Why every company should have a process architecture?

Every company runs certain business processes, either documented or not. These processes can be simple or complex, depending on how big and complex is the company. Collection of processes comprises certain structure. To name this structure 'architecture' or not, is a matter of taste.

Suppose you decided for a short trip outdoor and intend to pitch a tent for a night. With some skill and common sense, you can arrange pegs and pins, spread a canvas and have a reasonable shelter for a while. Should you hire an architect for this purpose? Probably, not.

Suppose now that you decide to build a house. You can affordably buy some bricks, tiling and cement. With a bit of luck and advise you can compose these into a sort of walls and a roof. However, there will be a risk that the construct will eventually collapse right on your head. Detailed architecture and professional builders are always advised to avoid a trouble.

Enterprise architecture is a comparable challenge. If you keep a stall, drawing an architecture for it might be an overkill. But running a decent corporation without well developed process architecture will eventually lead into disaster. Remarkably many skyscrapers on a business landscape collapse just by missing their architectural foundation.

Comments

Gap between process model and real process

There always exists a discrepancy between a model of business process, however well designed and accurate, and real execution of this process in a business environment. The reason for this gap is an unforeseen depth and hidden details inherent to any real process. Real business model of organization is ultimately unlimited in its depth. Going from highest management levels, it descends to individual departments, client relations, production units, technical code of equipment and controllers etc. In vast majority of cases, it is impossible and senseless to build a complete model covering all and every fine detail of the business. Omitted lower layers of the model create (pseudo) random fluctuations during execution of the model. Real execution paths of a process never follow its model exactly. However, in case of the correct model, we can expect to see that an ensemble of execution paths statistically converges to the model as to its average path over a significant set of observation...

Why processes are so important for the digital enterprise?

Role of business processes in a digital company is far more important than in a traditional organization because digital organization literally consists of the digital business processes it implements. Traditionally, most business processes are in possession of workers or groups of workers, in other words, process stakeholders. Every worker holds in memory, experience, notes or corporate regulations certain course of action to follow in every particular situation. This implicit or partially formalized set of rules comprises a business model of a company. The model is subject to change by mere verbal discussion and agreement between workers and management, happen business environment evolves or new challenges appear. Situation is entirely different in a digital organization. Digital systems do not have any implicit awareness on business aspects, just an explicit algorithm to do exact functions, for which they were designed. Therefore, a digital business system is a manifestation of a bu...

CaseAgile Will Show BPMN Data Exchange between Visio and Leading BPMN Tools

CaseAgile announces a new release of Enterprise Composer™ add-on for Microsoft® Visio, which supports transparent exchange of BPMN diagrams designed in Visio with leading BPMN tools. CaseAgile will demonstrate capabilities of Enterprise Composer™ on upcoming "BPMN IN ACTION" event organized by The Object Management Group (OMG) in Seattle at December 10, 2018. Enterprise Composer™ offers a seamless and efficient way for every Visio® user into the world of professional business process management (BPM) systems and process automation. By using Enterprise Composer™, Microsoft® Visio can create executable processes fully compatible with BPMN™ 2.0 standard from OMG®, which is the global de-facto etalon for modeling business processes and can be used both by businesses and IT. Every BPM practitioner working with Microsoft® Visio now can import BPM models created in most popular BPM suites directly into Visio® and can export models cre...

BPM for All

Search This Blog