By any other name

Business process management (BPM) can be defined, according to the ITIL glossary, as "activities performed by businesses to optimise and adapt their processes". Workflow, as per The University of Texas* is "the electronic analog[ue] of how paperwork moves through the work environment".

The electronic analogue is supported by software that does the work human hands used to do, shuffling paper along the chain. BPM is also supported by software, but is a methodology and not a point solution.

Workflow is almost a subset of BPM - once you've sorted out your processes, you implement a workflow solution to automate them and then use BPM methodology to monitor, evaluate and manage these processes. The confusion, nevertheless, persists. This is due to vendors using the terms interchangeably, claiming to have BPM solutions that are actually only workflow solutions.

Says TriVector Consulting senior manager Arie Kotze: "BPM and workflow are executed by similar technology, integration architecture and tools, but their purpose and intent are different. BPM comprises strategy, value-added processes, as well as process steps with technology as the enabler. Organisational design, delegation of authority, people competence and empowerment, as well as performance management and continuous improvement, are key to the BPM discipline."

He says that despite huge advancements in workflow, it remains an activity-based automation of business rules that facilitate the flow of information and decision-making. "Often, workflow implementations remain proprietary to a specific solution provider," he adds.

Laura Mooney, Metastorm senior director for corporate marketing, says there is a lot of confusion in the market. "You go into large organisations and start talking about BPM, and executives are very confused about how it differs from workflow, and why. And they're having a difficult time understanding the business proposition."

Information is possibly the only commodity we have.

Gerhard Badenhorst, human capital architecture leader, Epi-Use

She says this perception is consistent with what Metastorm experienced in the US market a few years ago. Mooney was brought in to work out how to position products at an enterprise level and formulate a vision broader than generic straight-line workflow.

"We spent two years in the US market on the differences and expending the product suite to more clearly demonstrate these. We're finding the South African market is closer to where the US market was two to three years ago. There are obviously some early adopters who get it and are really engaged with initiatives, but I think a lot of education still needs to happen."

While the market gets its head around BPM and compliance, risk, governance and security, the information is simply piling up. Says Epi-Use human capital architecture leader Gerhard Badenhorst: "Information is possibly the only commodity we have, and the flow of information through everything we do is critical. Knowledge-based information is the lifeblood of any organisation in terms of its relationships with clients, partners, suppliers and so on. The question is: how do we ensure integrated and validated information is available to whoever needs it - and needs the same version of it - to be available throughout the eco-system?"

Badenhorst's company has adapted the enterprise methodology behind enterprise architecture into a new business process design methodology. The system recognises the fundamental problem that has plagued the industry for years: how to integrate people, processes and systems. The answer, Badenhorst says, is that business strategy, people, processes and systems need to be integrated horizontally as well as across architectural layers.

"We believe this is part of the answer to ensure the provision and delivery of knowledge-based information to a businesses' eco-system [employees, partners, suppliers, shareholders]."

Badenhorst says that key for Epi-Use was the discovery that if you take your macro architecture as a guide when designing individual business processes, you will simultaneously achieve integration in the macro sense. "Ultimately, people then work in a process that delivers quality customer results using computer-based information systems like SAP and Oracle. You don't see that sole focus on a system any longer; this sole focus on IT systems deprives you of a macro architectural view and the ability to integrate."

Says TriVector's Kotze: "Reading Gartner reports from 2005/2006 on BPM is scary because they are still relevant to the conversations we have today as consultants. From a BPM perspective, as far as organisational structure and maturity goes, we're still functionality driven in terms of business silos in South Africa. For example, Eskom is working in a functionality mindset at the majority of managerial levels.

"The effect [of this mentality] is that, while companies do start looking at managing processes, they don't empower people to manage processes. Management, in some instances, is not well groomed for today's challenges. They want to use yesterday's positions and technologies. Work is becoming more sophisticated and complex. BPM is something organisations can use as a modern-day tool to deal with modern-day problems and challenges.

"The bottom line is that, at a certain point in time, the environment and customers will expect a certain level of sophistication. If organisations don't keep up, they will not be able to deal with this," he says.

A lot of education still needs to happen.

Laura Mooney, senior director for corporate marketing, Metastorm

Ability Solutions sales and marketing director John Olsson says BPM is all about connecting people with processes in a uniform way. "Tools let us map processes, apply business rules and monitor the business environment so we can look for bottlenecks, track productivity of individuals and add value around the traditional transaction process.

"The biggest revolution you'll see in ERP in the next five years will be in human interface. We'll soon reach the day where you go into a system and aren't presented with the traditional menu structure. Everything will be your inbox, and a workflow engine will control that with seamless integration into your traditional transaction system."

Badenhorst says if you can't design a work process in conjunction with the people who sit on those work teams, then he can't see how to achieve integration. "It boils down to people and the context of their work in an organisation," he says.

Technology isn't really about technology; it's about people and enabling them to do what they need to do with the minimal hassle. IT departments would do well to learn that lesson. The value of any BPM implementation that works is that it gives business processes back to the business and away from the techies that drive the tools. The consumerisation of IT is soon going to see all the toys in the hands of the end-users. The lunatics are going to take over the asylum, whether IT likes it or not. The management maturity needed to ensure people have the power to manage processes is the same level of maturity that will see IT hand control of the business back to business.

* The University of Texas at Austin Graduate School of Library and Information Science, Managing records Seminar.