00 bpm a practical way to improve business processes 3763

8/6/2019 00 BPM a Practical Way to Improve Business Processes 3763

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White Paper

Ao O o o B Po Maam


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content

ExEcutivE summary 3

BPm: oPtimal, flExiBlE and transParEnt oPErations 4

BusinEss ProcEss managEmEnt in PracticE 5

BPm in rElation to othEr mEthodologiEs 10

imPact of BPm on thE organization 13

BPm roadmaP: think Big, start small, scalE quickly 14

BPm suitEs and suPPliErs 16

atos origins BPm sErvicEs 18


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executive summary

The term business process management (BPM) unites developments in areas such as workow

management, application integration and process redesign, which used to be regarded as sepa-

rate. This uniting and todays technological possibilities or implementing BPM provide organiza-

tions with new opportunities that were not available with the individual orerunners o BPM:

> optimization o business processes;

> exibility when changing business processes;

> improving the transparency o operations.

BPM enables operations to ocus on customers by centralizing business processes indepen-

dently o an organizations existing departmental structure. BPM describes business processes in

models and executes the processes on the basis o these models. This allows the execution o

processes to be measured. Comparing the results with predefned norms reveals how they can be

optimized. As processes are executed automatically and precisely according to the model,

it becomes easier to report on the compliance with a variety o regulations.

BPM orms an ideal combination with a service oriented architecture (SOA), the standardization

and reuse o services and processes creating economies o scale and greater exibility. New

process chains can be easily created by linking and integrating existing processes. The use o

services allows the underlying applications to be decoupled rom the business processes, so that

modifcations to these processes do not necessarily entail changes to the corresponding applica-

tions.

The implementation o BPM has implications or the way an organization conducts businessoperations, as well as or its IT. This means it requires a BPM roadmap specifcally prepared or

the organization and based on company strategy and maturity, incorporating the consequences

or the organization and a change management approach.

Although the market or BPM systems and their suppliers is consolidating, the felds historical

background, which has given rise to a variety o IT platorms, means that two such systems might

not be comparable. Atos Origin is knowledgeable concerning the leading suppliers in all segments

o the market and has ormed a partnership with each o them.

Atos Origin supplies a ull range o BPM services, rom strategy defnition and execution,

to management and operations. It can support organizations with:

> restructuring the business along process lines;> designing, modelling, improving and implementing processes;

> designing, creating and managing an IT landscape oriented towards processes and services.


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Business Process

management in Practice

Gartner defnes BPM as a management practice

that provides or governance o a businesss process

environment toward the goal o improving agility and

operational perormance. But what does this abstract

defnition really mean? This section sets out BPM based

on the BPM approach outlined in the previous section

or overcoming the challenges that complex organiza-

tions ace.

The relationship between the various BPM applications

is clarifed by presenting all the applications in a single

model, based on the splitting out o strategic, tactical

and operational applications.

customEr-cEntric oPErations through

ProcEss oriEntation

With BPM, the services provided to customers and

the business processes or realizing these services

are centralized and placed under the responsibility o

process owners. Each process is separated rom the

activities - computerized and manual alike - o the orga-nizations business units and departments. I a business

process can be implemented in a generic rom, cus-

tomers can use dierent media or communicating with

the organization concerning the process: post, email,

web or phone. To ully digitize the process, the required

inormation is translated as necessary into an electronic

orm. Business services can also be supplied as web

services to the organizations partners in the business

chain.

continuous ProcEss imProvEmEnt

BasEd on hard figurEs

Explicit defnitions and models o business processes,

in a standardized language like BPMN1, are the core o

BPM. The models are executed by the process engine,

a sotware module that invokes IT system services or

requests human intervention or the execution o each

process step. As the management o a process is ully

computerized, the values o various process metrics

can be obtained (business activity monitoring): execu-

tion times o process steps, workload at certain points

in the process, number o error situations, etc.

