article Business Process Emancipation in The Next Big Thing

article Business Process Emancipation in The Next Big Thing http://h30507.www3.hp.com/t5/The-Next-Big-Thing/Business-Process-Emancipation/ba-p/81789 Over the years, business managers lost control of many of their business processes through automation.  Current technology is enabling the emancipation of business processes for improved agility and optimization.  Automation of business processes has traditionally been through implementation and integration of programmed applications.  Any change to a business process requires programming, and the implementation obscures the business processes from view by business people.  Potential improvements may be both difficult to recognize and difficult to implement.    <a href="http://1000ventures.com/business_guide/bpms.html" target=_blank>Business Process Management Systems (BPMS)</a> provide graphical modeling of business processes in a way that enables business people to participate in the analysis, design and transformation of their business processes.  The models are then executed without the need for programmers to interpret and transform them.  Additional capabilities support process analysis for optimization.  I discussed related issues in <a href="http://www.communities.hp.com/online/blogs/nextbigthingeds/archive/2010/01/29/bpm-is-the-beginning-of-the-end-of-erp.aspx" target=_blank>BPM is the Beginning of the End of ERP.</a> Many applications have business processes embedded within them.  These implicit processes include control of interactions with people and exchanges between organizations.  It may be difficult for programmers, as well as business people, to understand all of the controls and interactions in large applications because they are obscured by programming details.  If we remove the business process logic from these applications, then what remains, in many cases, is simple record-keeping—additions, changes and deletions to database records.  So business process emancipation not only makes process improvement easier for business people, but it simplifies applications so they are easier to develop and maintain.   The ability of business people to understand and improve their business processes is further improved by products that implement the <a href="http://www.omg.org/spec/BPMN/" target=_blank>BPMN (Business Process Model and Notation) industry standard</a>.  The standard defines graphical representations for business process models as well as the operational semantics of these models so that users need not be concerned about which BPMS tools they use in order to know what the processes will do.   In addition, BPMN defines modeling of choreography.  A choreography specifies an agreed-upon exchange of messages between business processes in different organizations.  With a choreography, business process designers know exactly what is expected for successful interactions with other organizations and business partners.  Otherwise, variations and exceptions may not be properly handled and process changes may inadvertently result in incompatibilities. Often traditional business processes weave their way through multiple organizations.  Control is passed from one organization to another and one application to another through the transfer of records.  These long-running and pervasive processes are difficult to change because of the coupling (inter-dependencies) between participating applications and organizations.  <a href="http://www.communities.hp.com/online/blogs/nextbigthingeds/archive/2008/03/28/soa-is-a-business-process-architecture.aspx" target=_blank>Service Oriented Architecture (SOA)</a> promotes loose coupling so that processes in each service capability are isolated from processes of other organizations through a well-defined service interface.  This enables processes to be improved without extensive analysis and coordination across organizations.   Sometimes, business processes require complex decision-making, such as claims processing, or computation of configurations such as transportation planning.  In some cases these computations require computer programming, but often more flexible solutions can be implemented with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule-based_system" target=_blank>rule-based systems</a>.  BPMS products often include a rule-based component that is invoked at the point in a process where such a computation is required.  While design of rule-based computations may require special skills, the use of rules allows the designer to focus on the business problem rather than computer technology.   BPMS and rule-based systems all focus on solutions that minimize human involvement and enforce consistent, repeatable operation.  This supports optimization and predictability.  However, many business processes are not so predictable.  Processes that involve “knowledge workers” require humans to make decisions and respond to changing circumstances.  The <a href="http://www.omg.org/" target=_blank>OMG (Object Management Group)</a> is currently developing a standard for <a href="http://www.omg.org/cgi-bin/doc?bmi/09-09-23" target=_blank>Case Management Process Modeling (CMPM)</a> that will address these adaptive processes.   Case management modeling supports the definition of process building blocks that incorporate best practices, experience, controls and alerts that can be used in each case as required by the evolving situation.  Automation will improve response time and monitor progress.  Case management records will provide insights on common problems and innovative solutions that can be addressed in further refinement of the building blocks.    As a result, business processes will no longer be held hostage by IT, but will be managed by business people.  Business processes can be more easily reconfigured and improved through the composition of services in a SOA.  Business processes that are repetitive and predictable can be streamlined through BPMS automation and more easily understood and improved.  Business processes that require ad hoc human planning, collaboration and decision-making will also be supported with automation that enhances agility, consistency, timeliness, accountability and control. Fri, 30 Jul 2010 16:49:22 GMT Fred Cummins 2010-07-30T16:49:22Z Business Process Emancipation http://h30507.www3.hp.com/t5/The-Next-Big-Thing/Business-Process-Emancipation/ba-p/81789 Repost - Originally posted 6/11/10 Fri, 30 Jul 2010 16:49:22 GMT http://h30507.www3.hp.com/t5/The-Next-Big-Thing/Business-Process-Emancipation/ba-p/81789 Fred Cummins 2010-07-30T16:49:22Z