• What is BPM?


• Can I see a quick example?


• What does BPM provide that other enterprise applications do not?


• How does BPM fit in with legacy, ERP and other enterprise systems?


• What kinds of processes are typically the best candidates for BPM?


• It seems like everyone is selling BPM—what does the BPM vendor landscape look like?


• How is BPM related to service-oriented architecture (SOA)?


• Are there any standards being developed for BPM?


• What does BPM cost? What are the hidden costs?


• What is involved in implementing BPM?


• How do companies organize their BPM projects? Who should own a BPM initiative, business or IT?


• How do I build a business case for BPM?


• How do I measure and actually get ROI from a BPM project?

How do I measure and actually get ROI from a BPM project?

Success with BPM is almost always measured with a clear, simple business metric, such as:

• reduced number of returned shipments
• reduced cycle time for special orders
• increased dollars recovered from credit disputes
• increased consistency of task completion/improved productivity
• reduced time required to onboard new employees

If you can't identify a metric that is meaningful to your business partners, you need to step back and evaluate if you have identified the right target process for BPM.

The right metrics also help keep the project team focused and the business owners engaged. Since BPM is an iterative approach, keeping everyone involved is crucial to working through the limitations of early releases and actually getting the business to use the solution. Measuring and reporting actual results is required, especially when changing the everyday work habits for business users.

For example, if process exceptions are being posted as tasks on a user portal, management needs to monitor the use and throughput of that portal. If users are not going to the portal often enough, the BPM solution can be modified to deliver tasks to the user's e-mail inbox instead of the portal.

In summary, maximizing your return from BPM requires:

• picking the right process targets
• assembling the right team
• following an iterative methodology
• staying focused on the business goals to drive further improvements and user involvement

Paul Patterson is managing partner of BPM Solutions at Athens Group, a consultancy based in Austin, Texas. He can be reached at ppatterson@athensgroup.com. Mark Cooper is founder of Athens Group. He can be reached at mcooper@athensgroup.com.