This initial focus on solely the operational processes is a prudent and very achievable one. However, in many business transactions in the current globalised business climate, we have business processes not only at the operational level, but also across all levels!

In recent years, there has been a fervent increase in the interests of collaborative business processes. This has mainly been triggered by the need to model and optimize business processes in business-to-business (B2B) collaborations [32].

 

BPM Theory vs. BPM Standards and Languages vs. BPM Systems At the time of writing, there are more than 10 formal groups working on BPM standards [39], seven of which are dedicated to modelling definitions [ 7]. Hence, it is no surprise that the BPM landscape became fragmented from the late nineties onward. The confusion was so bad that even theory was confused for standards and standards for BPMS, when the three are in a nested relationship, as shown in Figure 5.

As shown in Figure 5, BPM standards and specifications (e.g., Business Process Execution Language (BPEL) [ 1]) are based on established BPM theory (e.g., pi calculus [ 24, 25] and Petri nets [ 28]) and are eventually adopted into software and systems (e.g., Intalio Designer [ 17], KAISHA-Tec ActiveModeler [ 18], etc.). BPM standards and BPM systems are also what Gartner [16,36] describes as “BPM-enabling technologies.” The heterogeneity of business process modelling techniques is a notorious problem for BPM [ 23]. Table 2 attempts to simplify this by outlining, for each modelling technique or standard, its applicability (BPM, B2B, or SOA), background, usage (e.g., execution), current status, and standardization status.

 

BPM/ SOA/ B2B

Background

BPDM BPEL BPML BPQL BPRI ebXML BPSS EDI EPC Petri Net Pi-Calculus Rosetta-Net UBL UML AD WSCI WSCL WS-CDL WSFL XLANG XPDL YAWL

BPM BPM BPM BPM BPM B2B B2B BPM All All B2B B2B BPM SOA SOA SOA BPM BPM BPM BPM

Industry Industry Industry Industry Industry Industry Industry Academic Academic Academic Industry Industry Industry Industry Industry Industry Industry Industry Industry Academic

Theory/Graphical/ Interchange/Execution Diagnosis/ B2B Info Exchange Interchange Execution Execution Diagnosis Diagnosis B2B Info Exchange B2B Info Exchange Graphical Theory/Graphical Theory/Execution B2B Info Exchange B2B Info Exchange Graphical Execution Execution Execution Execution Execution Execution/Interchange Graphical/Execution

Figure 5: The relationship between BPM theory, standards, and systems.

i

BPM vs. SOA

In the industry, there is a growing awareness of the emerging Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA). For example, SAP AG has migrated from the traditional ABAP-based R/3 system’s SAPGUI front-end to the Java-based SAP Net Weaver Portal, which is supported by SAP Web Dynpro technology in the design, configuration, and the linkage of Web services.

However, there is also widespread usage of the terms BPM and SOA nterchangeably. Thus, it is important to note that BPM is a process-oriented management discipline aided by IT, and SOA is an IT architectural paradigm. According to Gartner [ 13], BPM “organizes people for greater agility,” while SOA “organizes technology for greater agility.”

In other words, processes in SOA (e.g., linked Web services) enable the coordination of distributed systems supporting business processes and should never be confused with business processes.

Current Status Standardized?

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No N.A. N.A. Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes No

Unfinished Popular Obsolete Unfinished Unfinished Popular Stable Legacy Popular Popular Popular Stable Popular Obsolete Obsolete Popular Obsolete Obsolete Stable Stable

t

The Business Process
Modelling Process

With an understanding of the terminologies, the reader can now appreciate the business process modelling process usually occurring in the industry. This process is usually under-taken by IT specialists within the company. From my work experience in business process modelling, BP modelling is a six-stage process (shown in Figure 6), which aligns to the aforementioned BPM life cycle’s stages of process design, system configuration, and process enactment.

Of these six stages, two of hem are currently manual, and the other four are currently supported by tools from BPM software vendors (see Figure 6). The BP modelling process can be

Table 2: Prominent BPM standards, languages, notations, and theory and their status.