Business Performance Management (BPM) and Its Benefits
Business Performance Management (BPM) versus BI:
BPM represents the next generation of business intelligence (BI).
This article will focus on the key aspects to take into account when considering implementation of performance management software:
• the way KPIs are defined by an organization's focus.
• the meaning and importance of data mining.
• the importance of scorecards and dashboards in driving business decisions.
• the benefits and challenges of implementing a BPM solution.

Process Management & Business Intelligence (BI)
BI as the logical enhancement to process management:
• Many activities within business processes require decisions to be made. The objective is to get the right information to the right person at the right time.
• Dashboards or Reports could provide you with the needed statistics to improve your processes.

BPM from a Business Point of View - A case for BPM
What does change have to do with BPM?
Examples of changes that can impact your ability to manage processes:
• Adding new personnel to the process
• Metrics - you measure your process and discover that it now takes longer than before
• New software is imposed on the process
• New machines are inserted in the process
• The costs go up for a part of the process

BPM Benefits: Myth or Reality?
Many discussions debated the complexity of BPM application implementation compared to other IT implementations like CRM and ERP. The automation of cross-functional, cross-departmental processes certainly adds some elements of difficulty. But if you step back and look at the tremendous hype around BPM, most projects carry increased burdens. They have to meet IT project success expectations, BPM technology expectations and business outcome expectations. That's almost too much for any project to bear and be successful. Gartner calls that the "Trough of Disillusionment." What do you think? Are expectations unrealistic?

BPM, the next stage of end user programming - Part I
There are several necessary requirements which a platform must satisfy to be viable for end-user programming:
• it must work directly with concepts from the business domain, and hide computer implementation details
• it be sufficiently expressive.
• It should include in a single package, tools for all of the required components of a complete application.
• it be able to be developed, deployed and managed with little or no IT support.
Modern BPM suites can score well on all of the above criteria. Individually, the value of each solution is too small to justify automation, but collectively they present huge opportunities for improvement.
The functional characteristics which favored end user programming were:
• Human centric applications, minimal system integration.
• Limited organizational scope, typically a single department.
• Geographically localized to minimize network security requirements.
• Not the system of record for any critical data.

BPM, the next stage of end user programming - Part II
Consider the risks of end user application development:
• Under-estimating the magnitude of the impact on their real job.
• Failing to manage complexity leading to solutions that don’t really work.
• Creeping into critical solutions without adequate infrastructuree.
• Dependence on the original developer.
• Negative ROI, tackling too small projects.
• Violating corporate IT governance policies.
In many respects the benefits of departmental BPM are exactly the same as for enterprise BPM:
• Improved consistency in following best practices .
• Increased understanding of current processes.
• Documentation of actual practices.
• Greatly increased visibility into the status of work in progress.
• Automatically captured audit trail.
• Measurements to support process improvement.
• Easier integration of new team members current trends.
• Several vendors now offer hosted software-as-a-Service (SaaS) BPM platforms.
• BPM platform costs continue to fall.
• The tools are becoming both richer in functionality and easier to use.
• Businesses are becoming more aware of the benefits of BPM.
• For the foreseeable future the gap between business desires and IT deliverables will remain.
• At the same time that BPM moves towards the peak of the strategic enterprise pyramid, it will also migrate toward the vast number of small opportunities at the base of the pyramid2010.

ERP pioneer Jan Baan on impact of BPM
A whole generation of ERP applications are up for renewal—but some viewers wonder if those applications will just be left as is, playing the role of legacy as business process management (BPM) architectures take on a more central role in connecting the corporate dots.

IT job opportunities in 2010 include BPM
While some specialist jobs may be on the way out in the interest of saving money, those experienced in business process management software and strategies may find their way in for the same reason.

