Again in #BPM BLOGS WORTH READING 2013

My blog is again in "BPM BLOGS WORTH READING 2013"
http://ultrabpm.wordpress.com/2013/12/02/bpm-blogs-worth-reading-2013

Thanks,
AS

Practical process patterns: LifeCycle As A Process (LCAAP)

Practical process pattern LifeCycle As A Process (LCAAP) is a way to handle some Business Objects lifecycle with a BPM suite. It is considered that those BOs are passive, e.g. documents as licenses.

A lifecycle of an BO is a few phases and branches between those phases (see the diagram below).

Each phase is implemented in the same way (see the diagram below).

In addition, the lifecycle of all BOs is controlled by a DISPATCHER process (see the diagram below) which catches some external events, checks them and converts them into events to change the phase of an BO.

Please note, that one instance of DISPATCHER template serves many instances of LIFE-CYCLE template.

This pattern can be used as a basis for Product-As-A-Process (see http://improving-bpm-systems.blogspot.ch/2013/06/practical-process-patterns-cxaap.html).

Thanks,
AS

#BPM to reduce IT #complexity

Thanks to the works of Roger Sessions (@RSessions) we know that modern IT systems are very complex and, in general, their complexity should be reduced. Of course, we want to decrease the undesired complexity and better manage the required complexity, as IT systems have to solve more and more complex business problems.

The complexity can be estimated as a function of the number of components (parts of the system) and the number of relationships between them. In the worth case scenario, each component to connected to all others and the complexity has the exponential growth – N x (N-1)/2, where N is the number of components. Often, in a real IT system, it is just impossible to evaluate exactly the number of relationships, because some of them are implicit.

Let us show how BPM (which is a trio of discipline, architecture/practice and BPM suite COTS) reduces the IT complexity. From two detailed blogposts “BPM for developers” http://www.slideshare.net/samarin/bpm-for-developers and “BPM for business analysts” http://improving-bpm-systems.blogspot.ch/2013/07/bpm-for-business-analysist-modelling.html we need the following architectural considerations.

1) In BPM, processes are explicit and executable relationships between many other artefacts: events, services, rules, roles, data, documents, audit trails, KPIs, etc.

2) Processes and services are related in recursive way:

• all our processes are services,
• some operations of a service can be implemented as a process, and
• a process includes services in its implementation.

3) BPM architecture comes with a systematic modelling procedure to identify related artefacts and the latter are implemented (or wrapped) as services.

From those architectural considerations, the use of BPM is:

a) reducing the number of components as the modelling procedure helps different people find similar artefacts in similar situations thus increasing the re-usability;

b) making all relationships explicit as all processes are explicit and executable thus helping to control the number of relationships (typical monolith applications are becoming coordinated sets of services - http://improving-bpm-systems.blogspot.ch/2013/06/enterprise-patterns-eclipse.html), and

c) reducing the number of relationships as within a process, the number of relationships is proportional to N-1, where N is the number of its components (i.e. artefacts) because all except 1 are connected only to the process (also an artefact).

There are also other benefits to use of BPM:

d) BPM penetrates 2,5 levels of the enterprise architecture (business, application, data, technology) and becomes a business-system-forming factor. This considerable simplifies the implementation of agile and flexible business systems (see http://improving-bpm-systems.blogspot.ch/2011/04/enterprise-patterns-peas.html and http://improving-bpm-systems.blogspot.ch/search/label/PEAS).

e) BPM can address some concerns of the information security – see http://improving-bpm-systems.blogspot.ch/2013/10/bpm-enables-cibersecurity-because.html

Thanks,
AS

About #social, #BPM and #ECM, again

This blogpost is inspired by the blogpost http://peterwhibley.wordpress.com/2013/11/01/social-bpm-is-dead-long-live-social-case-management/?goback=%2Egde_70120_member_5802043386345046020#%21 which is talking about Social and Enterprise Social Network (ESN).

START QUOTE
At a basic level all of these features are focused on enhancing knowledge worker productivity by delivering enhanced collaboration and support opportunities. Let me know what you think:
END QUOTE

Below is what I think about Social features mentioned in that blogpost.

