Business Process Management Does Not Equal Workflow

A few years back, I wrote a set of blog articles comparing BPM Software Solutions that integrated with SharePoint 2003. Because of the newer SharePoint and BPM Software Solutions available, I thought it would be a good opportunity for me to focus on this once again.

However, before I dive too deep into the lengthy topic of BPM Software Solutions that now integrate with SharePoint 2007 (both WSS and MOSS), I thought it would be a good idea to clarify a few terms.

Business Process Management (BPM)

Quite often I hear the term BPM interchanged with workflow. It is important to understand that the two have completely different meanings. Business Process Management (BPM) is both an art and science that defines guidelines and approaches for aligning business needs with the needs of Information Workers, Clients, and Vendors and so on. If there is an element of a business process that efficiencies can be gained through technology, this is where the workflow element comes in. Otherwise, technology doesn't even have to play a role in BPM. Operational efficiencies can be gained by simply understanding a process and reducing bottlenecks; without the intervention of technology at all. Once it is determined that automating a business process will add value, it can be accomplished by integrating workflow. As such, workflow is but an optional element of BPM.

Other Areas of BPM

There are many areas of Business Process Management that have little to do with workflow. Some of these include (but are not limited to):

• A means by which to understand what a specific process is, it's execution path, the people and technology involved.

  This is, perhaps, the most complex part of BPM. The analysis and documentation of business processes can be very time consuming and difficult. One must have the patience to work with individuals, ask the appropriate questions and determine the best approach for documentation.

• A means by which to quantify the execution of a business process.

  Before we can determine if a business process requires optimization, we must first understand the steps involved and how long they are taking.

• A means by which to optimize a business process.

  Once we understand the steps of a business process, we have to understand the optimization techniques at our disposal and be willing to use them. What do I mean by "willing to use them?" Let's take a simple business process example. A corporate IT department has a purchasing agent; we will call him George for our example. Anyone in the company may submit a purchase requisition to George; he is responsible for the final approval and making the actual purchase. After evaluation of this fine process it is determined that George takes an average of 35-days to complete a purchase order. In this simple example, one of your process optimization techniques would be to replace George with someone more efficient. Is this an option you are willing to take? Another optimization technique would be to implement a technology solution thus helping George with the piles of purchase requisitions. Such a solution could cost a bundle, are you willing to spend the funds necessary to deliver this?

• A means by which to monitor a business process.

  Once we have optimized a business process, we need a means by which to monitor it to see if our optimization approach is effective. This doesn't necessarily have to be technology monitoring the process, but something needs to be available.

The above list is but a few of the areas we need to consider when embarking on true Business Process Management.

For additional information on BPM, please see Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_Process_Management

Business Process Automation (BPA)

The term Business Process Automation (BPA) is defined as implementing techniques to (hopefully) optimize a business process. These techniques can involve eliminating or replacing labor, the integration of applications, the elimination of (unnecessary) steps in the process and using software applications. As you may see, workflow can be an element of BPA but doesn't necessarily have to be. Also, the integration of software doesn't necessarily mean workflow. These software applications that can automate business processes can be anything from CRM to sophisticated ERP systems.

Workflow

Workflow is defined as a set of repeatable steps that can automate the flow of "something". That "something" can be an e-mail, a Microsoft Word document or a credit card transaction.

Now… if you want the very technical, long, drawn-out meaning of workflow, please see Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Workflow

But I think you get the idea here. Workflow is viable and needed (more on this later); however, it is not BPM or BPA. Workflow is but an element of BPM and BPA.

Agility (Business at the speed of … well… Business)

Agility means a whole lot to a lot of different people; including me! However, when I refer to agility in the sense of business processes, I am referring to how well a business process can change as the business changes. With that in mind, the Wikipedia's definition of Business Agility (disambiguation) is:

"Business Agility An agile firm (one that demonstrates agility) has the capabilities and processes to respond to unexpected environmental changes. It is one of the ilities."

For the complete definition, please see Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agility_%28disambiguation%29

Conclusion

Hopefully you have a little better understanding of the differences between BPM, BPA and Workflow. If there is something you would like me to help you understand, please leave a comment and I will do my best to write something up!

The next article in this series will provide you with a rundown of what workflow is available in SharePoint, a high-level description of what it can do, what it can't do and where it will get you in trouble; titled "SharePoint Workflow – The Good, the Bad and the Ugly". ~ that should win me some big points ~

Until next time…