BPM in Scotland

BPMS, A Compliance Officers Best Friend

2012-01-16T04:47:00.000-08:00

I recently updated the Lithe IT website and added a new linkto highlight one of my favourite features that leading BPMS support, improving compliance.

I often think that being a Compliance officer is verysimilar to providing an IT service provider, in that senior people only want totalk to you when something goes wrong. Within IT and the wider business aconsiderable amount of effort is spent measuring and proving compliance withstated business processes, regulatory and legislative rules, and client instructions.

I’ve experienced this in both the Financial Services and Publicsectors within the UK and have first-hand experience of how time consuming itis. It is also often regarded as a burden as it often means extra work ingathering and completing templates.

Imagine having improved controls, reducing the datagathering and proof effort, with immediate highlighting of potential problems.With a leading BPMS this can be quickly achieved.

A BPMS will rapidly become a Compliance Officers best friendas it will:

Provide a full audit trail of all processexecution, showing interactions by systems and people,
Retain a complete change history for allprocesses and show which process version a specific instance used,
Automate many manual process steps reducing roomfor non-compliance,
Mandate checklists and authorisation workflow tobe completed during process execution,
Integrate with existing systems and processes,so that results can be achieved rapidly,
Enables mobile workers to take part in processesincluding those using mobile phones to connect,
Allow business rules to be defined and managed,separate from process workflows, which will control the execution path,
Deliver real-time reporting on targets andevents so that specific conditions can trigger alerts,
Modify the level of checking required based onskill level of the operator taking part in a process.

For these reasons, I believe a BPMS is the ideal technologyto implement a control framework, and therefore becomes a Compliance Officer’sbest friend.

If you are interested in finding out more about how a BPMScan help you contact me at AnthonyMurphy@LitheIT.com,call UK (141) 314 3707, or tweet me @Anthony_LitheIT.

See www.LitheIT.com formore information on Lithe IT and to download the comprehensive and free BPMSSelection Guide.

Do “to-be” process models improve agile project governance?

2011-10-26T04:59:00.001-07:00

BPMS vendors are strong proponents of using agile methods toimplement their solutions, highlighting the increased potential of rapid ROIcompared to using traditional waterfall approaches. I believe that there are anumber of tests which can help determine if agile methods are likely to work,but I’ll leave that subject for another day. Assuming these tests are met, Istrongly agree with the vendor position.

It can be a hard sell to Finance Directors who are rightlywary of such promises, even if agile is likely to succeed. It becomes an evenharder sell if the balance of risk of not achieving the ROI lies with thecustomer.

A recurring complaint levelled against agile methods,especially by those new to them, is that the business cannot define strongacceptance criteria in advance of the project as functionality delivered willbe determined during each sprint. This is a valid complaint as it makes itdifficult to create a contract where the vendor is “on the hook” to deliver aworking system. It is unfair to expect the vendor to commit to a fixed pricecontract without knowing the work involved, and equally unfair to expect thecustomer to agree to write a blank cheque to support implementation. So what todo?

I advocate spending time to develop a robust “to-be” modelusing the BPMN 2.0 notation. The approach to modelling depends on the level ofimprovement sought, knowledge and availability of skilled process experts, andtimescales to deliver change. To become best in class, it is hard to see howexternal benchmarking can be ignored; similarly if the process needs to beoperational within a short timeframe then a FAST method is likely to offer thebest approach.

Once a verified model is created it allows the business todetermine those activities which are “Must haves” to be delivered during theproject. It is also important to define acceptance criteria for each activity,understanding that this is unlikely to be universal for all parts of theprocess. For instance, customer facing process activities are likely to containdata validation, error handling, performance constraints, escalation steps, andconform to a defined accessibility standard. For other parts of the process itmay be acceptable to live without an escalation alert, custom error handling,or a pretty screen. Creating an acceptance matrix and linking each activity tothis is a good way to gain and document agreement and doesn’t require too mucheffort.

With this information available, the customer and vendor canenter contract negotiations better able to agree on the work required for thecreation of an end to end workflow, with those activities categorised as “Musthaves” fully configured, creating the potential for acceptance criteria linkedto a payment schedule.

I don’t want to suggest that a “to-be” model is right in allcircumstances, but from a governance perspective, it is difficult to make agood argument against creating one.

