The BPM Field of Dreams & End-User Adoption

Written by Daniel Leo | 09 May 2013

While walking in his cornfield, Kevin Costner’s character “Ray Kinsella” in the movie “Field of Dreams” hears a voice – and in our case – let’s call him “CTO Ray” – walks through “his cornfield” (the IT Development  Team’s Sandbox) and hears a different voice (the Business/the Stakeholders voices) that whispers, "If you build it, they (the Employees) will come". He envisions a phenomenal state-of-the-art, optimized and streamlined newly implemented Business Process Management (BPM) System for all to utilize, making their day-to-day tasks more efficient, cycle times reduced, and a maximum return on invest for the business sponsor.

Read more...

iBPMS - Right for Your Enterprise?

Written by Ryan Johnston | 07 January 2013

Gartner’s latest Magic Quadrant for BPM attempts to change the game by evaluating BPM tools’ alignment with their vision of “IBO” (Intelligent Business Operations) rather than BPM tools’ core process modeling and execution capabilities. This means that Gartner expects the following additional capabilities - at minimum - to be a part of any BPM suite, which they now call an iBPMS (intelligent Business Process Management Suite):

  • Social business interaction,
  • Mobile interface support,
  • Advanced reporting capabilities,
  • Advanced decision support systems, e.g. rules engines,
  • Etc.

Should enterprises who are evaluating BPM tools subscribe to this new definition of iBPMS?

Read more...

BPM and Rules Engines

Written by Ryan Johnston | 07 January 2013

Much ado has been made about the inclusion of “rules engines” within modern BPM suites, but all rules engines aren’t created equal. Some rules engines are similar in concept to what used to be commonly called “expert systems” and are as a result both more powerful and more complex than the rules engines that are simply made up of externalized functions or code. I’ll simplify the concepts and explain why you may want to take the type of rules engine a given BPM suite uses into account when making a purchasing decision.

A note on terminology usage: Within this article, I’ll use “expert systems” to describe the more powerful and more complex rules engines, whereas I’ll use “procedural rules” to describe the more lightweight, procedural rules engines.

Read more...

2013 New Year’s Resolution – Implement Mobile Business Process Management (BPM)

Written by Daniel Leo | 03 January 2013

As the big hand joins the small hand at midnight, the ball drops and comes to a rest, and the colorful paper confetti rains down from the colossal skyscrapers in New York City, 2013 is finally here!  So for the next couple of months, I will painstakingly try to break last year’s habit of writing 2012 in the upper right-hand corner on the date line of this year’s 2013 checks …

… Hey, wait one moment … Like I stated, 2013 is here!!! Do I even write checks anymore?! … Do you?

When I look toward 2013, reflect on writing checks (in the old days), and think about the future landscape of BPM, it becomes crystal clear that now is the time to set the old days aside in BPM, and that means its time to think about implementing your Mobile BPM solution. In fact, Mobile BPM solutions are the most critical BPM initiatives that must be implemented in 2013 to gain your company’s competitive edge.

Read more...

Simple vs Complex – The Correct Decision!

Written by Daniel Leo | 12 October 2012

Congratulations! Your company's Business Process Management (BPM) initiative is officially underway and off the ground.

As you roll-up your sleeves, loosen your tie and wheel your chair up toward your computer to model that very first official process model, you think to yourself, “This sure has been an agonizing six months of key stakeholder and general business user meetings -  I thought this day would never arrive”.  Suddenly - with the BPMS modeler tool open, your internal body temperature rises, your palms become clammy and you begin to sweat like an artist with an empty white canvas, commissioned to paint the sequel to Michelangelo’s “Sistine Chapel”!

“Why am I so nervous”, you ask yourself?

Read more...