Business process improvement with the AB-BPM methodology

A fundamental assumption of Business Process Management (BPM) is that redesign delivers refined and improved versions of business processes. This assumption, however, does not necessarily hold, and any required compensatory action may be delayed until a new round in the BPM life-cycle completes. Current approaches to process redesign face this problem in one way or another, which makes rapid process improvement a central research problem of BPM today. In this paper, we address this problem by integrating concepts from process execution with ideas from DevOps. More specifically, we develop a methodology called AB-BPM that offers process improvement validation in two phases: simulation and AB tests. Our simulation technique extracts decision probabilities and metrics from the event log of an existing process version and generates traces for the new process version based on this knowledge. The results of simulation guide us towards AB testing where two versions (A and B) are operational in parallel and any new process instance is routed to one of them. The routing decision is made at runtime on the basis of the achieved results for the registered performance metrics of each version. Our routing algorithm provides for ultimate convergence towards the best performing version, no matter if it is the old or the new version. We demonstrate the efficacy of our methodology and techniques by conducting an extensive evaluation based on both synthetic and real-life data

Reinforcement Learning-supported AB Testing of Business Process Improvements: An Industry Perspective

In order to better facilitate the need for continuous business process improvement, the application of DevOps principles has been proposed. In particular, the AB-BPM methodology applies AB testing and reinforcement learning to increase the speed and quality of improvement efforts. In this paper, we provide an industry perspective on this approach, assessing requirements, risks, opportunities, and more aspects of the AB-BPM methodology and supporting tools. Our qualitative analysis combines grounded theory with a Delphi study, including semi-structured interviews and multiple follow-up surveys with a panel of ten business process management experts. The main findings indicate a need for human control during reinforcement learning-driven experiments, the importance of aligning the methodology culturally and organizationally with the respective setting, and the necessity of an integrated process execution platform

Business process improvement with performance-based sequential experiments

Various lifecycle approaches to Business Process Management (BPM) have a common assumption that a process is incrementally improved in the redesign phase. While this assumption is hardly questioned in BPM research, there is evidence from the field of AB testing that improvement concepts often do not lead to actual improvements. If incremental process improvement can only be achieved in a fraction of the cases, there is a need to rapidly validate the assumed benefits. Contemporary BPM research does not provide techniques and guidelines on testing and validating the supposed improvements in a fair manner. In this research, we address these challenges by integrating business process execution concepts with ideas from a set of software engineering practices known as DevOps. We propose a business process improvement methodology named AB-BPM, and a set of techniques that allow us to enact the steps in this methodology. As a first technique, we develop a simulation technique that estimates the performance of a new version in an offline setting using historical data of the old version. Since the results of simulation can be speculative, we propose shadow testing as the next step. Our Shadow testing technique partially executes the new version in production alongside the old version in such a way that the new version does not throttle the old version. Finally, we develop techniques that offer AB testing for redesigned processes with immediate feedback at runtime. AB testing compares two versions of a deployed product (e.g., a Web page) by observing users responses to versions A/B, and determines which one performs better. We propose two algorithms, LTAvgR and ProcessBandit, that dynamically adjust request allocation to two versions during the test based on their performance

ERP implementation methodologies and frameworks: a literature review

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) implementation is a complex and vibrant process, one that involves a combination of technological and organizational interactions. Often an ERP implementation project is the single largest IT project that an organization has ever launched and requires a mutual fit of system and organization. Also the concept of an ERP implementation supporting business processes across many different departments is not a generic, rigid and uniform concept and depends on variety of factors. As a result, the issues addressing the ERP implementation process have been one of the major concerns in industry. Therefore ERP implementation receives attention from practitioners and scholars and both, business as well as academic literature is abundant and not always very conclusive or coherent. However, research on ERP systems so far has been mainly focused on diffusion, use and impact issues. Less attention has been given to the methods used during the configuration and the implementation of ERP systems, even though they are commonly used in practice, they still remain largely unexplored and undocumented in Information Systems research. So, the academic relevance of this research is the contribution to the existing body of scientific knowledge. An annotated brief literature review is done in order to evaluate the current state of the existing academic literature. The purpose is to present a systematic overview of relevant ERP implementation methodologies and frameworks as a desire for achieving a better taxonomy of ERP implementation methodologies. This paper is useful to researchers who are interested in ERP implementation methodologies and frameworks. Results will serve as an input for a classification of the existing ERP implementation methodologies and frameworks. Also, this paper aims also at the professional ERP community involved in the process of ERP implementation by promoting a better understanding of ERP implementation methodologies and frameworks, its variety and history

Teaching business process management: Improving the process of process modelling course

Process approach is a part of many organizations' management systems. Process oriented organizations focus on value added processes, their management, performance measurement, improvement and automation. However, in many higher education institutions is not process management implemented and its teaching does not always correspond with business needs and practice. This paper deals with the latter side of process management in higher education - course of process management held at Faculty of management and economics of Tomas Bata University in Zlín. The main purpose of the paper is to present the results of the research among Czech universities and their approach to BPM education and a case study of process management course and its improvement at Faculty of Management and Economics at Tomas Bata University in Zlín. To improve the course, the very aspects of process management such as customer focus or performance measurement were applied. The performed action research is then described in form of the case study

Using the Delphi method to verify a framework to implement sustainability initiatives.

The paper provides a Delphi study to verify the framework to implement sustainability initiatives in the business processes. The Delphi technique seeks to obtain consensus on the opinions of experts, termed panel members, through a series of questionnaires. As part of the process, the responses from each round are fed back in summarized form to the participants who are then given an opportunity to respond again to the emerging data. The study successfully obtained a consensus in the phases and steps of the conceptual framework and provided feedback from the specialists. According to them, leadership, people and cost were identified as the main challenges related to the sustainability adoption by the organisations and key performance indicators (KPIs), Lifecycle assessment (LCA) and triple bottom line (TBL) were identified as the main methods to assess al the sustainability dimensions in terms of business processes.N/

Maintaining firms’ competitiveness through BPM implementation: A case study of Moroccan firms

Nowadays, Moroccan firms are still struggling with internal issues. However, competing effectively within the global market challenges firms to manage their whole business and upgrade their competitiveness. In this context, Business process management (BPM) is advocated for many ways. The most significant reason is that it ensures fluent communication between the supply chain upstream and downstream actors.The present research sheds light on the BPM as a successful tool to manage firms’ activities. The theoretical aspect of implementing BPM and its effect on firm competitiveness is analyzed. This paper focuses on analyzing some specific business aspects which are affected positively by the BPM implementing and facilitate the run of the process optimization. These effects are studied through an empirical study. A survey questionnaire is conducted within the Moroccan industrial firms. This study confirms the positive effect of implementing BPM on business competitiveness especially with regard to reducing time and cost