Business process management changes the way organisations operate. You need the will, the authority and the capacity to transform activities and this implies the realignment of business activities with enterprise goals. The introduction of
BPM needs support from staff and the management responsible for regulating the entire process. There is no reason why all business process improvement attempts should be treated in the same vein. It is important to understand that one singular approach might not fit all requirements therefore it is often better to adopt a project specific approach.
When the process management tool is implemented within an enterprise, it might require:
Balancing short term practical fixes with that of long term strategic gain
The adoption of different methodologies
There are different ways of categorising business process management projects based on the type of process and the type of project. It is necessary to carry out appropriate analysis of the entire business scenario and use a case by case analysis to ensure the best outcome.
There are three varieties of BPM projects and these include:
Process driven projects
Strategy driven projects
Business issue driven projects
Each of these methodologies works in different ways and has an intrinsic value and drawback of its own.
Strategy Driven Approach
The business goals centre on an intensive need for change
It often revolves around an enterprise strategy
Business process management revolves around the implementation of the strategy
The Board or the executive body determines the objectives and it is the duty of the management to see to it that the projects are organised in a structured way
Business Issue Driven Approach
The driving force behind this approach is certainly the enterprise operational needs or business issues that often surface at the departmental level
The approach tends to be more practical and tactical instead of being strategic
The approach should be in alignment with the enterprise business objectives
Process Driven Approach
The process improvement team examines the business aspects and also the process perspective.
There is a strong emphasis on metrics, best practices and continuous improvement methods
The typical drivers in this list include improving quality of service, improving customer satisfaction and at the same time reducing the expense ratios.
There has been a debate revolving around the relationship between BPM and enterprise architecture (or EA). One of the aims of enterprise architecture is to align the IT structure and business processes. Some industry insiders consider BPM and EA to be one and the same thing but experts believe that they are related disciplines. The different enterprise approaches can provide support to BPM processes. Much of the emphasis is placed on unification and integration. This is quite akin to the way
ECM and BPM are considered to be complimentary to each other.
BPM is aimed at improving the business processes continuously, to make it improving work efficiency and flexibility and therefore can be aptly referred to as a process optimisation tool.
