BPM & Workflow - Process Automation, XPDL, BPMN, and More RSS

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  A Dash of Ad Hocery to Manage Workflows

  kurt 7:28 pm on July 25, 2010 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: ad hoc processes, BPM (29), business process management (11), business process management software (18), customer service, customer service request, Workflow (10), workflow automation (3), workflow software (4)

  Although an often repeated benefit of workflow management software products is eliminating ad hoc processes, the software should not encourage rigid, mindlessly automated business processes. Many dynamic processes involve interactions among a range of (internal and external) users, as well as content that must be generated, revised, or customized before being routed among different touch-points across the extended enterprise. It can be difficult to contain these interactions in a system based on checking a box on a form, entering information in a field in 16 characters or less, and forwarding the form or document based on the responses without making decisions for the individual handling the process request.

  A simple example of allowing some bend in a process is web browsing. Often a site has been built for specific browsers. However, users access these sites with a wide range of browsers, sometimes resulting in a web experience that was not intended by the site designer. One approach would be to make the decision for users and force them to upgrade their browser to one that will faithfully display the site as intended. Another approach provides more accommodation. Notify the user that they may encounter problems if they don’t upgrade, but still allow them to access the site. Similarly, the content and forms that start a process and how they flow through a process must be flexible and easily adaptable to reflect unanticipated situations and small operational changes that occur in the business itself.

  Some dynamic business processes that must accommodate human judgment include handling customer service requests, managing the delivery of professional services, product development, or implementing a marketing campaign. These processes require greater freedom, and perhaps a dash of ad hocery, to be satisfactorily completed. In customer service, for example, a user might need to respond to an unanticipated customer request in a way that cannot accurately be entered into the system. Say, an industrial customer makes a request to have display colors on a device modified to be more colorblind friendly. However, the system interprets a color change request as a cosmetic change, resulting in a longer response time or rejection of the request, when it should be considered at a higher level of importance. Human judgment must be accommodated to ensure that the customer’s need is met, even if it means some short-term manual legwork.

  Combined with an iterative approach to business process management, a flexible BPM implementation can capture those processes that develop organically and incorporate them into established, automated procedures in a later iteration.

  
   

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  Ideological Fanaticism + Open Source Software = Open Core Debate

  brian 11:13 pm on July 15, 2010 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: bpm software (15), BPM Training, Compiere, ERP (4), Open Core Debate, open source (7), open source software (5), OSI

  Like many others I have been following the flurry of posts and comments that followed Jorg Janke’s blog post about Compiere. Without a doubt Jorg’s post is a great contribution to those of us involved in the day to day business of running open source software companies.

  However, most of the subsequent posts and comments focused on a hackneyed ideological debate surrounding open core and open source software in general. Is it just me or is this discussion really only interesting to an insular herd of open source VCs plagued recently by less than stellar returns and the cadre of lawyers that service this sector?

  For those of us that spend our days and nights running profitable, non-VC-run open source software companies, there is often little time for such banal ideological chatter. My shareholders are more impressed by numbers (the ones on the bottom line of the income statement), and our company is focused on creating world class software, engaging with a vibrant community to do so, and delivering value day in and day out to customers. With this in mind, who has time for an “open core” debate which completely misses the subtleties of running most successful companies?

  Since I seem to have appreciated something different in Jorg’s blog, here are a few of the points I feel are good take aways:

  1. Training. I guess this should be obvious, but for some reason it is easy to forget. I immediately cut and pasted some of Jorg’s thoughts and sent them directly to our head of sales. “… people tend to like the application they had most exposure to (and understood best).” This just drives home the point that we are already seeing. Those that take our BPM Software training course tend to continue on and purchase other services related to our BPM and Workflow Software. Jorg’s 80% up-sell number is interesting, especially for us since we are operating in such a similar space (BPM Software – Enterprise Software). Enterprise software tends to have a longer learning curve and so you have to figure out a way to get users over the “suck factor” to use the words of another open source exec/friend. I know we know this, but it never hurts to hear it again and go back to our strategy and see if we are really executing on it. Are our sales people taking the leads from trainings and performing the appropriate follow up? Are they being placed in the appropriate lead nurture campaigns? Are we focusing enough resources on training?

