Research

Business Process Transparency Management

Abstract

Science and business practices often requires that business processes should be modeled, implemented and controlled to support long-term business objectives. Especially middle managers are facing the challenge of translating corporate strategies from top managers into actual optimization actions for business processes.

Business Process Transparency Management (BPTM) is a concept that aims to provide all relevant information to the stakeholders involved in business process management in a clear and comprehensive manner. Relevant information includes methods, tools, guidelines and responsibilities for strategic planning and operational execution of the processes, so that all essential activities in the business process management are integrated and aligned with the corporate strategy. An embedded strategy controlling supports the measurement of the strategy achievement.

Further details can be found on http://www.process-transparency.com

Research Picture

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Project Description

Motivation

BPTM aims to address the transitions between the three fundamental BPM levels:

  • Transparent implementation: The strategic management of an organization plans and controls long-term business objectives. Process management is one possible implementation of the corporate strategy, which leads to the requirement that BPM activities such as the design and analysis of current processes follow strategic objectives. Currently in research and business practice it remains unclear how business objectives should be taken into consideration systematically in a reproducible approach. After BPM activities have been undertaken, the strategic objectives as well as BPM actioins need to be cascaded to the operational organizational level and to the technical level.
  • Transparent controlling: Known ways of measuring company success include for example the interpretation of financial indicators, project status reports as well as generic process metrics. By realizing the transparent implementation, the BPTM framework will provide possibilities for the actual measurement of strategy achievement. The BPTM framework will be able to answer the key question of management: Is the long-term business strategy actually being deployed for the first time and implemented in the daily operting business practice?

Research Objectives and Previous Results

Business Process Transparency Management (BPTM) aims to clarify the contribution of individual processes, people involved and supporting IT-tools to achieve corporate strategy. The target group of middle managers can profit from integrable sub-models, which focus on specific challenges regarding the transparency approach. Previously developed models, which were already tested in case studies are:

I. BPTM Strategic Planning

This approach leads manager to cascade, develop and document process strategies based on top management decisions. Detailed information can be found in Lederer et al. 2013.

II. BPTM Analysis Framework

With the help of this model, existing analysis methods can be selected according to the company’s strategy. Detailed information can be found in Lederer & Schott 2012.

III. BPTM Notation & BPTM Optimization Approach

This sub-model describes a strategy oriented process modeling. A Strategy Process Matrix is used to connect optimization measures with roles, process activities and strategic objectives. An integrated optimization approach can be used for a visual re-design to increase strategy-orientation of business processes. Detailed information can be found in: Lederer, Kurz & Lembcke, U. 2014; Lederer, Huber & Kocak 2014.

IV. BPTM Deployment Scorecard

This management scorecard helps to plan and control process changes in predefined challenge areas. Detailed information can be found in: Lederer, Huber & Zellner 2013.

V. BPTM Recommender

This procedure contributes typical target-action combinations as well as performance indicators and can be used as a recommendation system for middle managers.

VI. BPTM Strategic Controlling & BPTM Incentive System

This sub-model contributes a Company-wide Business controlling as well as an approach to manage communication activities as well as individual incentives to support strategy-oriented behavior of individuals.

Added Value

BPTM addresses two fundamental management challenges and research gaps. On the one hand, a framework supporting the strategy transfer to BPM as well as to involved employees and IT systems is developed. The BPTM framework supports a corporate approach which aligns the process resources as well as the organization as a whole comprehensively to the long-term strategy. On the other hand, the transparent controlling can answer the basic question of management, whether a strategy has been achieved. Using a generic and domain-independent approach, BPTM is particularly relevant in the context of change management for organizations and IT systems because it can trace and monitor necessary changes based on a changing company’s strategy in a transparent way. Companies which are in a rapidly changing business environment have to regularly adapt business processes and thus organizational rules as well as supporting IT systems.

The BPTM framework will contribute to manage and control these changes in line with the corporate strategy.