1 Business Process Modelling Notation is a standard o theOpen Management Group (www.omg.org).

Figure 2 BPM applications at dierent levels Figure 3 BPM places customer-to-customer processes

centre stage

Strategic

Tactical

Operational

CustomerCustomer

Operational Department Department

+

Department


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Based on this process intelligence, an operations

manager can perorm adjustments to a process by:

> deploying extra resources or the execution o manual

steps in the process; and

> initiating action or exceptional situations that the

process concerned cannot handle. (An example

could be ailing to resolve a customers complaint

within the allotted time.)

Process intelligence is also analysed as a way o as-

sessing the process itsel and identiying possible im-

provements (such as perorming two controls in parallel

and, hence, shortening the execution time o a delivery

process.)

BusinEss ProcEssEs as sourcE

of managEmEnt information

Process intelligence is an excellent source o

standardized management inormation. This no longer

has to be compiled using complex consolidations o

extracts rom databases, but can be derived directly

rom the execution o business processes. Management

not only receives strategic reports based on inormation

that becomes available, but can also defne in advance

the key perormance indicators (KPIs) necessary or

validating and monitoring these processes. Accordingly,

BPM is a mechanism that generates quantitative data

rom business processes. This data is used to esh out

management strategies such as Lean and Six Sigma,

o which continuous process improvement is a key

component.

As well as reports or senior management, process intel-

ligence is a source or the reports required in connection

with the compliance with a rat o regulations. Since the

execution o the business processes has ull computer-

ized support and adheres strictly to the process designmodel, this inormation provides the maximum possible

transparency or business operations.

Tactical

ValidationDesign Analysis

Monitor

Model

Operational

Execution

+

Figure 4 Continuous improvement o processes

KPI

Strategic

Tactical

ReportsKPI

Validation Analysis

Figure 5 Reporting based on process intelligence


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standardization of BusinEss ProcEssEs

I an organization uses BPM to any extent, an analy-

sis o business processes and services will reveal that

some processes and subprocesses can be stan-

dardized, allowing their use in multiple situations. For

example, a process initially specifc to a certain business

partner can be made generic and put at the disposal

o an entire market. Or the invoicing procedures can be

removed rom a number o product-specifc delivery ser-

vices and standardized. Not only does the above pro-

duce economies o scale, and hence cost savings, but

also makes it possible to create new processes based

on existing standardized ones. The standardization and

reuse o processes and services also alls within the

scope o an SOA.

flExiBility of ProcEssEs and it systEms

Another SOA aspect o BPM is the segregation o

business processes rom business logic. As stated

above, the management o processes is provided by

the process engine, whereas processes were oten

previously hardcoded in the algorithms o the business

applications. Application unctions are now in the orm

o standardized services invoked or the execution o

process steps.

This type o architecture provides the required exibility,

because frstly

> the control exercised by the process engine can be

changed without the need or modifcation o the

underlying IT systems (or example, i the sequence

o process steps changes),

and secondly

> the execution o a process step can be optimized

without aecting the output o the process in ques-

tion (or example, i a manually executed process step

is computerized or the implementation o a service is

optimized without the need or changes to the

corresponding service contract).

Operational

+

Figure 7 Process management segregated rom

execution o process steps


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BPm in relation to other

methodologies

BPm: thE convErgEncE of Existing

mEthodologiEs

Although BPM provides revolutionary opportunities,

not everything about it is new. Almost all the advanta-

ges o BPM have been available under another name.

The power o BPM thereore derives mainly rom the

convergence o business and IT disciplines that were

previously approached in isolation rom each other.

These separate disciplines have converged in terms o

the objectives they try to achieve, approach, supporting

technology and management governance.

Figure 9 BPM, the convergence o dierent methodologies.

BPm as thE starting Point

for nEw dEvEloPmEnts

Although BPM has its roots in the past, it provides

opportunities or the application o innovations such

as business rules management or real-time process

simulations and analyses.

