2 - How is BPM useful for organizations?

Organizations often implement Business Process Management for a variety of reasons. However, the
main stimulus is to be more competitive in the intense competition of todays economy. A majority of
company leaders are pressured to stay competitive through improved offerings and the achievement of
enhanced productivity, while at the same time reducing overall costs and advancing business processes.

Amidst the challenges, both small and huge companies are looking forward to the benefits that BPM can
deliver. Business process management helps organizations geared up for worldwide competition by
helping leaders and organizations improve performance through a wide array of components, such as:
analysis, proper design, careful observation and control as well as modification of business processes. All
of these are products of BPM, providing organizations with the following five benefits.

1. Improved Business Agility

It has always been a necessity to make modifications to an organizations best practices in order to stay
abreast with the changing conditions in the market. An efficient BPM permits the business owner to make
pauses in its business processes, implement changes and re-execute it. With this, process will have the
unique ability to stay on track and implement changes or redefine the tasks of its process users. The end
result is a higher level of adaptability to unstable situations.

Greater control and agility allows organizations to alter workflows and re-use or customize them as
necessary. Through this, business processes become more responsive through the structure that entails
precise documentation of the steps involved in a certain process. The defined knowledge allows
organizations to comprehend the possible impact of change on business processes. An organization that
has knowledge of the effects of process modifications is more open to options that could improve
profitability.

2. Reduced Costs and Higher Revenues

Implementing the right BPM suite in an organization can trim down the costs associated to business
process execution. More enhanced processes and productivity of the workforce makes it possible. Hence,
employing the right BPM in the organization can significantly deliver positive results.

The decline in operational costs, post-BPM deployment, may not be visible right away, but eradicating
bottlenecks would cause remarkable improvements. For instance, this could reduce lead time that can
have a positive effect on how the organization sells the products. This may also mean that consumers will
have more access to the services and products in unity to their needs within the shortest time possible.
Thus, organizations will have more market demand, which is followed by more elevated sales and
improvement in terms of revenue.

In line with this, organizations can also improve efficiency and profitability through the reduction of
waste. BPM involves allocating and tracking resources to avoid wastage. Plus, customary evaluations of
performance can lead to determination of inefficiency, wastage and conduct actions to address these
problems.

3. Higher Efficiency
Deployment of BPM enhances the efficiency of business processes tremendously. This potential is
brought by the integration of organization processes from start to finish. Process owners are automatically
alerted every time they hand out responsibilities to its individual members. This leads to more proficient
monitoring of delays or reallocating tasks among the members. Therefore, BPM aids in eliminating
bottlenecks and reducing lead time in terms of implementing and enhancing business processes.

BPM also results to optimization of processes through the removal of any redundant tasks and
implementing automation to reduce the possibility of rework and errors. This quality and more has
attracted organization leaders to deploy favorable BPM processes not only to maximize returns, but also
align the organization objectives with its processes.

4. Better Visibility

Essentially, BPM makes use of refined software programs in order to make process automation possible.
These programs allow process owners to keep track of performance and see how the business processes
function in terms of real time. The automation of processes discloses how processes are working without
the need of extensive labor and monitoring techniques. Enhanced transparency allows management gain a
better understanding of their processes. These things allow the management to modify structures and
processes efficiently while keeping track of outcomes.

5. Compliance, Safety and Security

Reliable BPM practices assist organizations informed of their duties. These can be financial reports, labor
laws compliance and a wide range of government rules that organizations should follow. A
comprehensive BPM guarantees that organizations comply with the standards and stay up to date with the
laws.

Furthermore, business process management also has the ability to promote security and safety measures.
It is done by properly documenting procedures and facilitating compliance. Organizational policies and
internal controls play a vital role in BPM. Such things aid organizations encourage their staff to safeguard
organization assets, which include private information and physical resources from misuse, loss or other
acts like theft.

Overall, organizations that utilize BPM principles discover that they have the capacity to reduce cost and
enhance productivity by simply identifying how processes would work under the best conditions. This is
also followed by implementing the necessary adjustments to implement control and achieve the best
performance that would aid in tracking future outcomes. With all these, there is no wonder why BPM is
making a buzz in the giant world of business and marketing.

3 - Explain in detail different phases of the BPM Life cycle?

4. Discuss various event types in BPMN 2.0?

5. Differentiate b/w UML & BPMN.

About BPMN

Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) is a graphical notation for specifying business processes
in a business process diagram (BPD).

It was previously (until BPMN 2.0) known as Business Process Modeling Notation. Business
ProcessManagement Initiative (BPMI) developed BPMN, which has been maintained by the Object
Management Group (OMG) since the two organizations merged in 2005. As of January 2011, the current
version of BPMN is 2.0.

