In the second of a series evaluating tools for business practioners, we look at the Process Modeler by Savvion. As with my previous evaluation, the point of view is from a business perspective rather than that of an IT professional. My criteria are ease of use, a short learning curve, and good collaboration features.

As BPM begins to expand beyond isolated projects to mainstream programs at the division or enterprise level, there is a need to engage a far greater number of business people in the effort. That’s not easy, and achieving it is going to require significant change in the way BPM is practiced.

The most important role for business is probably documenting current-state business processes and analyzing them for possible improvement. But conventional practices in this area are inefficient and inherently small-scale.

1. INTRODUCTION  

Organizations have been searching different ways to improve their process performance. In search of excellence, some changes can be done in their managerial patterns and practices. As stated in my previous article [9], organizations have sought concepts and guidelines towards structuring a process center of excellence – PCE [3][5]. However, there is a need for choose which managerial model will guide the PCE design and implementation. This article presents three different managerial models.

For those who think about design and innovation, a relatively exotic argument has been going on for a while. The issue is about how best to structure the overall innovation process. Do you look first for the grand concept and then derive details for a full system solution? Or do you first seek individual insights about proposed system functions, environments and users, and then integrate ideas to an overall grand concept? In essence, should the creative process be one of deduction or induction?