Business process modeling

Draft

Introduction

Business process modeling (BPM) refers to the modeling of activities performed within an organization. Typically, an activity is viewed as a workflow or process composed of events, activities, gateways and (sometimes) other elements. More precisely a “business process [can be defined] as a collection of related, structured activities or tasks that produce a specific service or product (serve a particular goal) for a particular customer or customers” (Wikipedia, retrieved June 23 2010). However, business process modeling is also used in other areas, e.g. in government organization such as the US department of defense or in e-science.

BPM also may refer to business process management' for which business process modeling can be a tool.

“Business process modeling (BPM) in systems engineering and software engineering is the activity of representing processes of an enterprise, so that the current process may be analyzed and improved” (Wikipedia, retrieved June 23 2010). In other words, BPM is often related to (business) reengineering and even more substantial change management.

We can distinguish between three main types of processes:

1. Management processes, e.g. organizational governance
2. Operational processes, e.g. plan and conduct a research project, define and enact a pedagogical scenario.
3. Supporting processes, e.g. technical support (network, file servers, e-mail, etc.) or human resource management.

See also: enterprise architecture framework, workflow and BPMN (a typical notation language for process modeling)

Links

Overviews

• Enterprise modeling, the abstract representation, description and definition of the structure, processes, information and resources of an identifiable business, government body, or other large organization.
• Business process modeling, the activity of representing processes of an enterprise, so that the current process may be analyzed and improved.

Players that define standards

• WFMC (the Workflow Management Coalition), Founded in 1993, the Workflow Management Coalition (WfMC) is a global organization of adopters, developers, consultants, analysts, as well as university and research groups engaged in workflow and BPM. The WfMC creates and contributes to process related standards, educates the market on related issues, and is the only standards organization that concentrates purely on process.
• OMG (the Object Management Group), an international, open membership, not-for-profit computer industry consortium since 1989. OMG’s modeling standards, including the Unified Modeling Language (UML), Model Driven Architecture (MDA). OMG works in liaison with other organizations such as WFMC and also is an ISO submitter.