1. BPM (Business Process Management) does not mean “automation of business processes” – this is a typical hijacking of terminology by the IT industry. Business Process Management means the management of business processes.
2. Some software is designed to help you analyse a process, some to define and communicate it to others and some to automate the recording of the process steps. They require different features.
A process description should:
3. - give as much information as the user needs to understand and do the work
4. - have a consistent “look and feel” throughout the system.
5. People often want to print a process description (when reviewing a draft, or for presentation purposes). Pagination etc should be automatic.
If the software publishes the process descriptions:
6. - the system should provide a clear structure that helps people see “how it all fits together”
7. - it should be easy for a user to find the required process description without an undue number of mouse clicks.
8. A change to a role name (job title) should be applied automatically to all relevant processes.
9. It should be easy to add / delete / resequence tasks within a process.
10. If a set of process descriptions is published, it should be possible to extract role involvement reports automatically from the published process descriptions if role involvements have been defined per task.

TEN COMMON MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT BUSINESS PROCESSES

ANOTHER TEN MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT BUSINESS PROCESSES

TEN REASONS WHY PROCESS MAPPING / MANAGEMENT IS OF VALUE

TEN POINTS TO REMEMBER WHEN DEFINING A PROCESS

TEN MISTAKES TO AVOID WHEN DEFINING A PROCESS

TEN OBJECTIVES WHEN CREATING A PROCESS DESCRIPTION

Ian Leaver of independent analyst Forward Look explains "user-centric process management"software.

TEN FEATURES TO CONSIDER FOR PROCESS MAPPING / MANAGEMENT SYSTEM SOFTWARE

PROCESS MANAGEMENT GLOSSARY