  2. Partners. You either love ‘em or you hate ‘em. Or in the case of Open Source Software – both! If there was ever a difficult subject in the world of open source, it is the subject of partners. Why do no open source companies admit this? I’ve been drilling open source execs on this point for years – how much of your revenue comes through partners and how much comes directly? Why is it I always get the same answer – “well, we actually don’t get that much revenue from our partners, but they are a really important part of our strategy,” most will say. I spoke with a partner of one open source ERP vendor the other day about partnering with us, and the partner asked me if we were going to force them to sell our Enterprise Version. He told me that his Open Source ERP vendor forces him to do this, but they usually don’t – instead they usually install the Open Source version, charge an installation, and charge the client their own support. No secret there, right? Wrong – this company was listed as a Gold partner for this particular vendor! So do all Open Source companies just suffer from SAP and MS channel envy? Is it really worth the uphill battle?

  3. Enterprise functionality and the balance of power – This is by far the most important point for me, and I believe for almost any open source company. And it is the point that Simon Phipps seems to over simplify while trying to draw ideological lines. The fact is not whether Open Core is good or bad. This type of ideological fanaticism serves no useful purpose. The truth is that “some” enterprise versions are bad and others are not. That’s right – no simple rule. I wish there was one, but there isn’t. The fact is that the Open Core needs to deliver enough value to make sense to enough people. If an open source company “cripples” its open source core, the community will soon head for greener pastures. And the fact is that the successful companies using open core are managing not to cripple their community editions.

  As Mark Radcliffe points out how could open core be doing so much damage to the community version if only 10% of an open source company’s users are using the Enterprise version and the other 90% are using the open source? Good point (although I think this number is actually much less in almost all cases).

  So here is an idea. Instead of worrying about approved licenses and what makes a company truly open or not, let’s just look at the numbers. If more than 10% of a “supposed” open source company’s users are actually paying money and using the software under a commercial license, then that company should no longer be called an Open Source Company. That’s right – they will be banished from this exclusive community. If less than 10% of your users are paying you money, then no worries – you will still have the right to be a card carrying member of the open source software company community.

  So there you have it, if you are an open source software company enjoying revenues in excess of $80 million USD per year – you better watch out because the OSI police are coming to get you because you must be cheating!
  

  
   
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  May I take your order? BPM mashups through web services

  Amy 1:50 pm on May 30, 2010 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: BPM (29), business process management (11), business process management software (18), CRM, DMS (3), ERP (4), SaaS BPM (5)

  I’ve been blogging lately about web services, and how they relate to business process management software.  To make a long short, BPM software packages can leverage web services to expand the BPM software’s reach and broaden its ability to share information, not only with users and databases directly in the BPM system, but also with other IT systems related to the business process.

  Few business processes are self-contained; most require information from people and systems across departments and business areas.  Many business processes even require information to be shared with external partners, clients, and providers.  Web services can expand the functionality of the BPM system and connect it with other systems across the organization, and beyond.  The resulting integrated systems are sometimes known as “mashups”.

  Mashups are pre-configured, ready-to-go integrations between different business software packages that speed and streamline the sharing of information among those systems.  For example, a BPM system can leverage web services to share client data with customer relationship management (CRM) software during an inventory process.  Or, budget data from an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system can be shared with the BPM, both in order to approve or deny an expense report filed using the BPM and subsequently to update the ERP once the expense report is complete.  Or, the BPM could be used to generate and retrieve documents stored in a document management system (DMS).

  Yes, web services can be used to share information with any other system that use web services.  Mashups make the sharing process that much easier, by preconfiguring the systems integration and streamlining the way that the two systems work together.

  
   
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  Using web services to expand the reach of BPM software

  Amy 12:13 pm on May 29, 2010 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: bpm software (15), business process management (11), business processes, SaaS BPM (5)

  In my previous post, I mentioned that many companies are using web services to share business process information among different systems.  So how do web services and business process management software relate to one another?

  In many ways, the goals of BPM software and web services are the same:  to facilitate the flow of business process information from one person or system to another.  As I mentioned in a previous post, many organizations suffer from communicati gaps among people and systems.  Web services provide a solution for people-system and system-system gaps by allowing systems to talk to each other utilizing a common, standard language for sharing information.

