Bpm Success: Integration Is The Key

Communication is everything. The moment were born, the labyrinth of neurons in our brain starts processing and distributing information. Strong neural connections help our brains to expand their function so we can make smart decisions and reach our potential. Our well being relies on quick, efficient messaging. If the right connections arent made early on, our brains miss vital input that would otherwise instruct or protect us.

Business software integrations are similar, except a well-conceived integration delivers information with efficiency and consistency that vastly exceeds human potential. Integration makes it possible to tap into the tangle of business processes to get information wherever it resides and make it useful wherever its needed. If the diverse software applications you use dont connect at logical points, you miss opportunities for efficiency that enterprise content management (ECM) and business process management (BPM) software allow.

If youve read the first article in this series, you know that data is the basis of any ECM implementation, helping to drive work and decision making efficiently across your organization. The number of integration points and their thoroughness determine how easily and effectively your information can be pushed and pulled enterprise-wide. Thorough integration assures that data is available wherever and whenever its needed. It helps to drive processes forward based on real-time information, dramatically increasing accurate messaging and efficiency.

If youre not connecting your business systems, youre not engaging in effective ECM or BPM. Simply said, without thorough integration, youve missed the point.
Benefits of thorough integration

One of the many benefits of ECM is its ability to secure files according to rules that you establish. When BPM is added and you integrate it with multiple systems, those security rules are followed. This allows workers to access work-related documents based on permissions you set in place. Integration advances BPM beyond process automation: it draws and pushes data to and from software applications to where its needed, significantly enhancing and expediting processing as well as making work easier.
It helps workers to:

* Access information without leaving applications theyre using to search for data elsewhere;
* Retrieve data thats been stored in other systems and inaccessible for years;
* Maximize the usefulness of their line-of-business software, drawing real-time data and objects into selected applications for timely decisions and appropriate action;
* Leverage existing data to automate processes, enabling staff to use their time and talents for more meaningful work;
* Navigate work efficiently rather than wading through multiple logons, passwords, systems, and screens.

Employees, partners, and customers can:

* Engage easily in self service, getting information they need (via a portal or website) in a secure, convenient format;
* Engage in straight-through processing via website or portal integration.

Integration makes your information accessible, dramatically improves turnaround time, and provides you with an in-depth overview of your process efficiency.
The role of Web services

Web services are powerful, which is why theyve been a hot topic for several years. Universal, flexible, and built with a reusable interface, they work seamlessly and effectively with multiple systems after the services have been built.

The universality of Web services means theyre able to talk to any other application that leverages web services. If you construct a service that returns an image, that same service can be used with multiple applications to perform the same function elsewhere. This contrasts with hard-coded integrations, which are powerful but extremely inflexible, and must be coded for each individual use or application to work. When a single API service is updated, all identical services are simultaneously refreshed, making administration of changes significantly easier.

Consider your typical business process where data is needed. Normally, when employees are working in a specific application and need information that is stored elsewhere, they would exit their software, log into another system where the data is stored, and extract it. Then they would log out, sign back into their software application, and continue working. With Web services, processing is simplified. Services grab the data or object, pull it to a pre-specified place, or launch a specified process. No time is wasted entering, exiting, or switching applicationsinformation is delivered where its needed. After the commands are built, they can be reused again and again.
Real-world examples: before and after

Lets say you work in an insurance office in the claims department. You have an incoming claim and you need to verify that the policy was effective at the time of loss. When you discover that it was not in effect, you send a form letter to the claimant. Each of these actions typically involves exiting the claims application to search for information.

With Web services, you could design your process to execute a set of services to handle these steps without human intervention. Appropriate data would transfer to your process model, based on rules you have set to trigger the right form letter. Time-consuming and costly search and manual data transfer would be eliminated.
Planning systems integration

Throughout this series weve discussed the role of data and metadata in ECM and BPM, as well as the importance of establishing goals and streamlining the processes that support them. Integration takes the goal of enterprise efficiency and the tools of ECM and rulesdriven BPM and brings everything together under one roof. Thorough Web services integration gathers data that resides in multiple systems and uses it effectively, maximizing the benefit of valuable business information enterprise-wide.
Summary

Every business is a tangle of processes. To work efficiently, we must find ways to connect to information without traveling down disconnected pathways. Using web services for integration isnt the only option, but its the most powerful and flexible choice. Its significantly easier to manage, requires minimal training, and produces quick ROI.

Whether youre planning your first BPM implementation or looking for ways to make your automated processes more efficient, dont forget to examine possibilities for integration. Remember communication is everythingand integration makes it possible.