About UML

Unified Modeling Language (UML) is a standardized, general-purpose modeling language in the field of
software engineering.UML includes a set of graphic notation techniques to create visual models of object-
oriented software-intensive systems.

UML was developed in the 1990s and adopted by OMG in 1997. In 2000 UML was accepted by the
International Organization for Standardization (ISO) as industry standard for modeling software-intensive
systems. The current version of UML is 2.4.1 published by the OMG in August 2011.

Commonalities

The only formal relationship between UML and BPMN is that both open standards are maintained by the
OMG.

Besides, both are standardized graphical notations which enable business process modeling in the
following manner: (1) BPMN is dedicated for business processes modeling; (2) UML has 14 types of
diagrams, where activity diagram is suited for business process modeling.

Differences

The focal difference between UML and BPMN is that UML is object-oriented, whilst BPMN takes a

process-oriented approach, more suitable within a business process domain.

Thus, BPMN is becoming the leader and de-facto standard in business process modeling.

6. Discuss the need of Business Process Management?

1. Business Process Management improves efficiency

A common challenge for many organisations is that business processes are often inefficient, which
results in an increase in waste, predominantly in time and money. Its likely that there will be many
processes in your organisation that are not working as seamlessly as they should be, and BPM is a great
way to address this.

The first step is to identify what is currently done and then you can put steps in place to make changes. If
your business processes are truly optimised for efficiency, you will be able to reduce costs, and save
precious time and money.

2. Business Process Management supports business knowledge transfer

Everyone has to retire at some stage and people do leave for all sorts of reasons. So how do you ensure
that important business knowledge doesnt follow your employees out of the door when they leave? BPM
can be an excellent solution for this as it provides a clear method to capture and store important
information. At Triaster, we believe the best way to do this, is to present this information in the form of
process maps, and you can read more about this here: How to Transfer Business Knowledge from Key
Employees Before they leave

Documenting information in this way allows you to easily share processes, policies and guidance
documents among your workforce, which is the best way to make sure that business knowledge remains
in your organisation.

3. Business Process Management provides a framework for Continuous Improvement

If you are interested in implementing a continuous improvement initiative in your organisation, then BPM
provides an excellent framework for success. Continuous Improvement is a long-term approach to
making small improvements gradually over time, as opposed to one big change that occurs all at once.

In this case, BPM will allow you to look closely at your business processes and make small,
incremental improvements based on data-driven evidence. However, continuous improvement will
only be successful if you have the full support and engagement of your employees.

4. Business Process Management supports the implementation of other IT systems

The implementation of a large IT system can create friction between the IT department and the
rest of the business, especially if there is a lack of communication around the potential impact a
new system may have on the rest of the organisation. BPM can support the implementation of
systems such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) as it allows you to have a complete
overview of everything your business does and how it does it.
Before you begin to implement any system, you need to clearly understand what your
business does and the impact that any change is likely to have on your organisation,
department by department. Any new system needs to support the needs of the
business rather than the other way around and by taking a BPM approach you can model the
effects of your system before it is put in place. This means that you will be able to minimise or
eliminate any risks before they occur, as well as communicate the impacts.

7. How is BPM useful for organizations?

It is important to note that BPM is a combination of practices centred on driving organizational

value through a process-improvement culture. It can be as simple as defining unclear
processes, continually looking for areas of improvement and making changes, or as complex as
a complete business process re-engineering venture. Whatever your approach is, there are
certainly many benefits to be had. This article discusses some of the major benefits you can
expect with BPM.

1. Agility

Organizations are constantly faced with the need for change. Changes may become necessary
as a result of new regulations, market demands or the emergence of new ways of working.

One key feature of BPM is that it facilitates the design of processes that are flexible. With BPM,
you get the flexibility of making changes to processes with minimal costs. Processes can easily
be customized to suit the requirements of your organization.

2. Productivity

BPM can facilitate the automation of a lot of repetitive elements within regular workflows.
Process improvements like removal of bottlenecks, introduction of parallel processing, and
elimination of redundant steps can easily be achieved with BPM. This improvement will allow
employees to spend more time on other activities since the main support functions would have
been handled. This translates into increased productivity and reduced waste.

3. Efficiency & Reduced Risks

The visibility of business processes allows for concentration on inefficiencies. Because BPM
gives organizations the opportunity to work more efficiently, they are able to save their
resources. BPM also results in the creation of better-designed, executed and monitored
processes which can help reduce the risk of fraud.

4. Compliance & Transparency

Organizations need to be compliant with industry regulations. BPM ensures that organizations
can implement regulatory requirements quickly, thereby preventing delays in compliance and
any associated fines. When you adopt BPM, you integrate compliance into the process life
cycle. This also implies that organizational processes will become transparent and visible to
employees.