Business Process Management

1Process Centric

Organization

4Enterprise Application

Integration

3Corporate

PerormanceManagement

2Continuous

ProcessImprovement

5Work Flow

Management

6Enterprise

ContentManagement

1. Making business operations process or customer

centric, sometimes a spino rom business process

reengineering (BPR).

2. Process quality management methodologies such

as Lean and Six Sigma or continuous process

improvement.

3. Corporate perormance management as a way o

monitoring a companys strategy.

4. Enterprise application integration (EAI): computeriza-

tion o the message streams between the applications

that carry out the various parts o a business process.

5. Workow management (WFM): the computerizedsupport o operating processes, oten in the orm o

document ows with staging posts at the people who

carry out the process steps.

6. Enterprise content management (ECM): the digitiza-

tion o business inormation and the management o

electronic olders.


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2 Service Oriented Architecture beyond the hype - Atos Origin vision on SOA (white paper), Huub Bakker et al., version 1.0, 20-11-2007.

3 I an SOA is subsequently implemented as a result o defning a service or each process step, this will not produce a unctional

decoupling. Services are not the same as process steps!

how BPm and soa rEinforcE Each othEr

On page 8, SOA was mentioned in connection with

certain eatures o BPM (standardization and reuse o

processes, and the segregation o processes rom

applications).

To understand how SOA and BPM reinorce each other,

a proper understanding is needed o their dierences

and the realization o the objectives they are intended to

support.

> SOA is essentially a style o architecture, a method or

building and implementing organizational and techni-

cal systems, characterized by design principles such

as modularity, loose coupling and standardization.

The principle idea behind SOA is the management o

system complexity to raise the level o exibility and

adaptability2. In this context, BPM solutions seam-

lessly ft an SOA environment (see textbox below).

> As explained in the previous section, BPM is a

management approach or discipline ocusing on the

improvement o business processes (as regards their

design, implementation and execution).

The BPM approach has a bias towards business

objectives that are more tangible, such as shorter

lead times, compliance with statutory requirements,

improvements in the quality o business processes,

and reductions in downtime.

SOA reinorces BPM as regards the realization o ex-

ibility. Without services as the uture-proo elements o

the business and IT landscapes, the exibility o BPM

can reach no urther than changes in the control logic o

business processes. Changes in the defnitions o pro-

cess steps by themselves lead immediately to changes

in IT systems, because computerized process steps

are linked directly to applications, technically as well

as unctionally3. In the absence o standardization and

reuse o services and processes, BPM can lead to local

suboptimization.

BPM reinorces SOA through its ocus on tangible busi-

ness solutions. Two benefts o this are the prevention

o SOA projects remaining IT exercises and the acilita-

tion o business involvement in the defning o corporate

services and the making o agreements on terminology.

Figure 10 Benefts o a BPM-SOA combination

SOA

No SOA

> well-dened demarcation o processes by

means o services;

> enterprise architecture approach or

broad-based governance

> standardization on a single environment or

process management, service management

and integration;

> risk o ocus on short-term success in specic

business processes;

> very limited fexibility

> without an enterprise architecture oundation,

BPM is just another process silo;

> dicult to interest the business;

> risk o too much ocus on technology;

> ew short-term business benets;

... and BPM and no BPM


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Figure 11 Processes both use and output services

BPm, convErgEntiE van vErschillEndE

BEstaandE ondErwErPEn

Hoewel BPM revolutionaire mogelijkheden biedt, is niet

alles nieuw. Vrijwel alle onderdelen van BPM zijn eerder

onder andere namen naar voren gebracht. De kracht

van BPM komt dan ook vooral uit de convergentie van

bedrijskundige- en IT-disciplines die in het verleden

gescheiden werden benaderd. Deze onderwerpen

zijn naar elkaar toegegroeid in termen van te bereiken

doelstellingen, aan pak, ondersteunende technologie en

besturing door het management.

1. Proces o klant georinteerd inrichten van de bed-

rijsvoering, soms als resultaat van Business Process

Reengineering (BPR) activiteiten.

