BPMS project in practice
The best way to quickly grasp how BPMS is used is to demonstrate a typical solution building project in practice. In this way you will be able to quickly get the whole context and build understanding of BPMS.
The project starts with the identification of a business problem, analysis of the requirements for improvements and definition of a desired solution. The defined solution takes into account process improvement capabilities and features that the BPMS platform provides (you will read more about those features later on).
Once the solution has been designed, the business user (an analyst or manager) develops the required process model using a friendly, business oriented modelling tool included in the BPMS platform. The tool makes use of terms and concepts more relevant to the business level (activities, roles, business rules, information flow) rather than to the IT level.
If necessary, IT developers may have to enhance the solution by integrating it with the existing databases or enterprise systems. They may also build a customised user interface.
When the model is created, the platform will automatically generate a web-based application (the Application) that controls the whole business process. The application is deployed on a typical intranet or Internet infrastructure.
A deployed process is ready to be started. It can be initiated manually by the authorised user or automatically by an event within the enterprise. The Application controls the execution of each activity of the process making sure that required business rules are observed. When one activity is completed the Application passes control to subsequent activities until the process is complete. Some activities are carried out by enterprise systems. In such case the Application prompts the system to start the required activity, monitor the execution and advances the process when the activity is finished. The Application also makes sure that the outcome of the activity is passed to subsequent steps.
The users interact with the process through lists of tasks and electronic forms. The Application notifies required users about the need to perform the activity by placing a task in user's To-Do folder. The user picks up the task, interacts with the form and advances the process by applying appropriate action. The Application then advances the process to the next activity.
The Application makes sure that all activities and steps are executed according to the previously defined model. It ensures that users with the desired level of authority carry out the manual steps.
As every step of the process is monitored and recorded by the Application it is easy to collect previously defined measurements at various stages and store them in a repository. These measurements can be later used to optimise the process performance.
If the process does not satisfy the desired level of improvements it can be modified to do so. The diagrams below show what is involved in introducing a new major business rule.
It could only take about 10 minutes to signifficantly change the Loan Application routing depending on the level of loan required.
Once the model has been changed the Application needs to be re-deployed. All this can be done on the fly while the old process is still in use. This change will be automatically propagated and from that point onwards the Application will run the process according the new model. The change will be completely invisible to the users.
Further reading ...
So now you know how it all works. It is now time to show specific components of the BPMS platform that make it such a powerful tool for business process improvements. Please read on ...