  Likewise, business process software allows information to flow freely across systems and departments, and be shared among business processes.  According to pre-defined process permissions, information from one business process can be visible to other departments, and used in other workflows.  Because the process data is not trapped by paper, Excel spreadsheets, or email, it is free to move among workflows, departments, users, and of course, other systems…

  So essentially, by using web services in conjunction with a business process management system, business processes can share information not only with one another, but also with other systems.  No process is an island, and often times a business process will involve data from one or many additional systems.  Leveraging web services is an efficient, hands-free way to connect those systems with the BPM, in order to push and pull information during the execution of a business process.

  
   
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  Bridging business process gaps with web services

  Amy 11:33 am on May 28, 2010 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: BPM (29), business proces, SaaS BPM (5), web services

  I want to go into some more depth on issues involving the the third type of business communication gap I mentioned in my previous blog: system gaps.  System gaps occur when information from one IT system, program, software, or database must be shared with another system.  In an ideal world, the two systems would be able to talk to one another seamlessly, without the need for human intervention or custom programming.  However, in the real world that is not always the case. 

  When a system-system data transfer requires inputs or redundant data entry by employees, or custom programming by the IT department, the result is a system gap.  System gaps are inefficient, create opportunities for errors, and can cause business process delays.  So in order to ensure that business processes run smoothly, these system gaps should be corrected.  However, personalized IT solutions that transfer data from one system to another can be expensive to design and difficult to implement.  Even if a suitable solution is created, the resulting IT infrastructure can be inflexible once it is put into place.  In order to adapt quickly to changing business requirements, it is important to find a flexible solution to bridge system gaps.

  So what to do about system gaps?  One flexible solution to get distinct applications to interface with each other is through web services.  Web services basically rely on a standard “language” that allows applications to talk to each other in order to share business logic, data, and business process information across a network.  Not only do web services bridge gaps between systems, but they can also bridge those gaps across departments, programming languages, platforms, and even connect with systems external to a company such as partners or providers.  And since web services are standardized, they require no custom programming.  Many companies are choosing to move towards a web-services based IT infrastructure in order to minimize system gaps while still maintaining flexibility in IT infrastructure.

  
   
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  3 common business communication gaps

  Amy 10:42 pm on May 21, 2010 | 3 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: BPM (29), business process

  When we talk about business processes or workflows, we are talking about the way information moves around a company or department.  Business process information can move in a number of directions: between people, between systems, or from people to systems (and back again).  Here are three areas where business communication gaps commonly occur:

  People - people gaps:  When one employee needs information from another in order to execute a task, the transfer of information becomes a critical part of the business process.  When employees fail to pass on the appropriate information to their counterparts in a timely, concise, and accurate manner, inefficiencies and errors can occur.  People gaps can occur both within a single department, or across departments.  

  Often times, people-people gaps are addressed with any number of IT initiatives.  Take the classic example of cc’ing someone on an email.  In this informal way, the email sender attempts to keep the appropriate people ”in the loop” in order to close a people-people gap.  However, the process is not formalized and there are no guarantees that it will be repeated.

  People - system gaps:  People-system gaps occur when the information a person needs from a system is not easily accessible, readily available, or accurate.  When people-system gaps occur, systems fail to provide people with the information they need to do their jobs and inefficiencies occur.  Likewise, people-system gaps occur when people fail to enter the appropriate information back into systems.

  Take the example of a difficult-to-access database.  People may neglect to update the database, rendering it useless to anyone who seeks up-t0-date information.  Likewise, employees may create a “work-around” solution, defeating the purpose of having a database at all.  When people can’t easily pull or push information to and from systems, the systems themselves risk becoming obsolete.

  System - system gaps:  Often times, system-system gaps occur when a business process is cross-departmental or cross-functional.  Sharing information among systems from different departments, or among multiple systems in different areas, can present a communication challenge.  When different departments or business units use different IT systems, data must be entered and re-entered, leaving room for data entry mistakes and creating gaps between different parts of an organization.

  When communication lapses or errors occur in any of these information transfers, it can cause significant inefficiencies, waste, and business process delays.