2. Proces kwaliteit management aanpakken zoals Lean

en Six Sigma voor continue procesverbeteringen.

3. Corporate Perormance Management als aanpak om

de strategie van een onderneming te monitoren.

4. Enterprise Application Integration (EAI); automatiser-

ing van de stroming van berichten tussen applicaties die

stukken van het bedrijsproces uitvoeren.

5. Workow Management (WFM); de geautomatiseerde

ondersteuning van operationele processen, vaak in de

vorm van de stroming van documenten langs mensen

die stappen in het proces uitvoeren.

6. Enterprise Content Management (ECM); het digital-

iseren van bedrijsinormatie en het beheren van digitale

dossiers.

BPm solutions sEamlEssly fit an soa EnvironmEnt

The architecture o a BPM solution is characterized by the explicit segregation o the control logic o business

processes rom the execution o their individual process steps.

The controll o business processes is carried out by a BPMS, based on the process models. Services are invoked

or the execution o process steps, meaning that a process uses a service.

The completion o a business process also represents the provision o a service, since it can be described in terms o

the inputs and triggers to initiate the process and the outcome o the process. Hence, a business process also realizesa service.

This occurs at various detailed levels o the architecture. Services defne the exterior o the system, processes

the interior.

The fgure below shows services and processes at a number o detailed levels. BPM operates at the highest level,

where processes and process steps are meaningul to the business. SOA is also involved at the business level,

not with a ocus on processes, but on business services.

At the service orchestration level, the purpose o the processing algorithm is to combine the services output rom

dierent sotware modules into a service meaningul to the business. Service orchestration is mainly a technical

integration issue, outside the scope o BPM and SOA.

TechnicalIntegration

SOA

SOAProcess Service

Business Process

Service Orchestration

Process Step

Step Step

Basic Service

SotwareComponent

SotwareComponent

SotwareComponent

Basic Service

Process StepBPM

Core Business Service Core Business Service


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imPact of BPm

on the organization

oPErating ProcEssEs

Because BPM brings changes to operating processes

in its wake, some jobs will disappear, some will change

and new ones will be created. For example, the person

who delivers mail internally will give way to an automat-

ed stream o documents, and the duties o an opera-

tions manager concerning the directing and controlling

o processes will be taken over by the process engine.

As a result, the role o an operations manager will be-

come more interesting in that it will move to the tactical

level (HR-management, quality control, etc.). Employees

might ear that the introduction o BPM will mean the

loss o jobs and more supervision o their work, given

that BPM allows deeper insight into all kinds o process

inormation. It is important to prepare or this ear and

the resulting resistance when introducing BPM into an

organization.

Fortunately, BPM is ideal or implementing changes to

processes and organizations iteratively. This represents

a undamental dierence between BPM and BPR, a

management methodology popular in the 1990s involv-ing an almost revolutionary approach to changing out-

o-the-box processes. By opting or BPM, an organiza-

tion puts a lot more emphasis on gradual change.

As indicated above, BPM entails a shit o manage-

ments attention rom the day-to-day control o operat-

ing processes to matters with a higher tactical content:

> resolving situations that prove to be outside the

scope o standard processes;

> giving consideration to process improvements based

on process intelligence that BPM presents. Apart

rom managers, employees have an important part toplay here o course.

The impact o BPM on an organization depends largely

on how it is implemented.

alignmEnt of BusinEss and it

The combination o BPM and a services-based architec-

ture creates the opportunity or simpliying the alignment

o business and IT4 . Until very recently, there was a wide

gap between the requirements business wanted satisfed

and the systems that IT departments delivered. The only

way to bridge this gap was by the time-consuming and

error-prone documentation o the business needs, ol-

lowed by their translation into concepts that made sense

to an IT department.

BPM and SOA provide business and IT with a common

language and coding system, so that alignment becomes

simpler and more precise. The services with their stan-

dardized semantics (actual meanings) are the words and

the architecture is the grammar o that language. BPM

gives the business control over the use o services in its

business processes, allowing the IT unction to concen-

trate on the application sotware and technology or the

implementation o the computerized services. Accordingly,

discussions about harmonization need only concern the

defnition o services.

