business discipline.

Viewing SOA from Various Perspectives

Author(s):

BPMInstitute.org

Business Relationship Manager - Product Lifecycle Management, Chevron Corporation

Often when I start discussing SOA, a story comes to my mind that I first heard from my grand father when I was kid. It is about six blind men who encounter an elephant for the first time in their life. They perceive the animal differently and start fighting amongst themselves. One who touched its tail thought it was a snake, another who got hold of his trunk thought it to be a tree branch, the third, bumping against his rigid body, thought it was a wall while the fourth, getting hold of his legs, thought it to be a log of wood and so on.

Case Study: The Value of Transforming Your Business to a Process-driven Enterprise

Author(s):

BPMInstitute.org

Business Relationship Manager - Product Lifecycle Management, Chevron Corporation

Unisen is a leading provider of Business Process Outsourcing and Information Technology Outsourcing to the Canadian fund industry. Unisen services about 47% of the mutual fund companies in Canada. There are over 1.3 million calls into the call center and the company administers $40 billion of AUA for institutional and offshore clients. Unisen process almost 5 million investor statements representing 15 million pages of output.

The scope of services Unisen provides for information technology includes:

Can the Business Rule?

Author(s):

Barbara von Halle

Managing Partner & Founder, Knowledge Partners International LLP

“It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent,

but the one most responsive to change,” said Charles Darwin.

EA, BPM and SOA Convergence

Author(s):

Ralph Whittle

Enterprise Business Architect, Independent Consultant

Many strategic initiatives today are focused on Enterprise Architecture (EA) development, Business Process Management (BPM) and Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) development. In support of these important activities are numerous approaches, techniques, tools and experienced consultants. You can also find a wealth of information on the web and in various industry newsletters and publications. Let us take a look at what is common and shared between these essential initiatives.