Company Contacts

Publications of the Project

  • Lederer, M., Schott, P., Keppler, A. (2015): Using a Strategy-oriented Business Process Modeling Notation for a Transparent Company-wide Business Control System. International Journal of Decision Support Systems (forthcoming) .
  • Lederer, M., Huber, S. (2014): Connectivity, Simplification, and Performance Measurement: Guidelines for Business Process Strategists in Re-Engineering Projects. International Journal on Computer Science and Information Systems (forthcoming) .
  • Lederer, M., Schott, P., Kurz, M. (2014): Subject-Oriented Business Processes meet Strategic Management: Two Case Studies from the Manufacturing Industry. In: Fleischmann, A., Schmidt, W., Stary, C. (Eds.): S-BPM in the Wild. Springer, Cham (forthcoming).
  • Lederer, M., Huber, S., Kocak, I. (2014): Increasing Strategy-Achievement in Business Processes and Information Systems using an Objective-based Optimization Approach. In: Nunes, M.B., Peng, G. C. (Eds.): Proceedings of the International Conference Information Systems Post-Implementation and Change Management 2014 (forthcoming), Lisbon, International Association for Development of the Information Society, Lisbon.
  • Lederer, M., Kurz, M., Lembcke, U. (2014): Applying the Strategy-oriented Business Process Modeling to S-BPM. In: Zehbold, C. (Eds.): Communications in Computer and Information Science Volume 422: S-BPM ONE Application Studies and Work in Progress. Springer, Cham, p. 67-84.
  • Lederer, M. (2014): Business Process Transparency Management: An Approach for Middle Managers to Aligning Processes, Teams and IT-Tools to Corporate Strategy. S-BPM ONE 2014, Eichstätt.
  • Kurz, M., Lederer, M. (2014):Subject-oriented Adaptive Case Management: Extending Subject-oriented Business Process Management to Knowledge-intensive Cross-enterprise Business Processes. In: Nanopoulos, A., Schmidt, W. (Eds.): Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing Volume 170: S-BPM ONE – Scientific Research. Springer, Cham, p. 123-132.
  • Lederer, M., Lembcke, U. (2013): Business Process Transparency Management Modeling Notation: Ein Kommunikationsansatz für mittlere Manager mit Evaluation in der Automobilbranche. Arbeitsbericht 02/2013, Lehrstuhl für Wirtschaftsinformatik im Dienstleistungsbereich, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Nürnberg.
  • Lederer, M. (2013): Business Process Transparency Management: An Approach to Aligning Business Processes and Corporate Strategy. In: Nunes, M.B., Peng, G. C., Roth, J. (Eds.): Proceedings of the International Conference Information Systems Post-Implementation and Change Management 2013, Prague, International Association for Development of the Information Society, Lisbon, p. 55-60.
  • Lederer, M., Huber, S., Zellner, C. (2013): Business Process Deployment Scorecard: Managing Process Changes Transparently. In: Nunes, M.B., Peng, G. C., Roth, J. (Eds.): Proceedings of the International Conference Information Systems Post-Implementation and Change Management 2013, Prague, International Association for Development of the Information Society, Lisbon, p. 3-10.
  • Lederer, M., Huber, S., Kurz, M., Schott, P. (2013): Strategic Business Process Analysis: A Procedure Model to Align Business Strategy with Business Process Analysis Methods. In: Fischer, H., Schneeberger, J. (Eds.): S-BPM ONE Running Solutions: 5th International Conference S-BPM ONE 2013 Proceedings, Deggendorf, Germany. Springer, Berlin, p. 247-263.
  • Lederer, M., Schott, P. (2012): IT-basiertes Transparenzmanagement für die Analyse von Geschäftsprozessen. Arbeitsbericht 02/2012, Lehrstuhl für Wirtschaftsinformatik im Dienstleistungsbereich, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Nürnberg.