4 This also applies to the harmonization and collaboration between business departments or business partners.


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BPm roadmaP: think Big,

start small, scale quickly

BPM is not something you buy or build. It is a manage-

ment discipline that an organization has to adopt. The

introduction and use o BPM is not a one-o project

thereore, but a process requiring a roadmap or its

complete, phased and planned implementation. BPM

is not a universal solution, but rather an approach to

be applied in a variety o areas at strategic, tactical and

operational levels, as described in the previous section.

The BPM roadmap lays out the priorities and op-

tions concerning the application that is suitable or the

organization in question. Accordingly, it is specifc to an

organization.

An organizations BPM roadmap cannot exist in isola-

tion, but needs to be integrated into the standard plan-

ning cycle o the business, or the simple reason that

BPM is not an end in itsel.

PlatEau Planning By thE clovErlEaf mEthod

The BPM roadmap is based on plateau planning, an

approach that allows adjustments to the implementation

process because o changes in the ocus and priorities

o the organization or experience with plateaus already

established. For plateau planning, Atos Origin uses its

proven cloverlea method, which is oriented towards

creating a comprehensive plan or each plateau. The

method considers the our leaves -

> management and organization,

> processes and services,

> IT systems and inrastructure

> people and culture

in combination. This balanced method is ideal or BPM,

because this has a broad sweep that takes in organiza-

tional, process-related and technological aspects.

Figure 12 Cloverlea method or plateau planning

PerormanceProcesses & Services

People & Culture

Management &Organization

IT systems &

IT Inrastructure


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Each plateau comprises several projects managed us-

ing a programme structure. The projects might concern

the application o BPM to a specifc business process or

the implementation o BPM itsel, such as the selection

o a BPM tool, training o management and employees,

putting the governance o processes in place, or em-

bedding BPM in the employee participation structure.

A complete business case is also drawn up or each

plateau.

BPm roadmaP assEssmEnt study

Atos Origin develops the BPM roadmap or an organiza-

tion as part o an assessment study in which:

> the business and IT visions and strategies are

included;

> the existing situation as regards processes, manage-

ment, governance and IT systems is documented;

> an outline is produced o the long-term business and

IT architectures;

> a BPM vision and implementation strategy is devel-

oped, taking into account the organizations changestyle and capacity;

> an outline plateau plan is made, including an evalua-

tion o whether the BPM roadmap can or should be

integrated with other business and/or IT programmes,

such as those or the adoption o an SOA;

> the frst plateau is defned and planned in detail, and

> a sound business case is prepared or the frst plateau.

Maturity models are used during the assessment study

as tools or analysing the maturity o the organization

rom dierent standpoints, mainly, though, to perorm a

reality check on the defnition o the frst plateau. These

models do not provide the guiding principles or prepar-

ing a BPM roadmap, only the limiting conditions.

diffErEnt imPlEmEntation stratEgiEs

As stated, BPM implementation strategies dier rom

case to case. BPM is sometimes implemented using

an architecture-driven approach, in combination with

an SOA or example. In other situations, BPM is the

vehicle or implementing Six Sigma quality enhancement

programmes. And in yet others, BPM is introduced as

an extension to the implementation o workow and

document management.


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BPm suites and suPPliers

Although BPM is not itsel an IT application, the use o a

computer system or BPM (BPMS) is essential. A com-

prehensive BPMS includes the ollowing components:

> the process designer which a business analyst uses

to model and simulate processes (employing BPMN

or example)

> the process engine which executes process ows

(written in BPEL or BPML or example), with manual

tasks being delivered to the intrays o employees and

calls being issued to services in the case o comput-

erized steps.

