The Six Core Elements of Business Process Management

Part of the International Handbooks on Information Systems book series (INFOSYS)

Abstract

The previous chapters gave an insightful introduction into the various facets of Business Process Management. We now share a rich understanding of the essential ideas behind designing, managing and changing processes for a variety of organizational purposes. We have also learned about the streams of research and development that have influenced contemporary BPM. As a result of more than two decades of inter-disciplinary research and a plethora of diverse BPM initiatives in corporations of all sizes and across all industries, BPM has become a holistic management discipline. Consequently, it requires that a number of complementary elements needs to be addressed for its successful und sustainable deployment. This chapter introduces a consolidating framework that provides structure and decomposes BPM into six essential elements. Drawing from research in the field of maturity models and its application in a number of organizations all over the globe, we suggest the following six core elements of BPM: strategic alignment, governance, methods, information technology, people, and culture. These six elements serve as the core structure for this BPM Handbook.

Keywords

Business Process Core Element Capability Maturity Model Capability Area Strategic Alignment 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

References

  1. Aitken C, Stephenson C, Brinkworth R (2014) Process classification frameworks. In: vom Brocke J, Rosemann M (eds) Handbook on business process management, vol 2, 2nd edn. Springer, Heidelberg, pp 177–202Google Scholar
  2. Bergener K, vom Brocke J, Hofmann S, Stein A, vom Brocke C (2012) On the importance of agile communication skills in BPM education: design principles for international seminars. Knowl Manag E-Learn: Int J 4(4):415–434Google Scholar
  3. Bhat JM, Fernandez J, Kumar M, Goel S (2014) Business process outsourcing. In: vom Brocke J, Rosemann M (eds) Handbook on business process management, vol 2, 2nd edn. Springer, Heidelberg, pp 443–470Google Scholar
  4. Burlton RT (2014) Delivering business strategy through process management. In: vom Brocke J, Rosemann M (eds) Handbook on business process management, vol 2, 2nd edn. Springer, Heidelberg, pp 45–77Google Scholar
  5. Conger S (2014) Six sigma and business process management. In: vom Brocke J, Rosemann M (eds) Handbook on business process management, vol 1, 2nd edn. Springer, Heidelberg, pp 127–146Google Scholar
  6. Curtis B, Alden J (2006) BPM and organizational maturity. BPTrendsGoogle Scholar
  7. Curtis B, Alden J, Weber CV (2004) The use of process maturity models in business process management. Borland Software Corporation, Austin, White PaperGoogle Scholar
  8. Davenport TH (2014) Process management for knowledge work. In: vom Brocke J, Rosemann M (eds) Handbook on business process management, vol 1, 2nd edn. Springer, Heidelberg, pp 17–35Google Scholar
  9. de Bruin T (2009) Business process management: theory on progression and maturity. Ph.D. Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, BrisbaneGoogle Scholar
  10. de Bruin T, Rosemann M (2006) Towards understanding strategic alignment of business process management. In: Proceedings of the 17th Australasian conference on information systems, Adelaide, 6–8 Dec 2006Google Scholar
  11. de Bruin T, Rosemann M (2007) Using the Delphi technique to identify BPM capability areas. In: Proceedings of the 18th Australasian conference on information systems, Toowoomba, 5–7 Dec 2007Google Scholar
  12. DeToro I, McCabe T (1997) How to stay flexible and elude fads. Qual Progr 30(3):55–60Google Scholar
  13. Dumas M, van der Aalst WM, ter Hofstede AH (2005) Process-aware information systems: bridging people and software through process technology. Wiley, New YorkCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  14. Dumas M, La Rosa M, Mendling J, Reijers HA (2013) Fundamentals of business process management. Springer, BerlinCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  15. Fisher DM (2004) The business process maturity model. A practical approach for identifying opportunities for optimization. BPTrends. http://www.bptrends.com/resources_publications.cfm. Accessed 26 Aug 2009
  16. Franz PH, Kirchmer M, Rosemann M (2011) Value-driven business process management. Which values matter for BPM. Accenture report. London, PhiladelphiaGoogle Scholar
  17. Gartner (2010) Leading in times of transition. The 2010 CIO Agenda. StamfordGoogle Scholar
