Business Process Management

The term Business Process Management (or BPM) refers to activities performed by businesses to optimize and adapt their processes.

Business Process Management is not new but there is a new focus on it due to the availability of software tools, which allow for the direct execution of business processes or workflows. A software solution can allow you to visually define, control and track the flow of a work process such as a procedure, short project, action item, call, incident, issue, feature, request, requirement, defect, problem, bug or task. In addition, these tools can also monitor the execution of the business processes, providing managers of an organization with the means to analyze their performance and make changes to the original processes in real-time.

Business Process Management was a natural evolution of Business Process Reengineering. Whereas reengineering dealt with one-time changes to the organization, Business Process Management deals with the continuity and embedding of process orientation in the organization. Business Process Management encompasses other process elements, such as Total Quality Management (TQM), Six Sigma, and Performance Management.

The three key components of Business Process Management are design,execution and monitoring. Process design is the capture of existing processes or the design of new processes. The processes are then simulated to test them. Software will support the process activities by providing a way to document the processes and storing the models in repositories. Process execution refers to the execution of the complete business process. Business Process Management System software defines the process in a computer language, which can then be directly executed by the system. The system will either integrate with other applications or trigger a human response to perform the tasks. Process monitoring is the tracking of the individual processes. Monitoring also provides statistics on the performance of one or more processes.

Area of Application
Six Sigma
Workflow Automation

Related Terms
Business Performance Management