evolutionary bpm - bpm leader...evolutionary bpm pnmsoft 7 there are a couple of things to note...

Evolutionary BPM

A New Process Methodology

Published: Oct. 17, 2013

Authors: Eli Stutz, Bruce Hardy

Evolutionary BPM

PNMsoft www.pnmsoft.com 2

Introduction This white paper describes a new methodology for BPM (Business Process Management)

Software development projects. This methodology is related to the Agile approach, but is

unique to the field of BPM. It is employed by PNMsoft and by PNMsoft partners such as

Solutions BPM. The intended result of this approach is that the company which employs it

will attain rapid ROI on their BPM investment, and better value on the long term as well.

The Waterfall Approach The waterfall model is a sequential design process, often used in software development processes, in which progress is seen as flowing steadily downwards (like a waterfall) through the phases of Conception, Initiation, Analysis, Design, Construction, Testing, Production/Implementation, and Maintenance.

The waterfall development model originates in the manufacturing and construction industries; highly structured physical environments in which after-the-fact changes are prohibitively costly, if not impossible. Since no formal software development methodologies existed at the time, this hardware-oriented model was simply adapted for software development. [1]

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterfall_model

Problems:

Impossible to achieve perfection first time around

Changing requirements

No time to learn from each stage

Important lessons only become available as project progresses

Time to solution >>

Evolutionary BPM


Evolutionary BPM


Agile Software Development In February 2001, 17 software developers met at the Snowbird, Utah, resort, to discuss

lightweight development methods. They published the Manifesto for Agile Software

Development to define the approach now known as agile software development. Some of

the manifesto's authors formed the Agile Alliance, a non-profit organization that promotes

software development according to the manifesto's principles.

The Agile Manifesto reads, in its entirety, as follows:

We are uncovering better ways of developing software by doing it and helping others do it.

Through this work we have come to value:

Individuals and interactions over processes and tools, Working software over

comprehensive documentation, Customer collaboration over contract negotiation,

Responding to change over following a plan. That is, while there is value in the items on the

right, we value the items on the left more.[2]

[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agile_software_development

Daily Cycle

Product Increment

Review

Analysis

Update Backlog

Planning

Release Preparation Process

Evolutionary BPM


Agile 12 Principles

1. Customer satisfaction by rapid delivery of useful software

2. Welcome changing requirements, even late in development

3. Working software is delivered frequently (weeks rather than months)

4. Working software is the principal measure of progress

5. Sustainable development, able to maintain a constant pace

6. Close, daily cooperation between business people and developers

7. Face-to-face conversation is the best form of communication (co-location)

8. Projects are built around motivated individuals, who should be trusted

9. Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design

10. Simplicity—the art of maximizing the amount of work not done—is essential

11. Self-organizing teams

12. Regular adaptation to changing circumstances [2]

Evolutionary BPM


Where Does BPM Fit In? So where should BPM fit in between the Agile and Waterfall approaches?

To answer this question let’s compare a traditional software development cycle with our

new Evolutionary BPM Methodology.

Traditional Software Methodology

Traditional Software Development cycle might look like this:

BPM

Evolutionary BPM


There are a couple of things to note about this approach:

1) project phases are completed as silos. The 1st silo must be completed prior to beginning

the 2nd silo.

2) there is a hand-off between each silo. This hand-off takes the form of specifications,

documentation, meetings, etc. The success of each silo is largely affected by the quality of

the hand-off.

The moral to this story, is that silos and hand-offs are bad things and we should limit them

as much as possible in the software development process.

Evolutionary BPM Methodology

At PNMsoft and Solutions BPM, we have embraced an agile development approach with a

unique BPM flavor. It is called “Evolutionary BPM”, because the idea is that we are evolving

the process over time.

Here’s what the Evolutionary BPM Development cycle looks like:

In the evolutionary approach, note that process development is cyclical. It’s a repeating

cycle of Design / Document / Validate with all stakeholders present.

An important aspect of this cycle is the time-phasing of each phase. In the perfect world,

the time-phasing is real time, instantaneous. That is, when a requirement is defined, it is

built in and validated by the users before moving forward. Obviously, many, many

iterations of this cycle must be completed before the job is done.

Evolutionary BPM


PNMsoft Sequence BPM suite is integral to this process because it is the canvas on which we

map the process as it is described by stakeholders (design), then we publish the map

through Sequence (document), thus creating a working software solution, which is then

used to test against what the stakeholders say they do (validate).