If you want to discuss this or any other BPM related subjectplease drop me a note at AnthonyMurphy@LitheIT.com, visit www.litheit.comor call me on 0141 314 3707.

Remove admin time by implementing Mobile BPM

2011-10-12T03:07:00.000-07:00

As consumers of IT we are used to being presented withdifferent interfaces when buying services. Consider the experience of Internetshopping. The interface I am presented with is now device specific so that Iget the best experience on my PC, laptop, tablet and smart phone.

So why should it be different in a business to businesscontext? Many businesses develop applications that will only work over abrowser, and in many cases are limited to working only when on the corporateLAN. To become agile, organisations should start to look at providing the informationtheir staff need, irrespective of location, on device specific interfaces.

Traditional IT departments shy away from multi-devicedevelopment as they typically don’t have the skills or budget to developapplications for different platforms. They often cannot describe a positive ROIwhen justifying the costs of multi-device development, and in doing so reduceagility.

With Mobile BPM solutions, this barrier is removed. Recentinnovations in BPMS vendor platforms are allowing processes and applications to bedeveloped once, and executed on the business persons’ device of choice, with noadditional development cost. The process designer can choose what informationis presented to mobile devices to allow them to complete their process step.

Imagine the benefits of allowing the Mobile BPM enabled salespersonto initiate a sales process whilst sitting with the client, allowing them to focus100% on the next lead when they leave the room, instead of heading back to theoffice to complete an admin process. Imagine a process where VAT receipts areuploaded as photographs, categorised and justified with minimal effort, againfreeing admin burden from sales and executive resources. The list ofpossibilities is endless.

As Mobile BPM is relatively new, complex customisations arenot yet available out of the box, however what is there allows businesses toincrease efficiency, reduce response times and free their key resources to focusall energy on what they are employed to do.

If you are interested in finding out more about Mobile BPM and how it can help your business contact me at 0141 314 3707 or at AnthonyMurphy@Litheit.com for a chat. For more information about Lithe IT BPM services please visit http://www.litheit.com

Do your work flow charts cause confusion?

2011-10-04T02:28:00.000-07:00

I believe that a good starting point for process improvementis to fully understand the as-is process to be improved. Creating a flowchartis an effective way of describing a process as most people in business have abasic understanding of flow charts and feel able to interpret them.

If flow charts do not adhere to a proven and recognised standard,which is fully able to describe the complexity of the current process, then theyinvariably lead to confusion and are open to individual interpretation. This makesit common place for different viewers to reach different understandings,achieving the exact opposite purpose for drawing the diagram in the firstplace!

If a best practise approach is followed, it is likely that mostmisunderstandings will be resolved during a verification exercise; however itis not guaranteed that all will, and it is much cheaper to get things right atthe first time of asking.

Using a standard such as Business Process ManagementNotation (BPMN 2.0) addresses this problem. BPMN provides the capability for fullydescribing complex processes occurring across multiple departments, systems or organisations.It supports complex business events, message flow, inclusive and exclusivegateways and merges, and provides a model which leaves no room for personalinterpretation.

BPMN is free to use as it is an open standard and can beimplemented with no specialist tool support. (See http://www.omg.org/spec/BPMN/2.0/for details on the specification). It is also used by leading BPMS vendorswhose systems turn BPMN models into executable processes. If you areconsidering procuring a BPMS, then I’d recommend starting to model processesusing this notation right away, as it will help your selection process and easeyour implementation projects.

Will adopting a standard mean individual interpretation willgo away? Unfortunately not, but I believe it goes a long way towards a solutionas it allows those familiar with the standard to fully understand and challengethe model. In practise, if a model contains notation which is unfamiliar, Ibelieve most people are likely to seek an explanation, rather than fill in theblanks themselves.

Have you experienced problems with process flow charts causingconfusion and want to learn more about BPMN 2.0? Contact Lithe IT on 0141 3143707 and ask for Anthony or see our website at www.litheit.com.

Is a BPMS a friend or foe to the IT department?

2011-09-25T03:27:00.000-07:00

We all know of the expression that Turkeys don’t vote for Christmas, so why should IT developers become the driving force for implementing a Business Process Management System?

BPMS vendors are keen to stress that their software provides zero code environments, intuitive and easy to use graphical workflow tools, and wizard based screen designs. So do businesses who implement a BPMS typically retire their IT developers? The answer is a resounding no!