Gartner’s Pattern-Based Strategies (PBS): Thoughts about...
reservations about PBS are due to several factors:
• Gartner's definition of PBS still is very confusing. This is probably because they are trying to come up with a grand strategy and approach which is complex.
• Complex problems are not easily resolved and solutions cannot be easily deployed, especially when they deal with "people, processes, data and technology" using Gartner's terms.
• The essence of PBS according to Gartner is to "seek, model and adapt" to leading indicators or weak signals, so that organizations can respond quickly to changing trends. However, the very complexity of PBS and the underlying technologies which are needed will make it difficult to adapt to change.
• The relationship between business and IT is already very complicated. Adopting an overarching strategy that is on the one hand deemed critical to the success of the business, but on the other hand relies on new and oftenmisunderstood technologies such as BPM, is likely to create more friction between the two. This is even more significant because PBS is not a science but and art: its success depends a lot on identifying which weak signals inside or outside the organization must be measure and modeled.

Populating a Data Quality Scorecard with Relevant Metrics
Good data quality metrics exhibit certain characteristics, and defining those metrics to share these characteristics will lead to a data quality scorecard that avoids the dreaded “so-what” metrics:
• Business Relevance: The metric must be defined within a business context that explains how the metric score correlates to improved business performance
• Measurability: The metric must have a process that quantifies a measurement within a discrete range
• Controllability: The metric must reflect a controllable aspect of the business process; when the measurement is not in a desirable range, some action to improve the data should be triggered
• Reportability: The metric’s definition should provide the right level of information to the data steward when the measured value is not acceptable
• Trackability: Documenting a time series of reported measurements must provide insight into the result of improvement efforts over time as well as support statistical process contro

Choosing: Saas BPM or on-premise BPM?
While on-premise business process management (BPM) has been the norm for most enterprises, advances in cloud computing have lead to increased interest in on-demand, software as a service (SaaS) offerings. Which approach is right for your company? This decision involves many important factors.
The on-premise and SaaS approaches to BPM each have their own strengths and weaknesses. Generally speaking, what it comes down to is deciding how you feel about the depth of execution required, exposing data in the cloud, and collaboration.

BPM, SOA, and cloud trends with Richard Soley, CEO of OMG
BPM has focused more on the process that implements the capabilities of the organization," said Soley. "SOA has focused on the way that we architect those into a solution that integrates the enterprise. We at OMG think those are very complementary concepts.
Especially as cloud computing provides more enterprise services on demand, home-grown IT systems will likely grow smaller and smaller. As time goes by, software infrastructure will come to be seen in much the same way that electric utility infrastructure is seen today
The enterprise won't be looking to more deeply align IT with the business—IT will be the business.

SaaS BPM systems close, but not quite there.
BPM and SaaS seem like the ultimate power couple. Each succeeds at bringing more agility and productivity to businesses and business process management systems, and SaaS can make sure resources are deployed efficiently. But integration and some centralized control are key to making BPM as a Service work.
SaaS BPM: A contradiction in terms?
BPM products require careful mapping and designated, consistent ways of working, while SaaS offerings provide undifferentiated processes and applications
For organizations looking to switch it on and off, or use it a bit here and not so much here, SaaS would work.
It is also an issue of control -- keeping a firm grasp on the way the application is updated and upgraded -- with the goal of eventually having the necessary resources and skills in house to manage it.
Still, SaaS BPM offerings are maturing at a fast pace, with security being better addressed and better third-party integration doing its part to address concerns. The demand is certainly there.
A big part of that is thoroughly evaluating the BPM vendor to make sure it is a strategic fit. "Ask the important questions such about reliability, scalability, data privacy and security."

Dynamic Applications and the Next Generation of BPM
To Do:
• Keeping it simple.
• Keeping the business value think in mind at all times .
• Aim for a process model that is less than 20 steps in the first release, something simple, plain, a straight line.
• Being able to perform relationships with stakeholders and the eventual end users.
• BPM experience/consultants helped clients to make the best decisions, and it's often the depth of this background knowledge that can prevent a project from going off the rails sometimes without the client ever really realizing it.
• At the start of a project,aim to implement something small, get some success so you can learn from the experience, and in that way, you can really keep the timeframes compressed, the timeframe realistic.
• Use a language which matches that of the business, everybody can communicate better and faster and as we all know, then projects will move along a lot easier.