> the business rules engine which holds the defni-

tions o business rules, including the conditions

governing their application;

> a process analysis unction also reerred to as

business activity monitoring (BAM) that provides

continuous eedback on the status o processes;

> composite applications commonly known as busi-

ness services the module that provides computer-

ized unctions in the orm o services that can be

invoked by business processes;

> knowledge management which allows employ-

ees to share tasks, content and documents among

groups and teams;

> document management that enables electronic

documents, images and other fles to be stored in

olders and managed;

> tools that acilitate cross-departmental collaboration

such as orums and bulletin boards;

> a business analysis unction that provides reports

and dashboards rom which managers can identiy

issues, trends and opportunities;

> a portal that unctions as a communal, personalized

user environment giving access to the above tools.

Figure 13 Components o a BPMS. Source: Gartner

Portal

Knowledg

e

Conte

nt CollaborationBusin

ess

CompositeProcessApplications

Rulesengine

Processengine

managem

ent m

anage

ment

ana

lytics

Processanalyticus

Process

Designer


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As stated on page 13, BPM arose rom the merger o

various methodologies, including WFM, ECM and EAI.

As suppliers o BPMS products oten have a back-

ground in one o the original areas, the stronger unc-

tions o their products reect this. Thanks to ongoing

development, as well as mergers and acquisitions in

this market, the scope o BPMS suites has expanded

urther. In practical terms, however, the integration o

dierent components united in a suite under a single

logo is not always optimal.

With the backgrounds as a ramework, Forrester divides

the market or BPMS products into three segments:

human centric, document centric and integration

centric. Atos Origin is knowledgeable concerning the

leading suppliers in all three segments and has ormed

a partnership with each o them.

Figure 14 Atos Origins partnerships with BPMS suppliers


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atos origins BPm services

Under its Consult-Build-Operate concept, Atos Origin

provides services or all parts o the BPM lie cycle, rom

strategy defnition and transormation, to the leverag-

ing o BPM solutions. The BPM services relate to the

business structuring provided by Atos Consulting and

to the technology required or BPM. The diagram below

shows the BPM portolio o Atos Origin.

Atos Origins BPM services stand on a oundation built

rom generic enterprise architecture, IT governance and

change management services. They comprise:

> BPM strategy services or developing a BPM

strategy and roadmap that cover the entire range o

business and IT operations, including the support-

ing business case, creation o acceptance within the

organization, etc.;

> Process centric organization services that ocus

on making an organization process-centric and

customer-centric, and on the change management,

enterprise architecture and other resources needed to

eect this;

> Business process provisioning execution o busi-

ness processes by Atos Origin, such as in the orm o

payment services that Atos Worldline provides;

> Process modelling & design the design, modelling,

simulation and validation o processes;

> Process monitoring & analysis set up and execution

o monitoring and analysis, based on KPIs, manage-

ment reports, etc.;

> IT landscape process enabling & integration - trans-

ormation o the IT landscape, or example, to a

service-centric architecture, including integration o

the IT systems and the business processes;

> Process support & IT execution - provision o IT sup-

port or business processes, including management

and maintenance o IT systems.

Figure 15 Atos Origins BPM services portolio

Consult Build

Process centric organization

BPMs

trategy

Architecture&Gover

nance

Information

Technology

Information

Services

Business

Business ProcessProvisioning

Process modeling & design Process monitoring & analysis

IT landscape process enabling& integration

Process support & IT execution

Operate


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aBout atos origin

Atos Origin is an international inormation technology services company. Its business is turning

client vision into results through the application o consulting, systems integration and managed

operations. The companys annual revenues are EUR 5.8 billion and it employs 50,000 people in

40 countries. Atos Origin is the Worldwide Inormation Technology Partner or the Olympic Games

and has a client base o international blue-chip companies across all sectors. Atos Origin is quot-

ed on the Paris Eurolist Market and trades as Atos Origin, Atos Worldline and Atos Consulting.


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2008AtosOrigin.

Atos Origin

Corporate Village

Da Vincilaan 5

B-1930 Zaventem

Belgium

00 bpm a practical way to improve business processes 3763

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