Getting Started with

Business Process Management

1 Technology-Business Impact Analysis Technology-Business Impact Analysis 1

 The modern enterprise is a vast entity, comprising a myriad of components, process and technologies.
Understanding how all these different facets interact is key to harnessing their potential, and business
process management (BPM) refers to the discovery, modeling, analysis and optimization efforts
for processes. An extensive and growing discipline, it utilizes standardized process modelling and
encompasses a variety of standards, frameworks, and increasingly sophisticated technologies.

This paper will introduce the ideas behind Business Process Management, and demonstrate how a
firm can begin the process of process management

6 Key are
2 What Mistakes to Avoid
the benefits ofWhen Creating a Technology Roadmap
EA Tooling? What are the benefits of EA Tooling? 2
 What is a Business Process?
An organization’s business processes are essentially what
the organization does on a day to day basis. Producing a
product, marketing it and distributing it are all business
processes, and most likely would be made up of many
smaller sub-processes.

Getting Started with Business

3 Technology-Business Process Management
Impact Analysis Technology-Business Impact Analysis 3 3
 Why do Business Processes
need Management?
BPM as a discipline is a subset of operations
management, and is focused on improving the efficiency
of business processes. To an extent that answers the
question – businesses will always seek opportunities to
improve efficiency or save costs. Nonetheless, we can
split certain areas into the realm of BPM.

In the modern business environment, BPM increasingly

means automation of business processes, and indeed
Gartner now offers extensive analysis of “intelligent
Business Process Management suites”, which aim to
give no or low code solutions to automating business
processes. Of course, there are still going to be a huge
range of processes that cannot or should not be
automated, which means there is still ample room for
efficiency gains that don’t rely on computerization or
programming knowledge.

4 Getting Started with Business

Technology-Business Process Management
Impact Analysis Technology-Business Impact Analysis 4 4
 The main focus of BPM is Business Process Analysis (BPA). BPA
is a discipline to identify business needs and provide solutions to
business problems so organizations can achieve their goals and
objectives. BPA aims for several key outcomes:

A fully documented process landscape, including baseline

and target states.

Process reporting and publication to create outputs such

as process manuals and work instructions.

A view of process impact resulting from change initiatives

and projects in the business.

A view of process inefficiencies, highlighting areas for

improvement.

Integration with business transformation initiatives, such as

governance, risk and compliance measures.

Note the use of the terms documentation and reporting; business

analysts or enterprise architects cannot reliably document
information, or report to others, if there isn’t a clear understanding
of how information is recorded. Thus, good BPA depends on an
implementation of Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN).

Getting
5 What Started
are withtsBusiness
the benefi Process Management
of EA Tooling? What are the benefits of EA Tooling? 5 5
 Business Process Model
and Notation
BPMN is documented in a 500+ page ISO specification, and its primary goal is to
provide a notation that is readily understandable by all business users. This means
that BPMN creates a standardized bridge for communication between different
process stakeholders (e.g. process owners, process performers, and process
analytics).

The latest BPMN 2.0 notation consists of more than 100 visual elements and
corresponding rules, which are used for representing business processes in different
types of business process diagrams. These process diagrams serve different
purposes in the BPM lifecycle, including process analysis and process improvement,
process-based communication and requirement specifications for business IT
solutions.

Besides its visual use, BPMN specifies a meta-model which defines the semantics
of BPMN visual and non-visual elements and their interrelationships. The resulting
semantic BPMN elements are used to specify business process models, which are
capable of being executed on business process engines.
A major advantage of BPMN when compared to competitive notations is that
business process diagrams, which consist of visual BPMN elements, can be easily
transformed into executable business process models through an XML based BPMN
format.

Bringing your process modeling and notation together in an understandable format

can be given yet another new title, Standardized Process Modeling.

6 Getting Started with Business

Technology-Business Process Management
Impact Analysis Technology-Business Impact Analysis 6 6
 Standardized Process
Modeling
Rapidly changing landscapes render the ability to model and
communicate business processes in a standardized fashion fundamental
to any BPM initiative. This is standardized process modeling. Simply
knowing of BPMN is not necessarily going to give an enterprise the ability
to model and communicate clearly every time.

There have been a lot of acronyms and new terms introduced so far, so it’s
worth summing everything up before we proceed:

Business Process: What a business does day to day.

Business Process Management (BPM): Uncovering business

processes, modeling them, analyzing them and optimizing them.

Business Process Analysis (BPA): identify and solve business

process issues.

Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN): A specification

that aims to provide a common language for the recording and
communication of business processes.

Standardized Process Modeling: the practice of implementing

BPMN such that modeling and communication are standardized
across the enterprise.

7 Getting Started with Business

Technology-Business Process Management
Impact Analysis Technology-Business Impact Analysis 7 7
 Getting Started
We’ve now established what BPM is and what it involves. In order to manage and improves upon business processes, an
organization needs to be able to analyze them. Analysis is not possible without a common language for analysts and architects,
which requires BPMN. The implementation of BPMN can be termed as standardized process modeling. There is therefore a clear
chain of necessary parts in order to successfully get to BPM.

1
Have
2
Establish
3
Train
4
Collect
5
Model &
6
Communicate &
centralized Goals Users Process Data Analyze Report
storage

Getting Started with Business

8 Technology-Business ImpactProcess Management
Analysis Technology-Business Impact Analysis 8 8
 1. Have centralized storage
This might seem somewhat unrelated, but any attempt to
standardize at a large organization will require a way to keep
all process data in one place. Otherwise, you risk duplication of
processes and inconsistencies in how they are recorded.