Not to Do:
• Starting the design of the processes before a BPM tool is ever really been selected, and the output from the business analysts rarely sort of reflects the strengths of the tool eventually selected or it doesn't even drive the selection of that tool in the first place.
• The business analysts and BPM consultants rarely work together early enough in the project.
• The requirement from customers always to try and integrate all of the company's backend systems into a new process solution in the first release.
• Trying to do integration first time around often leads to the failure of a project.
• The depth or granularity that people go to when designing a new to be process.

"All processes are services", says new book on BPM
The book meticulously describes modern view on step-by-step approach and realisation of BPM systems. Considering that a business process is inflexible by definition, i.e. it tends to maximise robustness and minimise changes because a change in the process' business logic results in another process, flexibility of process management is about flexibility in the management of the process supplies. To find how this problem is resolved, you need to read the book the author has shared his rich experience in the BPM area and described 24 BPM patterns with recommendations when they may to be useful

BPM Trends - Simplification
A complex BPM solution cannot be used by a large number of users. In the era of social networking, customers would rather use a simple workflow tool that is easy to use and adopted by a large number of people instead of a complex product with bells and whistles that is only used by a few.
When I apply 'simplify' to business processes I am thinking about removing non-value added activities, automating activities and improving the process to shorten cycle times - real business process management.
Select from the processes that are of high value to your company. Recall my 80/20 argument - improving 20% of your business processes will provide 80% of the benefit. It is most important to manage one of the 20% of your processes.

BPM Trends - Socialization
A BPM process is a social activity wherein people collaborate and communicate with each other. Social networking technologies are an excellent compliment to BPM.
I do see that a social site could be a part of a process that helps you build and maintain customer relationships.

Mergers highlight the relationship of BPM and SOA
Several recent mergers have changed the BPM landscape. Earlier this month Progress picked up Savvion, IBM moved to purchase Lombardi in December, and in July Software AG made an offer for IDS Scheer.
The pairing of BPM and SOA is viewed by many as a way to align the efforts of the business and IT departments, though little evidence exists beyond conceptual logic. By acquiring pure-play BPM vendors Savvion, Lombardi, and IDS Scheer, Progress, IBM, and Software AG–which each offer notable SOA tools– respectively seem to be leading the way toward implementations that prove the compatibility of SOA and BPM.

16 Percent of BPM Seekers Agree with the SaaS Delivery Model
TEC BPM Evaluation Center in 2009:
• Surprisingly 16 percent selected the SaaS option.
• Bigger organizations are slightly more inclined to the SaaS model than smaller ones.
• Distributed organizations are more in favor of the SaaS model.
• Banking, financial, and telecommunication are the top 3 industries in both the “SaaS group” and the “non-SaaS group”. However, electronics/high-tech, health care, energy, and insurance are the industries that have a higher ranking in the “SaaS group”.
• The “SaaS group”, organizations are planning to have more users for their future BPM systems than those in the “non-SaaS group”.
• The “SaaS group” requires a shorter implementation time frame, which is a benefit that the SaaS model is supposed to deliver

Operational Transparency
There are at least five critical mistakes :.
Mistake # 1: Lack of a Systemic Perspective.
Mistake # 2: Lack of Customer Focus
Mistake # 3: Fragmented or Competing Technologies.
Mistake # 4: Inadequate or Inconsistent Management Attention
Mistake # 5: Too many Metrics
There are five key steps to consider:
#1 Adopt a systemic perspective.
#2 View business processes from both the company’s and the customer’s perspective.
#3 Integrate systems.
#4 Sustain management attention.
#5 Cascade Metrics.

BPM Trends - SaaS
That said, I can see using SaaS BPM software to manage simple processes, but more complex processes that require some integration will not be run on SaaS any time soon. Companies may be OK with SaaS if the data is not critical; however most companies have adopted the position that they need to control the data - therefore they believe that it needs to be running on one of their computers in their building.