ABSTRACT
Now that we have discussed Business Process Management (BPM) as a management approach, we shall look at BPM as an information technology (IT)–based enabling tool. There is confusion in the current literature on exactly what BPM is. According to Smith and Fingar’s book Business Process Management: The Third Wave, BPM is the maturation and synthesis of process management practices and modern IT. This synthesis represents the falling in place of all the components that allow enterprises to achieve process management, which is the ability to control, monitor, and enhance business processes. This definition is a little vague, and it leaves the readers wondering whether this synthesis represents a management philosophy with its set of management practices or whether it is a technology. In some of the available literature, what has often been referred to as BPM is in fact BPM technology. Although technology has its practices and benefits, implementation of the technology does not automatically make an organization process-focused and put it on the path toward being a process enterprise. BPM principles and practices have to be adopted for that transformation to happen. In this book, we defined BPM as the holistic management approach that has its sets of principles and practices. These principles and practices span from organizational structure to employee compensation. Even though BPM technology is commonly referred to as
BPM, to avoid confusion, BPM technology will be referred to as Business Process Management System (BPMS) in this book.