  18. Gartner (2013) Hunting and harvesting in a digital world: the 2013 CIO Agenda, StamfordGoogle Scholar
  19. Hammer M (2007) The process audit. Harv Bus Rev 85:111–143Google Scholar
  20. Hammer M (2014) What is business process management? In: vom Brocke J, Rosemann M (eds) Handbook on business process management, vol 1, 2nd edn. Springer, Heidelberg, pp 3–16Google Scholar
  21. Harmon P (2003) Business process change: a manager’s guide to improving, redesigning, and automating processes. Morgan Kaufmann, Amsterdam/BostonGoogle Scholar
  22. Harmon P (2004) Evaluating an organization’s business process maturity. http://www.bptrends.com/resources_publications.cfm. Accessed 26 Aug 2009
  23. Harmon P (2014) The scope and evolution of business process management. In: vom Brocke J, Rosemann M (eds) Handbook on business process management, vol 1, 2nd edn. Springer, Heidelberg, pp 37–80Google Scholar
  24. Houy C, Fettke P, Loos P (2014) Business process frameworks. In: vom Brocke J, Rosemann M (eds) Handbook on business process management, vol 2, 2nd edn. Springer, Heidelberg, pp 153–176Google Scholar
  25. Kaplan RS, Norton DP (2004) Strategy maps: converting intangible assets into tangible outcomes. Harvard Business Press, BostonGoogle Scholar
  26. Karagiannis D, Woitsch R (2014) Knowledge engineering in business process management. In: vom Brocke J, Rosemann M (eds) Handbook on business process management, vol 2, 2nd edn. Springer, Heidelberg, pp 623–648Google Scholar
  27. Luftman JN (2003) Assessing strategic alignment maturity. In: Luftman JN (ed) Competing in the information age: align in the sand, 2nd edn. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp 15–48CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  28. Luftman JN (2014) Strategic alignment maturity. In: vom Brocke J, Rosemann M (eds) Handbook on business process management, vol 2, 2nd edn. Springer, Heidelberg, pp 5–44Google Scholar
  29. Markus ML, Jacobson D (2014) The governance of business processes. In: vom Brocke J, Rosemann M (eds) Handbook on business process management, vol 2, 2nd edn. Springer, Heidelberg, pp 311–332Google Scholar
  30. Maull RS, Tranfield DR, Maull W (2003) Factors characterising the maturity of BPR programmes. Int J Oper Prod Manag 23(6):596–624CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  31. OMG (2008) Business process maturity model (BPMM), Version 1.0, Standard document. http://www.omg.org/spec/BPMM/1.0/PDF. Accessed 28 May 2013
  32. Ouyang C, Adams M, Wynn MT, ter Hofstede AHM (2014) Workflow management. In: vom Brocke J, Rosemann M (eds) Handbook on business process management, vol 1, 2nd edn. Springer, Heidelberg, pp 475–506Google Scholar
  33. Paulk MC, Curtis B, Chrissis MB, Weber CV (1993) The capability maturity model for software, Version 1.1 (No. CMU/SEI-93-TR-24). Software Engineering Institute, PittsburghGoogle Scholar
  34. Plattner H, Krüger J (2014) In-memory data management. In: vom Brocke J, Rosemann M (eds) Handbook on business process management, vol 1, 2nd edn. Springer, Heidelberg, pp 445–461Google Scholar
  35. Pritchard J-P, Armistead C (1999) Business process management – lessons from European business. Bus Process Manag J 5(1):10–32CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  36. Roeglinger M, Poeppelbuss J, Becker J (2012) Maturity models in business process management. Bus Process Manag J 18(2):328–346CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  37. Rosemann M, de Bruin T (2004) Application of a holistic model for determining BPM maturity. In: Akoka J, Comyn-Wattiau I, Favier M (eds) Proceedings of the AIM Pre-ICIS workshop on process management and information systems, pp 46–60. (Actes du 3e colloque Pre-ICIS de l'AIM), Washington, DC, 12 Dec 2004Google Scholar
  38. Rosemann M, de Bruin T (2005) Towards a business process management maturity model. In: Proceedings of the 13th European conference on information systems, Regensburg, May 2005Google Scholar
  39. Rosemann M, de Bruin T, Hueffner T (2004) Testing a model for business process management maturity with two case studies. In: Proceedings of the 15th Australasian conference on information systems, Hobart, 1–3 Dec 2004Google Scholar
  40. Rosemann M, de Bruin T, Power B (2006) A model to measure business process management and improve performance. In: Jeston J, Nelis J (eds) Business process management. Butterworth- Heinemann, London, Chapter 27Google Scholar
  41. Rummler-Brache Group (2004) Business process management in US firms today. A study commissioned by Rummler-Brache Group, Mar 2004Google Scholar
