Many people still confuse workflow with business process management (BPM), and it’s easy to understand why. Read the full blog post that explores the differences, here: http://ap.pn/2cEHr3w

1. How a road trip can spell out the difference
Workflow vs Business
Process Management
SUCCESSSTART

2. Business Process Management (BPM) includes:
Designing
processes
Executing
processes
Managing
tasks
Continual
optimization
WHY THE CONFUSION?

3. Workflow = Coordinating Processes

4. Here are 3 analogies to better
explain the difference…

5. To prepare for a road trip, you need to
manage a number of things:
Supplies and gas
Planning your route
Timing everything just right
A short road trip from here to there?
THE ROAD
TRIP ANALOGY1.
That’s a workflow.

6. But what if your job was traffic control?
Traffic involves many individual cars
making individual trips.
In the master control center, you are
monitoring how the traffic flows and
optimizing traffic patterns in real-time.
You also analyze past traffic issues and
redesign the roads themselves to
optimize future traffic flow.
That’s BPM.

7. Say you take a roadtrip to the zoo, and
your kids just saw a movie about the
ocean so they’re super-excited to see
the turtles first.
As soon as you arrive, they make
a bee-line for the turtle enclosure.
One goal, one focus.
THE ZOO
ANALOGY
That’s a workflow.
2.

8. What about the zookeeper?
He designs and maintains the habitats
of both the turtles and all the other
animals.
He measures daily feeding, interactions
and optimizes the enclosures so the
animals stay healthy and the visitors
have a great time.
That’s BPM.

9. After the zoo, it’s time for ice cream!
One child LOVES chocolate,
so the choice is simple:
Two scoops of chocolate ice
cream in a cup.
That’s a workflow.
THE ICE CREAM
ANALOGY3.

10. Let’s say the other child has broader
ideas about what makes a good ice
cream treat.
Every time it’s different:
Flavor
Sauce
Sprinkles
Multiple dynamic options are
considered and combined into a
great end result every time.
That’s a little
more like BPM.

11. WORKFLOW
Simple routing with
no optimization.
Workflow is a
component of BPM.
BPM
The technology and art of
optimizing your operations.
Constantly measuring,
adjusting and optimizing the
flow of the business.

12. Design processes
Execute with ease
Manage tasks
Continually optimize
APPIAN IS A BPM LEADER THAT
ALLOWS ENTERPRISES TO:

13. LEARN MORE