  
   
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    Stanley 8:37 am on May 29, 2010 Permalink
    

    Hi,

    I am new to ProcessMaker. I would like to ask few questions from you how to transform student management system into ProcessMaker:-

    1) Do I separate the process into individual process or 1 process consist of all departments process?

    I am a bit confuse, that’s why need some assistant. In Student Management System, you have Sales department, Administration departmen, Lecturer deparment and Exam department. Should I put all the departments in 1 process call Student Management Process or separate it?

    Thanks and hope to hear from you soon.

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    Aasim Ahmed Ansari 10:44 pm on June 29, 2010 Permalink
    

    Hi,
    About student management system make only one process. BPM is used to manage the flow among departments. So, make different task which represents individual department and assign appropiate users and dynaforms to task.

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  Can you cure a bad business process with BPM software?

  Amy 7:22 pm on May 17, 2010 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: bpm software (15), business process management software (18), business process software (7)

  In my previous post, I went through a number of disadvantages to ad-hoc business processes.  So is business process management software the magical cure for ad-hoc business processes?

  No, yes, and sometimes.

  If you have a weak process design with little documentation and poor performance, slapping BPM software on top will not solve anything.  It might actually make the problem worse by institutionalizing the process failure.  BPM software works best for processes that have been through a “process discovery” phase during which they were thoughtfully considered, documented, and prepared for migration to a BPM software system.  A bad process with BPM software on top is still a bad process.

  But if the business process is mature (i.e. has good documentation, design, and performance), or could be matured relatively quickly, then it may be a great candidates for automation in a BPM system.  BPM software can automate tasks, reduce redundant data entry, save employees from drowning in a sea of paper-based forms, cut Excel and email out of the process, centralize process data, send automatic messages and alerts, and take care of the dirty work so employees and managers can focus on their jobs.  So if a business process is already mature, or can be brought up to speed relatively quickly through process discovery, then BPM software may very well solve its problems.

  Even if you decide to use BPM software, it is important to think about the problems or pain points you’re trying to resolve, to see if your BPM software package is the right tool to solve them.  Take the problem of inflexible IT infrastructure, for example.  A good solution for this problem would be a BPM software tool that allows for DIY process mapping and configuration, allowing managers to modify and improve workflows without requiring heavy IT involvement.  So when looking for a BPM tool, make sure you find one that will makes processes more adaptable rather than more static.

  Likewise, to solve an inefficiency or waste problem, look for a BPM software package with business dashboards and reports, to allow managers to find bottlenecks in processes and forecast and model resources—such as staff allocations for different shift cycles.  A user-friendly BPM system will then allow those same managers to adjust and adapt processes to achieve maximum efficiency and respond to changing business needs.

  
   
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  4 reasons to avoid ad hoc business processes

  Amy 8:19 pm on May 14, 2010 | 1 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: BPM (29), business process management (11), business process management software (18)

  When business processes are not standardized, poorly defined, or based on informal personal communications, the end result can be a logistical mess. Here are four reasons to avoid ad-hoc business processes:

  1. Confusion:  In an ad-hoc business process, the lack of documentation and structure means that it can be unclear who is responsible for what.  Responsibilities may not be clearly defined, and process success or failure depends more on employee volition than on a clearly defined system.  A lack of process documentation and structure can create communication gaps, especially when a process crosses departments or business functions, and important tasks can fall through cracks.
  2. Complexity: Ad-hoc processes can be clumsy, slow, and disjointed. Employees can become buried in paperwork, Excel spreadsheets, and email, or trapped in the business system silo. With no way to monitor a case’s progress, and no transparency in the system, moving through a business process can take much more effort and busywork than it should.
  3. Waste: When processes are poorly defined, they are nearly impossible to optimize. Redundant tasks, manual data entry and verification, errors, and inefficiencies, create an additional burden on employees.  A lack of clear process data and reports on operations means that any improvements to the ad-hoc process are purely guesswork.
  4. Ad-hoc processes are inflexible: I know this sounds counter-intuitive, because ad-hoc by definition has few rules and little structure, so it would appear to be quite flexible.  However, ad-hoc processes are often supported by an inflexible IT structure that was not designed to manage workflow (take the example above, where process data is found in Excel and email.  Even when a business process does rely on IT, many existing IT systems are heavily managed by the IT department.  Systems are not designed to adapt to business process requirements, creating a static, inflexible IT environment that is slow to respond to changing needs.

