ebizq.net: Join the Debate: Business Process Management or Business Process Automation

<discussion ref="http://www.ebizq.net/blogs/bpminaction/2009/06/join_the_debate_business_proce.php" />

To debate efficiently, I would start from definitions of three different concepts under BPM "umbrella" (see also http://improving-bpm-systems.blogspot.com/2009/04/should-we-consider-third-forgotten-bpm.html)

BPM discipline, noun
discipline which allows you to model, automate, execute, control, measure and optimise the flow of business activities that span the enterprise’s systems, employees, customers and partners within and beyond the enterprise boundaries

Remark: At present, the BPM discipline is the best way to implement process-centric enterprises.

BPM system, noun
portfolio of the business processes as well as the practices and tools for governing the design, execution and evolution of this portfolio

Remark: Any process-centric enterprise has its own enterprise BPM system. The enterprise BPM system may not be perfect (e.g. some processes may be only documented on paper, some details are only “located” only in the minds of certain people, etc.), but it does exist.

BPM suite, noun
coherent set of software tools for facilitating the implementation of a BPM system


So, in accordance with these definitions, business process automation (BPA) is an integral part of the BPM discipline. We implement BPA within enterprise BPM-systems with the help of BPM suites.

Thanks,
AS