Mentioned Social feature	Existing techniques
Enhanced collaboration and file sharing	Any modern ECM does this by default
Collaborative creation of content within a case	Does it mean usual co-editing?
Automatic creation of temporary team workspaces or groups focused on a specific process or a specific case to facilitate the collaboration and sharing of ideas among co-workers	Any modern ECM does this by default
Runtime guidance from subject matter experts	Decision-as-a-process (see URL below) and Community-based coordination in BPM (see URL below)
Rapid access to shared content and content ranked on utilization by co-workers and teammates	Any modern ECM does this by default
Crowdsourcing or distributed problem solving	Decision-as-a-process (see URL below)
Social Stream and BPM work queue integration i.e. the Social work queue which many BPM platforms already offer today	Already in some BPMS
Shared team folders and shared case management folders	Any modern ECM does this by default
Collaborative process design and continuous process improvement.	Two different concepts. Collaborative design is a feature of BPMS. Continuous process improvement is a governance issue. Both are addressed differently.
Leveraging social awareness to deliver automatic process routing based on availability	Community-based coordination in BPM

Decision-as-a-process - http://improving-bpm-systems.blogspot.ch/2013/10/practical-process-patterns-decision-as.html

Community-based coordination - http://improving-bpm-systems.blogspot.ch/2012/07/coordination-techniques-in-bpm-social.html

So, this confirms that I said in BPM.COM (see http://www.bpm.com/home/forums/has-social-failed) “I think that Social in the way of absorption by established business disciplines.”

Thanks,
AS

From a business analyst to a business architect

I was asked for advice on how to grow from a business analyst to a business architect. Below is my list of things to learn.

understand architecture (see - http://improving-bpm-systems.blogspot.ch/2013/06/entarch-basics-in-for-dummies-style.html)

understand #bizarch (see - http://improving-bpm-systems.blogspot.ch/2011/02/explaining-ea-business-architecture.html)

know #bizarch artefacts

• mission, vision, strategy (see - http://improving-bpm-systems.blogspot.ch/2013/04/enterprise-patterns-strategy-to.html ),
• goals, objectives, (see - http://improving-bpm-systems.blogspot.ch/2013/03/result-based-logical-framework.html ), 
• organisation design (see - http://improving-bpm-systems.blogspot.ch/2011/10/enterprise-pattern-structuring-it.html and http://improving-bpm-systems.blogspot.ch/2012/01/enterprise-pattern-sito-extended.html )
• portfolio/projects (see - http://improving-bpm-systems.blogspot.ch/search/label/PMO )
• capabilities (see - http://improving-bpm-systems.blogspot.ch/2013/03/bizarch-artefacts-definition-again.html )

understand processes as the most popular #bizarch artefacts

know process patterns (see http://improving-bpm-systems.blogspot.ch/search/label/practical%20process%20patterns)

know how culture may effect organisation

know "business analysis" from http://www.iiba.com  and get ceritication

know "business architecture" from http://www.businessarchitectureguild.org/ and get certification

know the relationships between all #bizarch artefacts (very important)

know enterprise patterns

be able to design processes (as a path to business process architect)

understand basics of application architecture

specialize in e-gov or healthcare or other domains

Thanks,
AS

#entarch to help #healthcare

The huge cost of failed healthcare projects confirm that the problem is systemic. To solve it let us expand the scope to the whole healthcare eco-system. Without doubts, each healthcare organisation within the eco-system has its unique business processes, but those processes are “constructed” from typical business working practices. The latter can be common for any sector as well as specific for the healthcare sector. Thanks to BPM, these working practices can be formalised as actionable (e.g. in BPMN) process fragments.

So, instead of spending money to implement unique business system for each healthcare organisation, let us consider a common platform, which allows to easy implementing unique business processes from a coherent set of world-class working practices and deploy this platform into each healthcare organisation.

Healthcare reference model

To have such common platform, a healthcare reference model must be developed and accepted. For example, it can be based on the synergy between:

• knowledge management, 
• use of processes to better manage the Healthcare, and 
• existing achievements in the standardization of the interaction between medical applications, HL7.

Platform-based implementation architecture

A platform-based implementation architecture (http://improving-bpm-systems.blogspot.ch/2011/04/enterprise-patterns-peas.html) is based on the following considerations:

• The platform must standardise and simplify core elements of future enterprise-wide system. For any elements outside the platform, new opportunities should be explored using agile principles. These twin approaches should be mutually reinforcing: the platform frees up resource to focus on new opportunities while successful agile innovations are rapidly scaled up when incorporated into the platform.
• An agile approach requires coordination at a system level.
• To minimise duplication of effort in solving the same problems, there needs to be system-wide transparency of agile initiatives.
• Existing elements of the platform also need periodic challenge. Transparency, publishing feedback and the results of experiments openly, will help to keep the pressure on the platform for continual improvement as well as short-term cost savings.

Forthcoming innovations faster

The platform will accelerate the implementation of following technology-enabled innovations.

