The Leonardo Blog

As noted previously, one of the foundations of Business Process Management is a business process architecture. In fact, in our view, it is the first of the seven enablers of BPM, and indispensable for process-based management in any organisation. This article explores the ways in which a process architecture can assist to prioritise and manage portfolios of projects. Project Scoping The first benefit of using a process architecture in managing projects is that it assists with project scoping. Understanding the boundaries of the project (i.e. what it will and won’t change in the business) is fundamental to understanding which processes it will affect. A process architecture is of great value in this, as it allows a top-down, coordinated approach to assessing scope. Because a process architecture collects processes in a hierarchy, grouping related processes together, it is easier to see the scope of a project by assessing which parts of the process hierarchy it will affect. This offers two major advantages: Scale can be assessed quickly by looking at how many processes the project will affect, and to what depth. Scope boundaries can be set against a commonly understood and agreed reference point; that is, by setting limits on which processes the project is allowed to modify and which ones it will not affect.

As organisations continue the journey to develop high levels of Business Process Management (BPM) maturity and innovate their processes, an effective process modelling platform becomes vital. Moving from static, disconnected process documentation to dynamic, flexible views of process is the key to realising process modelling benefit.

It is a rare enterprise that has not undergone some degree of change in structure in the past five years. As internal and external circumstances change, enterprises must change themselves to better suit those circumstances, most commonly by changing their organisational structure, hopefully to some kind of conscious design. Conscious or not, employees and managers alike will attest that restructuring or redesigning (or recovering from change which has been imposed without a design) can be one of the most difficult, stressful work experiences, full of uncertainty and difficult decision-making. However, as the drivers for these restructures are increasingly seen as just part of the normal business environment, the redesigns themselves can be seen as expected, regular events in the life of an organisation.

Process mining shows great promise in improving process discovery, measurement and auditing, but Australian enterprises have been slow to take it up. This post will explore process mining and discuss some of its benefits, before asking readers to identify what’s holding them back from taking it up. We think it can deliver real and achievable results. Anecdotally, many people seem to feel the same way, but few have taken the step of putting it into practice. We’re interested in your thoughts, so feel free to offer your perspective at the end of this post.