We are currently researching the area of business process modelling (BPM) with a view to forming an opinion on how the various modelling notations and techniques can be used effectively in a small or medium-sized business context. We are also on the lookout for any accelerators or standards that apply to the retail industry such as the maps developed here by the Association of Retail Technology Standards (ARTS).

We’ve seen BPM initiatives struggle to gain traction and over time fall further down the priority list until they stagnate. Reasons for this are complex but include lack of understanding on the value of a business process model, unclear goals for what to do with a model, missing context to a model and wrong choice of modelling notation for the desired outcome.

Delving into this topic further necessitates a wider understanding and definition of key pieces of the jigsaw. On the list are:

• Enterprise Architecture which may be a useful starting point in giving context to the overall strategy, goals and layers that make up the business. This discipline has its own modelling language ArchiMate
• IDEF0 which we have used at the beginning of BPM activities to provide a scope and boundary for BPM. However the high level of abstraction from time and process logic in this technique can make it hard for functional experts to untilise
• Modelling notations including Event Driven Process Chains (EPC), Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) and Unified Modelling Language (UML)

Our research is not focused on the tools which implement BPM as first we need to have an opinion on the value and use of the techniques! However we will comment in a later posting on some of the tools we use and our perceived strengths and weaknesses of these.

If you have experience using BPM in small or medium-sized business and particularly in the retail sector then please share your thoughts by commenting on this post!