PNMsoft Sequence App Studio Canvas

The power of this approach is essentially real time feedback to user requirements, which

eliminates the flood of change orders that roll in after the “deploy” phase.

So What’s Different?

• No Silos to Hand-off

• Time Collapsed

• Documentation Not Programming

• Validation Not Testing

• Output is a Fully Functional Process-oriented Software System

• Hot Changes are managed as Time-phased, Engineering Requests

Evolutionary BPM


Evolutionary BPM Steps

Here we describe each of the steps in the Evolutionary BPM process:

Evolutionary BPM


Step 1: Identify and Document Process Components

• Activities

• Process Flow

• Hand-offs

• Decision Points

• Deliverables / Objectives

• Publish and Confirm the Sequence Model

• Repeat if necessary, do not Pass Go until DONE

Step 2: Identify all Data Elements

• By Activity

• Decide who Sees & Updates What & When

• Define Validation Rules



Step 3: Add Special Features

• Validation

• Graphics, aesthetics

• Additional business logic



Step 4: Finalize Training and Organizational Change

Step 5: Pilot 1st Deployment

• Adjust and Improve

Step 6: Continue Deployments

Evolutionary BPM


This approach really only works because of the toolset we use. This is because, unlike other

documentation tools, PNMsoft Sequence allows us to test what we heard against what

users said in real time.

An Example by Bruce Hardy, BPM Consultant

“ I was at a client some time ago working on a process engineering project. The objective

was to establish a common business process for several groups of users. This was a highly

regulated business, so it was essential that we develop a robust standardized process that

was easily audited for compliance.

To accomplish this, I had all the process owners meet in a conference room. I asked them to

bring their process documentation, including, especially, all the reports they either required

or produced from the process. I then asked the owners to walk me through the process

activities and identify each hand-off to another user. As the group talked, largely among

each other, we documented the process in Sequence. At this point, we are only interested in

big things, like activities and hand-offs.

Next, we publish the Sequence model and have the users login to our Cloud and, again,

describe the process as they executed the model we built. We do this again and again until

everyone agrees this is THE PROCESS.

Once that is done, we then take the documents the users brought to the meeting and dive

into each Activity documenting all the field information needed by the user to complete the

Activity and all the field information generated by the Activity needed downstream. We add

a few flow-control information items to the Activities and execute the model in the Cloud

until satisfied.

This is our basic workflow model. We then work offline for a few days to complete adding

information fields to the rest of the Activities, along with any validation logic, flow logic, etc.

required by the Process. All the while, we leave the model live in the Cloud for users to

validate with their colleagues.

We continue this iterative process until we are comfortable doing a Pilot. As everyone’s

comfort builds, we go live at some point. It’s not a Big Bang, it’s more an evolutionary go-

live. Because Sequence has Hot-Change technology, the process does not need to be perfect.

It will NEVER be perfect. One strength of Sequence is the ability to continue process

improvement as the business inevitably changes.”

Evolutionary BPM


Greatest Challenges The following are the greatest challenges that must be overcome in a BPM project:

#1 User Adoption / Commitment

Like any new system, you have to work to earn the trust of Users. So, how do you do that?

Here is what we recommend:

Show them what is in it for them

o Easier, more organized workload

o Time savings

o Play on familiarity with the old system

Give them the big picture

o Discuss overall visibility, improvement and cost savings

Effective change management

o Communication

o Training

#2 IT Acceptance

Demonstrate compliance to accepted IT practices

o Phased, Engineering Requests (Hot Change)

Involve in project(s) as trusted advisors

o Responsibility for all technical aspects

Allow opportunities to improve, even build, the BPM Models

#3 Resistance to the BPM Concept and Toolsets

Understand why procedural coding isn’t necessarily better, or even

preferred, yet is useful

Reference applications of these concepts with over 800 daily users and 100,000’s of

transactions annually (people who have done it)

Earn your own successes now that you know how!

Evolutionary BPM


BPM: Key Elements of Success The following key events, maybe one would call them phases, that have helped guide our

most successful projects.

Selection of 1st Project

o Important to stakeholders

o Visible to decision makers

o Widely accepted business impact potential

Seek Rapid ROI

Seek Quick Go Lives

Provide Excellent Training and Support

Respond to Issues Quickly

There are a couple of assumptions that override our thinking, though.

First, get live quickly. The process will NEVER be perfect and we believe it is more important

to get live with 80% of a solution, than to drag out a project and risk losing commitment and

momentum.

