Articles

To Deliver Business Value, Avoid Paving over Cow Paths

Author(s):

Ken Mullins

Senior Principal, MITRE Corporation

“Yesterday’s adaptations are today’s routines”–Ronald A. Heifetz, The Practice of Adaptive Leadership

I opened an earlier article[1] published in this forum some time ago by setting up the following scenario, which concludes with a simple question:

Imagine yourself as the owner of a business domain within a government agency. Let’s say you’re the Deputy Administrator of entitlement programs in an organization that processes claims for benefits. No matter the type of benefit(s) or entitlement(s) your agency administers, whether loan guarantees, educational benefits, [or] disaster-recovery relief . . ., your business model – at some level of abstraction – is as simple as receiving applications (or claims) for benefits, qualifying them, and dispensing an appropriate response to each . . . of your applicants (or claimants).

Pivoting Through Capability Maps

Author(s):

Frank Fabian

Owner, Frank Fabian Group

Most entrepreneurs understand the meaning of a “Pivot”. A Pivot is a change of direction for the entire organization in order to take advantage (or find) an opportunity that expands the company’s business. A pivot can create an atmosphere of what appears to be total chaos and without proper management, can leave a business slogging along instead of soaring higher. However, by understanding the capabilities of your company, capability maps can make pivots more manageable. A pivot is one of the few times where capabilities may become fluid in order to adapt to the new direction. Business architecture usually assumes that capabilities are relatively stable – not so with a pivot.

The Virtual BPM Facilitator – Part 1

Author(s):

Shelley Sweet

Faculty Member, BPMInstitute.org and President, i4 Process

A Facilitator helps participants in a group work together toward the meeting objective by providing a meeting structure, engaging the participants, keeping them focused on the content, and remaining neutral himself. A BPM Facilitator is a person who guides a business process improvement (BPI) project, using the same group process skills and behaviors of a generic facilitator but in the context of BPM. So the BPM facilitator needs to know the BPM Methodology, have a structured method of working with BPI teams, be able to coach a Process Owner, and be able to work with the BPI Project Leader toward the improvement targets of the Process Owner. And the Virtual BPM Facilitator needs to do it virtually – not face to face but using telecommunications by phone, by video conference, by Web Ex, or similar tools. That makes the medium a bit more challenging but it’s the reality of today’s global world.

Smarter Systems: Applying Decision Management

Author(s):

Gagan Saxena

VP Consulting & Principal Consultant, Decisions Management Solutions

All systems are active participants in business decision making to some degree.

The logic coded into business systems allows a level of ‘smartness’, and this is then amplified by the decision logic used by users – resulting in smart business operations. So, if we want to make the entire business operations smarter, we need to focus on decision making across systems and their users. Business Decision Management seeks to explicitly define and improve operational decisions; and to automate them through targeted deployment of sophisticated decision management technologies like Business Rules Management, Advanced Analytics and Optimization.

Business Architect, Enterprise Architect and Business Transformation

Author(s):

Ganesh Balasubramaniam

Director - Business Architecture, OptumHealth

Businesses are under constant challenge to deliver growth and profitability. Business process improvements and other enterprise quality initiatives are vital for the enterprise to do more with less, but they are not sufficient. When businesses feel there is opportunity for transformation, they may engage a business architect. Many organizations do not have the benefit of established architecture processes and architecture governance for the enterprise, which makes the task of the business architect even more difficult. It becomes incumbent on the business architect to educate and navigate stakeholders through architectural aspects of business transformation.

Building a Process Catalog: Final Steps

Author(s):

Karen Tricomi

Consultant, The Process Geek

This is the final article in my series on building a process catalog for the organization in which I work. For reference and context, you can find the first three articles at these links: Building a Process Catalog: The Journey Begins; Building a Process Catalog, The Ongoing Journey; and Building a Process Catalog: Moving Ahead.

As we have wrapped up the calendar year, the Process Catalog that we began last October finally can be completed. Below is a brief recap of the stages we’ve gone through to get the catalog to the current state.

The Role of Decision Modeling in Business Decision Management

Author(s):

James Taylor

Faculty Member, BPMInstitute.org and CEO and Principal Consultant, Decision Management Solutions

Decision Management, Business Decision Management as we call it here at the BPMInstitute.org, is both an approach and a technology stack for automating and improving business decisions.

Critical Success Strategies for New Change Management Leaders

Author(s):

Deborah Turturici

President - Sr. Business Enterprise Architect, Ability-Alliance Group, LLC.

You have been promoted to a new change management position. You’re not sure of how you are going to meet the challenges ahead. All you know is that all eyes are on you and you only have a short time to get your strategies in place and operational. The actions you take will largely determine whether you succeed or fail. You will either move Change Management support forward or lose this opportunity to show its longer term value and yours.

Understanding Business Vocabulary: A Business Architect’s Perspective

Author(s):

Frank Fabian

Owner, Frank Fabian Group

During the recent assessment of an organization, the topic of CM popped up as a reoccurring theme when it came to problems being experienced throughout the organization. The one thing that became exceedingly clear was that everyone’s definition for CM was very different. One of the prime roles for any business architect is to make sure they are looking holistically across the organization and that everyone is working from the same vocabulary. This is not the first time I am running into the topic of “CM” as a source of chaos.

Government Transformation Depends On Dynamic Portfolio Management

Author(s):

Ken Mullins

Senior Principal, MITRE Corporation

“We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.” – Albert Einstein

In the 21^st century, government transformation initiatives have become increasingly more common, rather than exceptional. Some ambitious public sector initiatives turn out to be at least partially successful, though many others do not. Even when transformation success is declared, the outcome is often plagued by significant limitations that must be dealt with for many years.

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