Guide to Develop a Business Process Management Strategy

Business Process Management strategy refers to the systematic approach organizations take to manage, improve, and optimize their business processes. A BPM strategy typically involves defining, modeling, analyzing, monitoring, and refining business processes to ensure they are effective, efficient, and aligned with the organization's goals and objectives.

BPM strategies are designed to help organizations streamline processes, reduce waste, improve customer satisfaction, and drive growth. They typically involve the use of process mapping and modeling techniques, data analysis, and process improvement methodologies such as Lean, Six Sigma, and Total Quality Management.

BPM strategies also involve the implementation of technology solutions such as Business Process Management Systems (BPMS) to automate and monitor processes, as well as measure and analyze performance. By adopting a BPM strategy, organizations can improve their overall performance, achieve their goals, and stay ahead in today's fast-paced business environment.

Whenever a Business Process Management Strategy has been developed within a customer’s project, it has been proved that an overall concept for Business Process Management consists basically of nine different aspects, and these include Solution Support Organization, Business Process Analysis, Business Process Monitoring, Integration and Interface Management, Program Scheduling Management, Master Data Maintenance, Data Management and Archiving, Change Management and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).

These should be considered when operating business processes in a complex and distributed system landscape.

Develop a Business Process Management Strategy

What are the Aspects of Business Process Management Strategy?

The aspects of a Business Process Management (BPM) strategy include process definition and modeling, process analysis, process monitoring and control, process improvement, technology enablement, change management, and continuous improvement.

This strategy involves defining and mapping out business processes to identify areas for improvement, analyzing processes to find inefficiencies, setting up systems to monitor processes, using methodologies such as Lean, Six Sigma, and Total Quality Management to optimize processes, leveraging technology solutions like Business Process Management Systems (BPMS), managing the people and organizational aspects of process improvement, and regularly reviewing and refining processes. By considering these aspects, organizations can develop a comprehensive BPM strategy that drives business growth, improves performance, and achieves their goals.

• Solution Support Organization

The roles and responsibilities, for all persons involved in the customer’s Solution Support and Monitoring Organization, have to be defined. As an example, during an implementation project there is usually an Implementation project team responsible for the Application Support before the Going Live of the project.

Hence it is important that there is also someone responsible and doing the Application Support after Going Live and after the implementation project team left the project. Therefore a handover procedure and a team responsible for the Application Support after Going Live have to be defined.

• Business Process Analysis

When creating a Business Process Management concept, it is essential that the business processes are known and well understood. Therefore, the business processes have to be analyzed and documented in detail, including all relevant business process steps, involved interfaces, availability requirements, performance and throughput requirements, and functional dependencies.

• Business Process Monitoring

Business Process Monitoring as one essential aspect of Business Process Management, means the proactive and process-oriented monitoring of a company’s core business processes including the observation of all technical and business application-specific functions that are required for a steady and stable flow of the business processes.

• Integration and Interface Management

Integration and Interface Management includes techniques regarding interface operation and the interfaces impact on business processes in order to ensure data quality and consistency, interface security and recovery reliability.

• Program Scheduling Management

Program Scheduling Management means the planning, controlling or scheduling, and monitoring of all system and business-process related operational activities (such as background job scheduling of programs and reports) in a distributed system landscape.

Basically, Program Scheduling Management determines in which sequence all background activities have to be scheduled and thus executed to avoid hardware bottleneck situations and in order to meet processing deadlines, e.g. specific time windows reserved for maintenance and administration activities for hardware and software components.

• Master Data Maintenance

Master Data Management includes methods regarding the exchange of master data between different software components in a distributed system landscape with focus on master data consistency throughout the entire solution landscape.

• Data Management and Archiving

Data Management and Archiving aims to avoid unnecessary data growth within a solution and consists of four different parts:

• Data Avoidance, which means do not write unnecessary application data
• Data Summarization, which imply write only limited business data
• Data Deletion to delete a targeted set of non-relevant business information
• Data Archiving, helps to remove and keep approved business data objects

It also includes having procedures at hand that check for data inconsistencies on a regular basis and correct them if necessary.

• Change Management

Change Management includes measures for a defined workflow on how changes of business processes are applied.

• Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

Key Performance Indicators can be used to quantify and verify the success of Business Process Management and Application Operation in order to support and ensure that the defined business objectives are met. KPIs are somehow associated with business-related or business-wise measures such as average business transaction response times in order to check and ensure the progress of the related business processes.

Key Performance Indicators can be used to define Service Level Agreements between different support levels or organizational units, for instance the IT Department of a company and the business departments.

By defining Key Performance Indicators and their related threshold values it is possible to verify the business process flow or progress during the day-to-day operation within a Solution Landscape. A summary of these verification results and the adherence to possibly defined Service Level Agreements is provided by means of Service Level Reporting.

Develop a Business Process Management (BPM) strategy

To develop a Business Process Management (BPM) strategy, organizations should first define their goals and objectives, conduct a process analysis to identify bottlenecks and inefficiencies, prioritize processes for improvement, implement technology solutions such as Business Process Management Systems (BPMS), involve stakeholders in the change management process, establish metrics to monitor and control processes, and continuously review and refine processes to ensure they remain effective, efficient, and aligned with the organization's goals. This holistic approach to managing and improving business processes can help organizations drive growth, improve performance, and achieve their goals.