Second, the solution will improve rapidly. Because Sequence HotChange allows us to use

Engineering Change techniques used in manufacturing for decades, we can add functionality

very rapidly without disruption to users. After go-live, organizational change is more a

matter to manage than are changes to Sequence using HotChange.

Evolutionary BPM


Case Study: BPM + CRM for a Utilities Company The Challenge:

A Utilities Company required an intelligent workflow for

its Dynamics CRM to ensure customer service requests

were handled optimally.

The Evolution:

Stakeholders met to model the workflow using

PNMsoft Sequence CRM Edition (SCE).

The model workflow included all the major human

activity steps, and a placeholder for the CRM connection. They ran the model and

verified that the flow was what was required.

The Data + Flow stage included populating the fields and connection to the CRM case

entity.

The workflow was tested and went live in its first release.

After the release, service speed improved by 60%, a rapid gain.

Monitoring the workflow revealed a bottleneck around managerial approval.

The workflow was evolved, and after a second iteration, service improved by an

additional 30%.

Evolutionary BPM


HotChangeTM Facilitates Evolutionary BPM PNMsoft’s unique HotChange technology facilitates agile process evolutions, as the process

is already in production. HotChange permeates all aspects of PNMsoft Sequence as a

product, and enables superior control over rapid change, at the pace of business.

Evolutionary BPM


Benefits

Achieve rapid success and ROI, justify investment in BPM.

Improve Processes according to real time conditions.

React more quickly to changes.

Reduce time to implement changes to processes.

Ability to keep processes running while making changes (no downtime).

Ability to integrate rapidly with existing and new systems.

Ability to provide processes interfaces on multiple platforms.

Ability to implement new requirements rapidly.

Maintain IT governance and control.

Demo Watch a demo of how you can rapidly evolve a process using PNMsoft Sequence:

http://www.pnmsoft.com/resources/videos/creating-business-process-applications-quickly/

Start Your Process Evolution Today Interested in BPM for your company, but not sure where to begin? We offer an introductory

BPM workshop to help you explore your options for business process improvement and

control.

Sign up for a BPM Workshop



http://www.pnmsoft.com/free-bpm-discovery-workshop/

http://www.pnmsoft.com/free-bpm-discovery-workshop/

Evolutionary BPM


About Bruce Hardy Bruce Hardy is a business consultant in Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA and a PNMsoft Business

Partner. Mr. Hardy has a Masters Degree in Business from the University of Tulsa and has

worked as a consultant since 1993 to improve the business performance of clients

throughout North America. He has worked for one of the world’s largest consulting

companies.

As a veteran Supply Chain consultant, having worked with over 100 clients, Mr. Hardy

started Solutions Hosting, Inc. (SHI) in 2002 to provide Balanced Scorecard and similar

Business Performance and Business Intelligence tools and related services via the

Cloud. Over time, SHI transitioned to the Business Process Management (BPM) model and

today provides clients BPM solutions (software and services) via the Cloud.

Mr. Hardy’s focus has always been on “solutions”, not simply software or consulting. So, it

made sense to partner with PNMsoft in 2007 to build a BPM model for the energy industry,

which today is utilized by clients in the Fortune 200. PNMsoft’s flagship product, Sequence

Kinetics, has proved to be the perfect BPM solution for the ever-changing and critical needs

of the US energy industry.

To contact Mr. Hardy:

Email: [email protected].

Website: www.solutionsbpm.com | www.PipelineIntegrityManagement.com

About PNMsoft At PNMsoft we believe IT people could and should be the driving force in any organisation’s

success, if they could constantly adapt its business processes to changing market conditions.

Sequence Kinetics™, our Intelligent Business Process Management Suite, uses unique

HotChange™ technology to enable rapid build and change of high availability, mobile

enabled workflow applications, while maintaining lifecycle governance.

PNMsoft has been positioned on Gartner’s iBPMS Magic Quadrant for 2012.

Let’s put your business processes in motion.

Request a Demo: http://www.pnmsoft.com/get-sequence-kinetics-demo

Contact us today: US: + 1 646 290-5063 | UK: + 44 (0)192 381 3420 | [email protected]

©PNMsoft All rights reserved. Sequence KineticsTM and HotChangeTM are trademarks of PNMsoft.

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.solutionsbpm.com/

http://www.pipelineintegritymanagement.com/

http://www.pnmsoft.com/get-sequence-kinetics-demo

evolutionary bpm - bpm leader...evolutionary bpm pnmsoft 7 there are a couple of things to note...

Documents