5. Employee Satisfaction

BPM eliminates a lot of red tape in organizations and allows employees to focus 100% on their
work since process automation cuts down on a lot of repetitive work and makes information
access easier. This in turn makes for increased productivity and a happier workforce.

6. Customer Focus

With leaner processes and increased productivity, employees are better able to focus on the
customer. There will be an increased capacity to respond more quickly to proposals, build
solutions faster and customize more quickly. BPM also brings people and technology together in
a way that increases customer satisfaction.
With BPM, employees are able to focus on activities that deliver the right results for customers
and stakeholders.

7. Consistency, Repeatability & Transferability

With BPMS, each task is executed the way it was planned and designed. Identical problems are
addressed the same way and there is no need to reinvent the wheel, even if roles do change.
Exceptional situations and responses can also be clearly defined with BPM to ensure they are
handled appropriately.

8. Sustainability

Business Processes are continually improved to adapt to changing organizational conditions so

that they can deliver the expected results. This adaptation can be achieved with BPM while
maintaining control or managerial oversight.

9. Measurability

All processes can be measured end-to-end and compared to expected results. This helps to
manage people and processes.

BPM when implemented with technology, provides reporting and analytical tools for making
executive decisions. With BPM, you can streamline processes and quantify how these
processes are helping your organization optimize its workflows.

10. Technology Integration

BPMS bridges the communication gap between business users and IT, thanks to the use of
standards like BPMN. With BPM, the focus is not on applications but on processes, along
with the applications that support them.
This article has highlighted some of the benefits that business process management can bring
to an organization. BPM is not a software application or a group within an organization, it is a
way of working within the organization that ensures it can derive these benefits.
8. What are different stages of knowledge discovery? Discuss them in details.

Some people dont differentiate data mining from knowledge discovery while others view data mining as
an essential step in the process of knowledge discovery. Here is the list of steps involved in the
knowledge discovery process

Data Cleaning In this step, the noise and inconsistent data is removed.

Data Integration In this step, multiple data sources are combined.

Data Selection In this step, data relevant to the analysis task are retrieved from the database.

Data Transformation In this step, data is transformed or consolidated into forms appropriate
for mining by performing summary or aggregation operations.

Data Mining In this step, intelligent methods are applied in order to extract data patterns.

Pattern Evaluation In this step, data patterns are evaluated.

Knowledge Presentation In this step, knowledge is represented.

The following diagram shows the process of knowledge discovery

9. Who are the stakeholders in BPM life cycle?

BPM stakeholders

Managing a bpm project? Use this list of typical bpm stakeholders to start to developing your stakeholder
engagement plan. Business Process Management (BPM) involves particular stakeholders who are
specialists in BPM. A project manager involved in a BPM project may have other stakeholders to
consider like the internal project team, end users and so on, but when identifying their stakeholders they
should also look for people or groups who fulfill these roles:
Chief Process Officer - This person will be accountable for business process management within the
organisation, standardising and streamlining business processes. They will own the bpm method, BPM
lifecycle, plans and strategy. They will be responsible for ensuring that bpm is embedded in the
management philosophy.

Business Engineer - These are the subject matter experts for their departments or area. They are not
necessarily technical, but they will know about the strategy for their divisions, the alignment to the
overall business strategy and goals. You could also think of these stakeholders as the senior managers
who will feed information into business process modelling for their specialisms, for example heads of
HR, finance, IT, sales and so on.

Process Designer - Process Designers are the skilled individuals who are responsible for producing the
business process models. They will work with the Business Engineers to research, observe and document
the business processes. Designers will use Business Process Modelling Notation (BPMN) to model the
processes.

Process Participant - These are the frontline or end users of the business processes. They will input to
the process modelling by explaining their activities, hand-offs and dependencies within their processes.

Knowledge Worker - Knowledge workers are also process participants, but they use software to perform
activities within a process for example, invoicing or payroll. They will have a detailed knowledge of the
steps followed with the software applications used.

Process Owner - Each process should have an owner who is responsible for managing the process and
identifying inefficiencies and improvements during the modelling and optimisation stages of the BPM
lifecycle. They work closely with the process participants and process designers.

System Architect - System architects are responsible for developing or configuring the business process
management systems (bpms). See an example architecture diagram for a BPMS.
Developers - During BPM new software solutions may be needed or existing solutions may be integrated
with other solutions or customised to improve a business process.

These are the specialist roles that you might find on a BPM project. It is also worth checking
this stakeholder list which lists 105 more generic stakeholder roles that may be involved.

10. How are exceptions handled in BPM? Explain.

11. Name the different Process Mining software.