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Executive Brief:

Avoiding the Pitfalls of BPM

This executive brief is downloadable as a PDF (117KB)

Introduction

Everybody has their own definition of Business Process Management (BPM). A general definition would be the ability to model, execute and analyze business processes within a company. That's a pretty broad definition. But basically, BPM is implementing a system that allows an organization to automate processes, execute business rules and then pull activity reports and documentation for review.

Any company that currently has manual, labor-intensive processes can benefit from employing a BPM solution because it speeds up any process for better execution. BPM may be the best option for companies who have strict compliance needs because such systems provide paper trails that will satisfy the needs of both internal and external auditors for activity histories of who did what and when. Any department in any company within any industry can utilize a BPM system and benefit from it to some degree, but is it the right option for all of them, all of the time?

The problem for some companies is that they are looking for a simple solution to a handful of problems and they don't need, nor do they want, an overwhelming set of options and tools that will let them manage every process they could imagine. When they pull up a list of vendors that provide BPM, they are typically finding these BPM platforms are essentially tool sets to build the most elaborate solution possible, rather than a straightforward system approach. Most BPM packages don't offer one central solution that handles all the different requests and processes that are generated in a company. They provide the ability to build individual solutions per process, resulting in a very project-oriented approach with longer implementation timelines than some companies had anticipated. They'd like to find a system approach they can implement only for their required processes, that can be up and running in a matter of days. Instead they're paying an arm and a leg and spending months and months on a project implementing an enterprise-level BPM system when they don't need it. For these businesses, request management may be the answer.

Evaluating Your Needs

Request management services the end-users within an enterprise—you're servicing all users' requests within a company and documenting each step of the request/approval/fulfillment process while providing an audit trail of each completed step. Implementation of request management typically starts in the IT department of a company and scales from there, because service requests and tickets so easily lend themselves to an automated process. However, even within an IT department, "request management" can run the gamut from responding to computer issues, purchase requisitions, a new hire request from human resources, or sales contract requests and approvals.

How does an organization know if it needs a BPM tool kit or a request management system? How does the management team evaluate its situation to choose the right solution?

  • First document all the internal processes in the department(s) looking for a solution for an enterprise so it is clear how each process works and what steps are required for each from start to finish.
  • Determine if there is a need to push process management out to business owners across the enterprise, or if it will be centralized under one person or small group.
  • Examine how processes begin—are most of the necessary processes started by an end-user making a request?
  • Decide what the timeframe is for implementation—how soon does the system need to be launched?
  • Next, decide what staff resources can be committed to the implementation—can some personnel spend the time building the BPM system from the bottom up, or is an out-of-the-box system that will only take a limited amount of staff hours to employ necessary?
  • Agree on what kind of commitment can be made to the chosen solution long-term. Is it probably that the system will be left alone once it's up and running? Or should business users be able to go out there and manage their own forms and processes and business rules for all their requests? Or would it be better to utilize a more intuitive system approach?

The demands and intricacies of the processes that will be managed, as well as the time and resources a company has to commit to automating those processes, will dictate which solution is right. When implementing BPM, companies should fully define what type of processes they are looking to manage. Are they more system-to-system, human-to-system or human-to-human? What percentage of the process landscape is made up of each type? Is modeling and simulation important to them?

Avoiding Process Overkill

BPM platforms provide an option that is a little more robust if a business needs to do things like process simulation, process modeling, or process analysis, even though it may take longer to implement and is a little more complex. They are often put in place as part of a larger re-organization within a company that already has a big picture in place for what it would like to achieve. The BPM solution is then built to reach that ultimate goal. Most BPM suites that are available do not give process ownership to business users; the administration of a BPM suite is generally left in the hands of the IT department, which may be preferable to some companies. Larger organizations with time, staff and larger budgets may find that building a customized BPM system saves their resources in the long-run.

But for companies who want to simply automate manual tasks in the fastest, easiest manner, request management may be just the right fit. The benefit of going with an offthe- shelf request management solution for these organizations is that they can be managing their processes within a week. A request management system allows companies to distribute process management to business users within the organizations rather than relying on one person in the IT department to handle additions and changes because it's easy to use. Every company has a ton of manual processes, and about 80 percent of them are fairly simple in nature—the impetus being a request from an enduser— User A needs this, the request needs to go to User B for approval, and once it's approved it's sent to User C to fulfill. These requests can be handled quickly and easily with a request management system, while the BPM toolkit might be the best option for the other 20 percent.

By implementing a request management solution, companies are servicing their endusers, giving them a central portal for completion of all tasks. It also allows them to track their requests and tasks by giving them access to the system, saving the time and legwork of physically finding a paper request in someone's desk pile to get it signed and moved to another desk. It saves them from the aggravation of lost or incorrect requests and fulfillment, and also provides standard documentation of every step in every process for future reference. These solutions also allow the system to grow up and out, adding tasks and processes as a company grows and its needs change, rather than putting a complete and final system in place from the start. Rates of successful implementation seem to improve when companies start automating on a department level and then scale enterprise-wide. Organizations employing request management solutions almost immediately see productivity gains and a return on their investment, often a reduction in costs per transaction of 60 to 90 percent as opposed to paper-based processes.

The value of request management systems for certain businesses has been reinforced by the growing need for compliance. The documentation generated by the request management systems makes them ideal for companies that need to comply with Sarbanes-Oxley and HIPPA.

In general, companies are increasingly faced with compliance issues and growing pains associated with merger & acquisition activity. Both have a sense of urgency associated with them. These organizations need to get processes under control in order to capture audit trails due to compliance timelines or, with M&A, they need to bring disparate processes together to serve a new user base in the near term. With a lot of compliance and M&A happening in the market, urgency is very important. In order to meet this sense of urgency, ease of use is extremely important. Ease of use leads to reduced time to implement, reducing cost and increasing success. A lot of the processes associated with both compliance and M&A are user-oriented processes (human-to-human) which can be better served through a request management system rather than a general BPM suite.

It is clear to most companies that automating paper-based tasks is the most cost-effective way to meet their goals for growth, organization and compliance. However, choosing a general business process management solution could cause more headaches than cure them for some companies. While BPM may be the right solution in the end, companies should carefully review their current tasks and needs to evaluate the necessary functionality they require because often a request management system may be the smartest solution they can employ.