##	Innovation	Technology-enabled techniques	Impact
1	Medical records are safely managed and properly share among the participants of the eco-system	Security is compared with private banks. Well-structured data. World-wide access for patient’s data.	Comprehensiveness of personal data. Anonymous by Owner data for analysis and consultations
2	A patient can visit a doctor remotely	Video conferencing.	Avoid hassle for trivial cases. Better traceability.
3	A patient can provide some simple “measurements” (pressure, temperature, sugar in blood) remotely	Smart devices and connectivity.	Systematic caring, faster alerting to prevent complex situations. Better traceability.
4	Best specialists can provide consultation to an anonymous patient and recommend him/her the best possible treatment	Video conferencing. World-wide access for patient’s data.	Improving the quality of treatment.
5	Patient is guided for home-based treatment	Predefined coordination and alerting (e.g. for taking pills). Systematic monitoring.	Better supervising
6	All participants of the health-care ecosystem are electronically interlinked: doctors, hospitals, labs, pharmacies, insurances, government agencies	Secured exchange of data.	Higher quality of data. Less overhead.
7	Other social (from governmental agencies), scientific, professional (3rd party reviewing), and commercial (express delivery) services can be plugged-in	Standard interfaces for services in standard processes.	Cost management. Opportunities for small and local businesses.
8	The joint work of all participants is coordinated in a transparent and traceable manner.	Guaranteed audit trail. Guaranteed goal.	Early catching of problems. Continual improvement.

Advantages for everyone

The main participants in the whole healthcare eco-system and their concerns are listed below:

• Patients – hassle-free access to the healthcare services, correctness of treatment, maximum as possible treatment at home, cost.
• Doctors—zero routine work, access to the medical knowledge, access to medications, traceability.
• Other service providers – minimum overhead, common (with doctors) decision making.
• Insuring bodies – traceability, cost of overhead, correctness of treatment.
• Insurance companies – correctness of claims, correctness of treatment.
• Governments – overall quality, overall cost.
• Other services – easy to have business the main participants.

Some of those concerns will be address by mentioned above innovations.

Conclusion

#entarch can help #healthcare in the following way:

1. Define the right scope – the whole healthcare eco-system
2. Develop a healthcare reference model (#bizarch)
3. Architect a common implementation platform (#apparch)
4. Provide context for the HL7 data standardization work (#dataarch)
5. Provide context for infrastructure

The wide use of the same platform will allow Geographical expansion of services, the virtual doctor's office and unification of basic healthcare services.

Thanks,
AS

#BPM enables #cybersecurity because the latter is an inside job

Blogpost of Larry Karisny "Is Cybersecurity an Inside Job?" -- http://globalriskcommunity.com/profiles/blog/show?id=5112778%3ABlogPost%3A151183&xgs=1&xg_source=msg_share_post (registration required) concludes that

QUOTE START
Problems occur in business processes when someone or some technology does something wrong whether intentional, mistakenly or as part of a targeted attack. We can only achieve true security when multiple actions and process can be detected simultaneously and in real time. New technologies are offering these capabilities in a time when we are rapidly expanding interconnected humans to intelligent machines that have capabilities that are so large we are having trouble even viewing these processes.

We need to start recognizing that authentication of a person no matter how accurate the techniques used are only the first level of cybersecurity. True security can only be achieved when combining prevention and detection technologies at the real time business or process input action level. Most security breaches occur quickly and are themselves an input process action. Using technology than can focus on these input actions is where we need to focus our efforts.

True cybersecurity will be obtained when we can effectively view, audit, correct and block organizational process actions. If you could have a technology that does this, then why not?
QUOTE FINISH

Maybe, instead of reactively "view, audit, correct and block processes" at run-time, proactively build-in the security into business processes at design-time?

A few examples of how BPM addresses security concerns are below.

The blogpost http://improving-bpm-systems.blogspot.ch/2011/10/ea-view-on-enterprise-risk-management.html shows the big picture in which each process is enriched with the security/risk monitoring and evaluation.

The blogpost http://improving-bpm-systems.blogspot.ch/2012/09/practical-process-anti-pattern-doum.html recommends that any resource must be available only if an actor is carrying out a particular activity in a particular process instance.

And the slides 25-27 from http://improving-bpm-systems.blogspot.ch/2013/04/addressing-security-concerns-through-bpm.html show that some security can be guaranteed at the design time. It is possible to design cybersecurity not only within a particular process template, but also within a system of process templates.

Thus, explicit and executable business processes will help to improve the security (sure the architecture defines how).

Thanks,
AS