BPM 106: From
Departmental Project
to Enterprise Program
SANDY KEMSLEY
Copyright © 2009 BPMbasics. All rights reserved. Copyright © 2009 BPMbasics. All rights reserved.

Agenda
Why projects don’t expand to programs
Technological and cultural obstacles
Planning big, starting small
Common pitfalls
The importance of a BPM center of
excellence (CoE)
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A Year in the Life of a BPM Project
The usual steps:
– Project identified
– Vendor selected
– Departmental solution implemented
– Plans for enterprise expansion
But…nothing happens
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Barriers to Enterprise Expansion
Overly-customized BPM solution
– Difficult to adapt to new processes
– Other business areas can’t see applicability of
solution to their processes
Lack of BPM strategic vision
– Viewed as departmental point solution
Lack of generalized skills
– No CoE to support new projects
Audit/risk concerns
– Many handoffs no longer have paper signature
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Benefits to Enterprise Expansion
Expand processes for end-to-end BPM
– E.g., back office processes expand to front office
for issues resolution
– E.g., accounts payable processes expand to
departments where invoices are received and
approved
Remove ad hoc handoffs and customization
between BPMS and manual processes
Enterprise dashboard for end-to-end
processes
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Project to Program – Kickoff
Initial BPM project
Develop CoE (see BPM 105)
Identify extensible processes
Promote project success internally
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Project to Program – Rollout
Identify target processes in other areas
Develop strategic vision for BPM
Identify reusable methods/components
Leverage CoE “SWAT team” as core of
subsequent projects
Consider SaaS BPM for faster
deployment
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Case Study – Insurance
Marketing need for service request solution
– Not mission-critical for company
– De-prioritized by IT, 2+ year implementation plan
Marketing selected and deployed SaaS BPM
– Little IT involvement
– Minimal customization
– Eight-week rollout
– Operation budget pays for subscription pricing
IT adopted same solution for IT requests
– Similar processes
– Platform success shown in Marketing project
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Common Pitfalls
Analysis paralysis
– Determining if BPMS is suitable for all
enterprise processes
– Discovering processes that can benefit
most from BPMS
Inappropriate BPMS tools
– Using initial BPMS even if unsuitable
No reuse of methods and artifacts
– Reinventing the wheel on each project
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Potential Technology Changes
Hardware/software upgrades
– BPMS platform, if unable to support all
process types
– Scanning solutions, if document-centric
– Migration of existing processes
Security model
System support, availability and disaster
recovery
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Potential Business Changes
New processes
Extension of existing processes
Additional compliance and audit
requirements
Agreement on KPIs and process
optimization from larger constituency
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What a CoE Provides
Vision for enterprise BPM
Overall BPMS architecture
Process redesign to expand existing
BPM processes to new participants
Training and mentoring on tools and
methodology
Governance
Repository of reusable artifacts
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Key Takeaways & Best Practices
Start small, but think big
Build a CoE as early as possible
Consider internal “road show” to educate on
potential of BPM
Don’t be afraid to abandon unsuitable tools
Expand existing BPM processes to new areas
Implement simple inter-departmental
processes to expand reach and vision
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Final Thoughts
BPM programs don’t just happen, they
have to be built
A BPM program is the alignment and
coordination of many small, semi-
autonomous projects
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Thank You
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for BPM. software suites.
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