From workflow to BPM

Workflow originated from the requirement to route documents within document management systems, as well as financial documents within financial systems.

Over the years, businesses have evolved through the emergence of technologies such as the Internet, and the requirement for integrated solutions. This has propelled workflow to offer congruency across the enterprise, ultimately emerging as business process management (BPM).

There are many challenges that must be overcome in order for BPM to really be successful within today`s business environment.

Mark Ehmke, MD, Staffware South Africa

However, what many businesses today fail to realise is that BPM should be regarded as an evolved form of workflow - not as a `revolutionary`, separate entity. Having said that, it must also be stated that BPM, albeit the `next step` in workflow, has its own particular niche market - that of enterprise-type environments, where the emphasis is on the management of mission-critical processes.

Workflow in its most basic form is still required within departments and businesses that do not fall within the enterprise category. The key issue is that workflow and BPM should be undertaken in parallel, according to the needs and size of an organisation. Workflow essentially involves business process automation, the `nuts and bolts` of the successful automation of inter-departmental processes.

BPM, as its name suggests, involves the (automated) management of those business processes, in an over-arching, enterprise-wide layer. Therefore, workflow fits into that BPM infrastructure and process management layer.

It is for example advisable for an enterprise to undertake BPM for particularly important processes first, thereby automating the `pain points` but also working smart by setting up re-usable sub-processes, where process-logic is kept separate from applications. In this way, businesses can begin setting up an effective BPM independent process management layer.

There are, however, many challenges that must be overcome in order for BPM to really be successful within today`s business environment. Politically and organisationally, businesses still tend to operate in silos. For something as over-arching as BPM to really take off, this `silo mindset` must change, and organisational structures with it.

This is because BPM, by definition, follows and is concerned with enterprise rules, not departmental rules.

The other critical issue is around integration technologies and processes. Application integration will remain a thorny issue and also an obstacle to truly effective BPM, until every software vendor standardises their integration technology, thereby creating a standard interface.

One of the key drivers in the standardised integration arena is the so-called `Web services` technology, which essentially acts as a modern form of EDI (electronic data interchange), except that Web services acts as an electronic process interchange instead.

Nonetheless, having pointed out the challenges BPM faces, it is also important to acknowledge its advantages and benefits. For one, BPM is aimed at being an architectural solution, so it is undertaken with far more strategic intent and planning than, for example workflow, which is usually the sole preserve of the particular departmental business process owner. This means that BPM is effectively driven by the executives within the organisation, who have strategic architectural responsibilities, such as the chief information officer, chief executive officer or chief financial officer.

When an initiative such as BPM is driven from the higher levels of an organisation, it automatically gains more credibility and authority, and will also be used to process-manage such vital and highly visible aspects of the business as the corporate database, customer relationship management and enterprise application integration, gaining prominence and dominance within the organisation.

Businesses which have successfully implemented workflow to automate inter-departmental processes, and then go one step further and adopt BPM, very quickly see the benefits. These amount to having a business process management layer in place that allows them to focus on streamlining processes for greater cost and organisational efficiencies, rather than getting bogged down with trying to manage data.