  42. Rummler GA, Ramias AJ (2014) A framework for defining and designing the structure of work. In: vom Brocke J, Rosemann M (eds) Handbook on business process management, vol 1, 2nd edn. Springer, Heidelberg, pp 81–104Google Scholar
  43. Sabherwal R, Hirschheim R, Goles T (2001) The dynamics of alignment: insights from a punctuated equilibrium model. Org Sci 12(2):179–197CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  44. Scheer A-W, Hoffmann M (2014) The process of business process management. In: vom Brocke J, Rosemann M (eds) Handbook on business process management, vol 2, 2nd edn. Springer, Heidelberg, pp 351–398Google Scholar
  45. Schein EH (2004) Organizational culture and leadership, 3rd edn. Jossey-Bass, San FranciscoGoogle Scholar
  46. Schmiedel T, vom Brocke J, Recker J (2013) Which cultural values matter to business process management? Results from a global Delphi study. Bus Process Manag J 19(2):292–317CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  47. Schmiedel T, vom Brocke J, Recker J (2014) Culture in business process management. How cultural values determine BPM success. In: vom Brocke J, Rosemann M (eds) Handbook on business process management, vol 2, 2nd edn. Springer, Heidelberg, pp 649–665Google Scholar
  48. Sharp A, McDermott P (2009) Workflow modeling. Tools for process improvement and application development, 2nd edn. Artech House, NorwoodGoogle Scholar
  49. Sidorova A, Torres R, Beayeyz AA (2014) The role of information and ICT in business process management. In: vom Brocke J, Rosemann M (eds) Handbook on business process management, vol 1, 2nd edn. Springer, Heidelberg, pp 333–350Google Scholar
  50. Smith H, Fingar P (2004) Process management maturity models. BPTrends. http://www.bptrends.com/resources_publications.cfm. Accessed 26 Aug 2009
  51. Spanyi A (2014) Business process management governance. In: vom Brocke J, Rosemann M (eds) Handbook on business process management, vol 2, 2nd edn. Springer, Heidelberg, pp 333–350Google Scholar
  52. Tregear R (2014) Business process standardization. In: vom Brocke J, Rosemann M (eds) Handbook on business process management, vol 2, 2nd edn. Springer, Heidelberg, pp 421–442Google Scholar
  53. van der Aalst WMP (2011) Process mining. Discovery, conformance and enhancement of business processes. Springer, HeidelbergGoogle Scholar
  54. van der Aalst WMP (2014) Business process simulation survival guide. In: vom Brocke J, Rosemann M (eds) Handbook on business process management, vol 1, 2nd edn. Springer, Heidelberg, pp 337–370Google Scholar
  55. van Looy A (2014) Business process management maturity models, Springerbriefs in business process management. Springer, HeidelbergGoogle Scholar
  56. vom Brocke J (2006) Design principles for reference modelling. Reusing information models by means of aggregation, specialisation, instantiation, and analogy. In: Fettke P, Loos P (eds) Reference modelling for business systems analysis. Idea Group Publishing, Hershey, pp 47–75CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  57. vom Brocke J, Schmiedel T (eds) (2014) Business process management. Driving innovation in a digital world. Springer, HeidelbergGoogle Scholar
  58. vom Brocke J, Sinnl T (2011) Culture in business process management. A literature review. Bus Process Manag J 17(2):357–377CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  59. vom Brocke J, Recker J, Mendling J (2010) Value-oriented process modeling: integrating financial perspectives into business process re-design. Bus Process Manag J 16(2):333–356CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  60. vom Brocke J, Debortoli S, Müller O, Reuter N (2013) How in-memory technology can create business value: insights from the Hilti case. Commun AIS, (Forthcoming)Google Scholar
  61. vom Brocke J, Schmiedel T, Recker J, Trkman P, Mertens W, Viaene S (2014) Ten principles of good business process management. Bus Process Manage J (BPMJ) 20(4)Google Scholar
  62. vom Brocke J, Petry M, Schmiedel T, Sonnenberg C (2014) How organizational culture facilitates a global BPM project: the case of Hilti. In: vom Brocke J, Rosemann M (eds) Handbook on business process management, vol 2, 2nd edn. Springer, Heidelberg, pp 693–714Google Scholar

Copyright information

© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2015

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Information Systems SchoolQueensland University of TechnologyBrisbaneAustralia
  2. 2.Institute of Information SystemsUniversity of LiechtensteinVaduzLiechtenstein

Personalised recommendations