Business Process Management (BPM)

Business Process Management (BPM) is a specialty area in operations management that focuses on the improvement and management of process within an organization. The goal is to improve overall performance, increase productivity and maximize the efficiency of operations.  A side effect is cost savings and improved competitive standing.   The BPMInstitue.org defines BPM as:

improvement and management of a firm’s end-to-end enterprise business processes in order to achieve three outcomes crucial to a performance-based, customer-driven firm: 1) clarity on strategic direction, 2) alignment of the firm’s resources, and 3) increased discipline in daily operations.

Business process can be defined as a workflow that encompasses tasks, scheduling, approvals, routing, integration, input and output.  Many define this as workflow.  In information technology, business process management is also affiliated with any number of applications that provide the ability to digitally manage work and process.  There are a broad range of BPM tools on the market, including K2 workflow and iWorkflow.

BPM is typically focused in process intensive departments, including: human resources, finance, accounting, operations and manufacturing.  BPM ROI is usually easy to calculate based on initial state and improved state.

Read more on Business Process Management (BPM)