May 15, 2007 by Erwin Chiong.

Round-trip Process Lifecycle or otherwise called end-to-end process is a continuous cycle of process improvement. When you think about the “get it done faster, better, and cheaper” paradigm, that thought-process keeps evolving through this Round-Trip Process Lifecycle. Different Analysts and BPM vendors have similar diagrams showing how their different tools are used to meet each stage of the process lifecycle.

To learn more about the round-trip model go to different analysts’ sites such as Gartner Research. Other analysts such as Forrester Research, IDC, and Bruce Silver Associates also provide good information on BPM as well.

“Every process could be improved and productivity increased”
Jack Welch, Winning

Process improvement naturally leads to a cycle of constant tweaking, analysis with a goal to optimize the process. Thanks to the BPM software vendors and industry analysts, this round-trip process lifecycle was a result of common patterns based on best practices.

Why are there different tools for certain stages in the Process Lifecycle?
It is also important to know that the process lifecycle involves various end-users with unique skills. For instance, during the execution stage, the end-users are the transaction users such as a loan applicant and the loan officer for a Loan Origination System (LOS). During the define, model, and simulate stages, the end-users are the business process owners improving their processes.

Posted in Documentum BPM | Print | No Comments »

May 15, 2007 by Erwin Chiong.

Technorati Profile

Wikipedia defines BPM as a field of knowledge at the intersection between Management and Information technology, encompassing methods, techniques and tools to design, enact, control, and analyze operational business processes involving humans, organizations, applications, documents and other sources of information.

“Think of BPM as simply technology-enabled support for business interactions, much like email is technology-enabled support for business communications”
-Peter Fingar, Extreme Competition

The classic scribbling on a dinner napkin as shown here is where great ideas begin. Often enough, these ideas are around process improvements that consist of activities to meet a specific goal such as faster processing of an application.

When you start thinking about why it takes too many steps for a task to be accomplished or wonder why you have to enter the same data in 2 or more different systems, you come to a realization that things could be better and faster if only the systems and human tasks could be combined somehow without costing an arm and leg. This mindset is what Erwin calls “get it done faster, better, and cheaper” paradigm. With today’s BPM, SOA, and Mashup software, this goal can be achieved if implemented successfully.

“Whenever a program did not deliver the anticipated benefits, the problem was not a skill or knowledge deficit. Invariably, the problem was related to the underlying business process.”
-Andrew Spanyi, More for Less and Business Process Management is a Team Sport

Posted in Documentum BPM | Print | No Comments »