  
   
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    ian gotts 6:01 am on May 15, 2010 Permalink
    

    This is a great set of points. Sadly Gartner and other seem to be defining Ad-Hoc as those processes that cannot be automated.

    There are plenty of end to end processes that have both non-automated and automated activities. These can be documented, and therefore are not Ad-Hoc.

    As always, definition and terminology is everything.

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  Are you wasting time and money on ad hoc business processes?

  Amy 9:09 pm on May 12, 2010 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: BPM (29), business process management (11)

  The term “business processes” is just a fancy word to describe the collection of routine activities your company undertakes every day.  All departments have processes, and they often include requests, approvals, and forms.  But whether those processes are well-designed or running smoothly is another story.  When we talk about business process management, we love to see processes that are mature, meaning that they are well-documented, diagrammed, and optimized within the organization, perhaps with the assistance of a BPM software.  However, in many organizations, there exist another class of business processes:  the ad-hoc process.

  Ad-hoc business processes are those business activities that are poorly defined, poorly documented, respond to current needs rather than standard requirements, and do not have a uniform structure.  Often ad-hoc processes are entirely paper-, email-, or Excel- based.

  Take the example of the ad-hoc vacation request process.  You email someone to request vacation.  Sounds simple enough, right?

  But perhaps some employees email their direct supervisor, while others choose to email the department head.  Others copy both on the email.  Others include the HR manager, while some forget.  Once the request is received by whomever, that person looks up your allowed vacation days, perhaps in an Excel spreadsheet.  She then has to look at her own calendar to check if your requested dates are free and clear.  She then has to copy that information back into email to approve or deny your request, and manually update the Excel sheet.  Hopefully everyone who needs to know about your vacation finds out in advance, also via email.

  The ad-hoc business described above is time-consuming, wasteful, and confusing.  First, it is unclear to whom the request for vacation time should be directed.  This generates a conflict of responsibilities.  Once a manager/supervisor receives the request, she wastes valuable time checking HR records herself, or asking someone else to do it for her (time when she is not billing hours or advancing on projects).  Furthermore, the records are improvised and poorly organized.  What happens if a different person has the latest version of the sheet?  What happens if that person is out of the office?  The whole “process” grinds to a halt.

  Unfortunately, most companies have at least a few ad-hoc processes that waste valuable time and money.  Does yours?

  
   
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  3 simple ways to protect your company from off-boarding risks

  Amy 2:26 pm on May 10, 2010 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: hr forms (11), hr management (10), hr process (8), hr software (7), HR workflows (20)

  When an employee leaves a company, that departure can create a significant amount of risk to the organization.  A well-designed off-boarding workflow can be a very useful tool to make sure that the off-boarding process is applied consistently, the process runs smoothly, and any potential issues are resolved.  Here are three important ways to protect your company from risk during the off-boarding process:

  Invalidate account permissions: When employees leave a company, the departure process typically affects numerous databases, systems, and departments.  In order to limit the risk to the company and ensure adequate information security, it is important to revoke all ex-employee account credentials. Workflow software can help to manage the cancellation and deletion of account privileges formerly given to the employee, such as email access, ERP, CRM, CMS, or DMS system access, keycard /fob access, and even access to the BPM software itself.

  Manage inventory: When employees leave a company, it is important to ensure that all company property (phones, computers, company car, equipment, etc) is returned by the employee. Workflow software can help manage employee assets by aiding in the creation and cross-checking of an inventory of property issued to employees, helping to make sure that the appropriate property is accounted for before an employee departs.

  Update systems and databases: When an employee departs a company, often that is not the end of the road. Some employees may be eligible for severance pay, retirement benefits, pension benefits, extended health care benefits, etc, according to the employee’s contract terms. At the very least, the employee needs to receive the appropriate final paycheck. Workflow software can help manage and update the appropriate departments and systems to ensure that the employee is appropriately accounted for even after her final workday.  Likewise, workflow software can verify eligibility for benefits automatically, to ensure that employees are truly eligible for benefits sought and protect against fraud and errors.