Wednesday, April 27, 2011

BPM and ERP - caution

I see a number of blogitems on BPM and ERP appear.
A quick mindshare, based on some painful experiences (and a bit of bluntness, I admit)

So you have this big ERP system (or maybe even multiple). And you experience repeatedly how difficult it is to move from a datacentric to a agile process centric application view.... Adapting processes is a pain? UI is outdated? Connecting to eCommerce frontend a nightmare?

Then a BPMS supplier comes in, and sells you this great new layer of technology.

Beware....

Some simple questions:
- You invested heavily in the ERP system and now it is full of user screens.
Are you really going to rebuild (duplicating) all of them in a BPMS?
- Your ERP system is full of business rules
Are you really duplicating many business rules in your BPMS/BRMS?
- Your ERP system has workflow capabilities (that might even be growing in maturity)
Will you really move all workflow capability to the BPMS?

You might end up with an even bigger monster....

And another lesson: if you will deliver the project, and need to work together with the ERP vendor or other service partner, responsible (making money) of the ERP system - beware of politics...


Saturday, April 23, 2011

Article published: 4+2 processmodel

Just published a (dutch) article in BPM Magazine of April 2011:

The 4+2 Process model, a framework for better understanding of process area's you will need to cover in analysis and design.

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