Fundamentals of Business Process Management

Abstract

Business Process Management (BPM) is a special field for more than one reason. First of all, BPM is a crossroad of multiple, quite different viewpoints. Business managers are attracted to BPM because of its demonstrated ability to deliver im- provements in organizational performance, regulatory compliance and service qual- ity. Industrial engineers see BPM as an opportunity to apply well-trodden manufac- turing optimization techniques in the context of organizations that deliver services rather than physical products. Finally, Information Technology (IT) specialists ap- preciate the fact that BPM provides them with a shared language to communicate with business stakeholders. Furthermore, business process automation technology allows IT specialists to implement and monitor IT systems in a way that is aligned with the vision that business stakeholders have of the organization. In other words, BPM is a boundary-spanning field that serves as a melting pot for otherwise separate communities. For those who have experienced how business managers, industrial engineers and IT professionals often seem to live in different worlds, this shared field of interest is a remarkable opportunity to achieve a joint understanding of the inner workings of a business.