Articles

BPMS Watch: Measure Then Model? An Alternative Process Lifecycle

Author(s):

BPMInstitute.org

Business Relationship Manager - Product Lifecycle Management, Chevron Corporation

BPM users are familiar with the process lifecycle. It starts with process modeling. Business analysts document the as-is process, and analyze its shortcomings – handoff inefficiencies, exception handling, inconsistent application of policies and rules. From the model they can define KPIs for the process and estimate their value using simulation analysis. Then they model proposed process improvements, and project the expected benefit using simulation, before committing resources to the implementation.

The next step in the standard lifecycle is process design.

Can your Enterprise See, and Mashup, the Emerging Web?

Author(s):

BPMInstitute.org

Business Relationship Manager - Product Lifecycle Management, Chevron Corporation

Web 2.0 is one of those marketing words I don’t like to use that often, but unlike SOA 2.0, the Web 2.0 is a reality. It’s really a change in platform at its essence, but there are also many social issues there as well…information sharing, collaboration, and social networking to name a few. But can your enterprise see the emerging Web?

What’s important to remember is that there is a huge resource that is being created on the Web these days.

Where It Begins: The Super-System View

Author(s):

BPMInstitute.org

Business Relationship Manager - Product Lifecycle Management, Chevron Corporation

In a bulletin last year I wrote about the value of defining an organization’s processes by using a Processing System Hierarchy, which identifies and links “levels” of process, starting with the external environment and then cascading down through the organization’s value chain, primary processing systems, key processes and sub-processes, and finally down to individual performers. In this article I am focusing where the Hierarchy starts.

At this topmost level is what we at the Performance Design Lab (PDL) call the “Super System” view.

Key Drivers for BPMS Growth

Author(s):

BPMInstitute.org

Business Relationship Manager - Product Lifecycle Management, Chevron Corporation

Forrester has predicted that the BPMS (business process management system) market will grow from $1.2 billion in 2005 to over $2.7 billion in 2009. What is driving this growth? The tools are forging tighter links between IT and business users and significantly enhancing the effectiveness of process improvement efforts. Specifically, BPMS tools support:

The Eight Wastes in a Process

Author(s):

Daniel Madison

Principal, Value Creation Partners

Taiichi Ohno, a major contributor to the Toyota Production System, identified seven wastes that can exist in processes. Jeffery Liker, a professor at the University of Michigan added an eighth. If the wastes are removed or reduced, significant benefits can be realized. These benefits are:

Dramatically lower costs
Much faster processes
Exceeding high quality
Less frustrated workers
Happier customers

As each of the wastes are explained, look for examples in your own organization.

SOA, Business Process and Enterprise Architecture: Putting it all together

Author(s):

Ken Orr

Founder & Chief Scientist, The Ken Orr Institute

Ken Orr is the founder and chief scientist for The Ken Orr Institute, a business technology research organization. He is an internationally known and recognized expert on technology transfer, software engineering, information architecture, and data warehousing.

The Hartford Moves Forward with SOA

Author(s):

BPMInstitute.org

Business Relationship Manager - Product Lifecycle Management, Chevron Corporation

Founded in 1810, The Hartford Financial Services Group is one of America’s oldest and largest financial institutions. From its origin in providing fire insurance to Connecticut businesses, it has become a leading provider of automobile, homeowners’ and business insurance.

Addicted to Code

Author(s):

BPMInstitute.org

Business Relationship Manager - Product Lifecycle Management, Chevron Corporation

Observations:

Do you notice how quickly business rules often turn into CodeSpeak? Instead of fully expressing business rules in the natural language of the business, a rules analyst sometimes expresses the business rules only in a structured syntax form or they quickly transform the incomplete or incoherent natural language form into a structured syntax form. The structured syntax form is usually an “If then Else” structure or decision table structure.

Business Architecture: Turning Strategy into Actionable Results

Author(s):

William Ulrich

President, TSG, Inc.

Executives have mandated that the organization deploy new strategies while getting more productivity from its workforce. This requires business unit consolidation, alternative market exploration, new product and service deployment, and a myriad of other actions. These activities, in turn, spawn a demand for infrastructure upgrades and technology redeployment. Unfortunately, the gap between strategy and actionable results is growing.

Making Sense of SOA Standards Activities – Part II

Author(s):

BPMInstitute.org

Business Relationship Manager - Product Lifecycle Management, Chevron Corporation

In the first part of this series, we talked about the confusion in the SOA space and the difficulty in understanding the various standards activities.