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Process Knowledge Initiative: Navigating the field of process management

December 21, 2010 By brenda michelson

As I mentioned in September, I’ve been engaged by the stewards of the Process Knowledge Initiative (PKI) to expedite the boring, yet critical, start-up activities to create the foundation for the development of an open source body of knowledge focused on business process management.

Over the last month, we’ve progressed on the “more interesting” aspects, including defining the technical (really content) team structure and announcing the technical (again, content) experts and advisors.

This morning, in the BPTrends Advisor, Paul Harmon, co-chair of the technical integration team, published an update on the PKI (PDF), which included his perspective on the value of the to-be-delivered body of knowledge (PKBoK).

“As I have watched the PKI initiative gather momentum, I have become more excited about the potential of this effort. When I first began to talk about the PKI effort I emphasized that it would support the creation of a common understanding of process and process work. One hardly needs to edit a website like BPTrends.com to be aware of the variety of definitions that are in widespread use and the belief that anything that standardizes usage will make it easier to communicate the process perspective to business managers.

As I have worked with the PKI during the last few months I have begun to evolve a slightly different understanding of the value of the effort. I continue to believe that standard definitions are important, but I begin to see where PKI can contribute even more to the process field. The PKI is focused on defining a high level overview of the field and specifying high level tasks and techniques. We do not plan on defining the tasks and techniques in great detail since most of the tasks and techniques have already been defined by other groups. What I now envision is a circular target with a process definition in the center. Surrounding that, there are knowledge areas where process concepts are used. In the next circle, there are the tasks that describe the work process people undertake. In the next circle out, each task is associated with techniques. And, beyond techniques there are pointers to organizations and books that define specific techniques. Figure 1 below, represents a pie shaped slice from such an imaginary target.”

 

 

I think Paul’s pie slice is a great depiction of our intent.  We don’t want to reinvent the process field.  We want to help navigate it. Think of the PKBoK as ‘the Wikipedia of BPM’.

Want to help?  Visit the Process Knowledge Initiative website for more information.

 

[Disclosure: The Process Knowledge Initiative is a client of Elemental Links.]

Filed Under: bpm, process knowledge

Business Agility and Process Optimization enabled by BPM & SOA – Contest Winners

September 21, 2010 By brenda michelson

Moments ago, the BPM / SOA Community of Practice announced the winners of the 2010 case study contest.  The overall winner was Van Ameyde International. 

The Van Ameyde Group specializes in international claims and risk management for major international insurance companies, captives and brokers, government agencies, and corporate and industrial clients including the energy sector, the shipping industry, ports and terminals.

The Van Ameyde case centered on a new claims handling system called ECHO – European Claims Handling Optimization.  Read the case highlights – business scenario, ROI, project capsule, methodology and lessons learned – on the BPM / SOA Community Insights blog.

The runner-up winner was AmerisourceBergen Corporation, one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical services companies serving the United States, Canada and selected global markets with a focus on the pharmaceutical supply chain. Servicing both pharmaceutical manufacturers and healthcare providers, the Company provides drug distribution and related services designed to reduce costs and improve patient outcomes.

The AmerisourceBergen case describes an enterprise-wide BPM implementation that enables processes such as contracts management and chargeback, AP vendor reconciliation, pro-generics competitive pricing and the quote to contract lifecycle. This year, as part of the company’s broader business transformation initiative, AmerisourceBergen replaced its legacy system with SAP, and used BPM to create six new processes, including PO reconciliation and variance resolution. 

Read the AmerisourceBergen case highlights – business scenario, ROI, project capsule, methodology and lessons learned – on the BPM / SOA Community Insights blog.

To learn more about this year’s contest, visit the contest website.

 

[Disclosure: The BPM / SOA Community of Practice is a client of my firm, Elemental Links.]

Filed Under: bpm, services architecture, soa

Call for Action: Process Knowledge Initiative

September 16, 2010 By brenda michelson

As Sandy Kemsley posted, we spent most of yesterday working with a team from BPTrends, IIBA and Queensland University of Technology (QUT), planning a new Process Knowledge Initiative.  The team came together to realize the vision outlined in Dr. Wasana Bandara’s research paper on Professionalizing Business Process Management. (PDF)

Dr. Bandara’s paper, co-authored by Paul Harmon of BPTrends and Dr. Michael Rosemann of QUT, calls for the creation of a comprehensive, extensible, open source, community-driven Business Process Management Body of Knowledge (BoK). 

The newly forming Process Knowledge Initiative will steward the creation of such a body of knowledge, which will be created by and for business process management professionals, academics and industry technology and service providers.

As this is a community driven and directed project, we have issued a call for action seeking business process community members who are interested in contributing to, or supporting, the BoK creation effort.  If this sounds interesting, please fill out the call to action form.

Why was I included in a room of BPM experts?  The team has contracted with Elemental Links for program start-up support.  As I promised Sandy, I won’t “meddle” in the Process Knowledge content.  That’s best left to experts.  Like you.  Get involved.

[Disclosure: The Process Knowledge Initiative is a client of Elemental Links.]

Filed Under: bpm, process knowledge

Goal-Driven Business Measurement Workshop in Cambridge MA, September 23, 2010

August 24, 2010 By brenda michelson

My friends at ShareDynamics, Joe and Gail Raynus, are conducting a full-day workshop on Goal-Driven Business Measurements, on September 23 in Cambridge MA. 

“This collaborative workshop will examine the concepts of Management Scorecards, Innovation Curve and Measurement Framework and introduce a clear, concise methodology that will help better understand, monitor and measure  critical processes, analyze challenges and proactively take action.”

Learning Objectives:

  • Gain understanding of key components of Quantitative Business Performance Measurement
  • Introduce Logic Model for business strategy planning
  • Learn Goal-Question-Metric Methodology to define effective Key Process Indicators and Metrics
  • Develop understanding of management dashboards and their structure
  • Learn how to develop a top-down measurement scorecard/dashboard structure for monitoring and control of your key processes and indicators
  • Establish a measurement program that is aligned with the organization’s business processes
  • Enhance ability to analyze quantitative information for decision making and analysis

 

The workshop is based on material from Joe’s forthcoming book, Improving Business Process Performance.  If, like me, you are a firm believer in the criticality of business visibility and responsiveness, you should check out this seminar.

Filed Under: analytics, bpm

BPM / SOA Community News: Case Study Contest Deadline Extended to July 30, 2010

July 1, 2010 By brenda michelson

Yes, it’s true!  The BPM / SOA Community of Practice has extended the deadline on the Business Agility and Process Optimization enabled by BPM and SOA Case Study Competition.  Entries are due July 30, 2010. 

Beware, this is the *final* final deadline.  Start your submission here.  To learn about the purpose, rules and such, go here.

 

[Disclosure: The BPM / SOA Community of Practice is a client of my firm, Elemental Links.]

Filed Under: bpm, services architecture, soa

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Brenda M. Michelson

Brenda Michelson

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