Outside of business analysts, it will be unusual to find someone within business with the time or ability to create blank processes from scratch. They will not understand modular process creation; appreciate capacity, performance, or error handling implications of their designs. They don’t know about the pitfalls of poorly managed change control or configuration management. Only those with a solid grounding in IT can bring these skills to the party.

Business subject matter experts are able to view a graphical business process diagram and provide immediate feedback to analysts and developers. I believe that using a BPMS helps to solve one of the recurring IT complaints of poor quality requirements and badly defined change. Having the ability to modify the executable in discussion with the subject matter expert, by changing a diagram both can understand, will save the developer time, result in a better solution, and will allow the business user to test more effectively. It will also self-document and I’ve still to meet a developer who enjoys documentation!

There will always be room for Java and .Net development to enhance out of the box capability, but this will be limited to interesting coding scenarios and not basic screen or simple database connectivity.

An IT department seen to be advocating Process Improvement, and not just wanting to complete another system upgrade, will raise the profile within the organisation. Once operational, business specialists will be able to manage and modify their processes without always coming to IT, but only within an agreed control framework. They will thank and praise the IT team that delivers this capability to them.

If you want to find out more please visit www.litheit.com, or contact Lithe IT and ask to speak to Anthony.

The role of IT in process focused organisations

2011-09-21T03:23:00.000-07:00

IT departments are often accused of not understanding the business, and it is true that the business rarely understands what the IT department does. To an IT manager achieving a service level availability of 99.95% might represent a great year and result in a bonus, but to the business, if the downtime occurred during a key trading window then IT has failed. So how can we resolve this anomaly, and how can Business Process Management help?

I believe that IT and business needs to become more focused on customer facing processes where IT is part of a cross organisation team measured on achieving process success. Consider the function of producing client reports within a financial services organisation. The target success is that 100% of client reports are delivered on time each month, with outperformance achieved by beating targets. It makes sense for all staff, including those in IT, delivering this process to be rewarded when these targets are achieved. The traditional model would see middle office staff challenged to meet the key business target and IT staff with an unrelated uptime, or response time measure. Providing a business focus for IT will encourage IT to make sure adequate support is available, and that appropriate capacity has been provisioned. It will get IT and business on the same page.

For this approach to work, a senior manager needs to be made responsible for delivery of each process, which in most organisations will lead to a degree of matrix management. Over the years I was always told that matrix management is bad and should be avoided, but I don’t believe that now. I believe that optimum performance comes from being a process focused organisation. That doesn’t necessitate the need for immediate restructuring as most benefits can be achieved using matrix management.

Identifying key processes and establishing a matrix management structure for selected processes, will allow organisations to become more responsive to customer needs. It will be easier to support continuous improvement of these key processes as staff from all disciplines will be rewarded to do this. From an IT perspective, it will allow the benefits of a functional structure to focus on delivering scalable, robust and affordable infrastructure and systems, whilst better understanding the various business activities which rely on those IT assets to be available.

Business Process Management provides the toolkit to help organisations design, implement, measure and improve these key processes. An investment in a BPMS, will further improve control, visibility and acceptance of this improved way of working, but this should only be done once the high level structures have been designed. To learn more about BPM, please contact Lithe IT and ask for Anthony.

Office 365 - does this open the door for BPM?

2011-08-19T07:29:00.000-07:00

With the release of Microsoft Office 365, there is now an even more compelling reason for small to medium sized businesses to embrace the cloud. In my view, I can't think of many scenarios where it would be better to implement an on-premise solution. Of course, larger organisations who have significant private clouds are likely to move slower.
But as small businesses migrate, what does this mean for those working in BPM?

For the vendors aligned with Microsoft (Singularity, Global 360, etc), I believe that this may be the door opening to a market ripe for the picking. Selling BPM to the small business is not the same as a large organisation. The need for solutions, and not capability, is more important and budgets for licenses and consultants are of a different level, if they exist at all. They have now got SharePoint on-line, but they don't want to have to pay for staff or partners to help them avoid the many potential pitfalls of a poorly managed SharePoint infrastructure.

I feel cloud based BPM solutions could be used to automate and control these processes and allow the small businesses to see real value in process solutions. However the vendors need to provide cloud based multi-tenancy models, where usage costs for customers are at a similar level to Office 365.

To reach this market the offering has to be compelling. I don't see the evidence that we are there yet but I do think the opportunity now exists - question is does anyone want to take it?