This is a major reason why enterprise architecture tools, like Orbus’s

iServer, use their central repository model, which guarantees a
centrally managed and governed storage space for process data.
Enterprises simply won’t be able to have effective & efficient
management if analysts and other process owners are duplicating
work or have trouble communicating.

2. Establish Goals
As with any business initiative, it is important to know what you’re aiming
to achieve before you set out. That you’ll be aiming to improve the
efficiency of business processes is a given, so this step will often be more
about curating the scope of the project. Modern enterprises will have
so many thousands of potential processes that it isn’t feasible to target
everything, and more effective business process management is likely to
look at specific functions, regions or elements.

It is worth bearing in mind that the best business process management

is not a single initiative or project, but will be a continuous improvement
process, and so to an extent all goals are achievable in the long run. Again,
deciding on scope and priorities is half the battle here.

9 Getting Started with Business

Technology-Business Process Management
Impact Analysis Technology-Business Impact Analysis 9 9
 3. Train Users
Having a standard for modeling means users need to
be familiar with every element of the standardization,
or risk redundancy. This is another strength of iServer,
where end users can be trained in just a few hours,
and BPMN courses are available as well.

4. Collect Process Data

In order to actually model anything, an enterprise will
need to have access to process data. This may already exist,
in which case the major challenge is converting legacy
models to the new, BPMN compliant notation.

Process data will include existing process models and

process metadata. If there is no existing process data
available, this is likely to be one of the most time-
consuming tasks in the sequence.

10 Getting
Technology-Business Impact Analysis
Started with Business Process Management Technology-Business Impact Analysis 10 10
 5. Model & Analyze
Perhaps the most important step in the entire process, but also one
that takes the least effort (power laws really do pop up everywhere).
There is some crossover with the previous step, as the modeling of
processes could go in either, but analysis is vital regardless.

Some frameworks exist to help, such as APQC, a process

classification framework that is supported in iServer, while there
are also a variety of process diagrams such as SIPOC and Ishikawa
diagrams that can deployed. Another option is to utilize the Lean
methodology, or make use of iServer’s dynamic heatmaps and
impact analysis tools. There is even the option for crowdsourcing
process improvement ideas through iServer’s ideation abilities.

6. Communicate & Report

The final step is to bring other parts of the business into

the loop, through communication and reporting. Architects
should establish a communication strategy and select key
reports or artifacts to socialize with business stakeholders
and leadership.

In addition, present the combined benefits and newly

formulated approach to process modeling in plan the
next steps. The iServer Portal can be used to enhance
stakeholder collaboration, providing an easy way to share
feedback.

11 6Technology-Business
Key Mistakes
Getting towith
Started Avoid WhenAnalysis
Business
Impact Creating a Technology Roadmap
Process Management Technology-Business Impact Analysis 11 11
 Outcomes & Next Steps
What should you expect to achieve from modeling your business processes, and how can you
turn those achievements into concrete business value?

It should go without saying, but one guaranteed outcome is up-to-date, central storage for all
of your business processes. With iServer, the central repository ensures that your enterprise’s
data is always properly managed and governed, with a single source of truth.
Another certainty is having a defined approach and modeling capability using BPMN, with key
users appropriately trained. An enterprise should also have sets of key visuals and the ability to
communicate these to stakeholders.

However, communicating an idea does not mean it will come to pass. The next step is actually
implementing changes to improve processes. Unfortunately, there is no simple guide to doing
this as each enterprise and each process is going to be unique. iServer users will have a large
advantage in implementation as it is a tool designed for enterprise transformation.

There is also not a guarantee that your process analysis will actually identify problems or be
able to propose effective solutions. Companies have been trying to improve process efficiency
for generations, but it is always easier said than done. Having formal process notation, standard
models, and a variety of analysis tools will help, but they cannot transform a business by
themselves. The practice of Business Process Management is not a one-off but an ongoing
operation partly because it is hard to do and requires constant effort.

12 Getting Started with Business

Technology-Business Process Management
Impact Analysis Technology-Business Impact Analysis 12 12
 Summary
The pursuit of improving business
processes is perhaps one of the
oldest and simplest methods of
gaining competitive advantage, but
as enterprises have grown larger
and more complex, it has become
more difficult to achieve. Business
Process Management has arisen
as a discipline to help enterprises
overcome this difficulty.

At the same time, a variety of tools

and frameworks have been designed
to help BPM initiatives succeed, and
successfully implementing these
are the purpose of this guide. In fact,
diligent readers will have probably
noticed that this guide is incorrectly
titled – it would be more accurate
to say that this is about getting
ready for BPM, not getting started.
Centralizing your process data,
spreading the knowledge of BPMN,
and standardizing all of your process
models is what allows BPM to start
in an organization.

13 Getting Started with Business

Technology-Business Process Management
Impact Analysis Technology-Business Impact Analysis 13 13
 © Copyright 2020 Orbus Software. All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, resold, stored in a retrieval system, or distributed in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording,
or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner.

Such requests for permission or any other comments relating to the material contained in this document may be submitted to: [email protected]

Orbus Software
Floor 4, 60 Buckingham Palace Road, SW1W 0RR
+44 (0) 20 3824 2907
[email protected]
www.orbussoftware.com