IT management and change at an energy firm: A teaching case on strategic alignment and business process management

2020 ◽  
pp. 204388692093589
Author(s):  
Christian Maier ◽  
Sven Laumer ◽  
Tim Weitzel

This teaching case illustrates how important concepts and tools of information system management practice and literature are used in a young firm, challenged by strong growth and the need to integrate business processes and information technology systems. The case is typical of many smaller organizations that are substantially different from large firms. Among others, the firm does not have a dedicated information technology unit. As most of our information technology management knowledge stems from research in large companies, the teaching case demonstrates and combines many proven information technology management methods, and how they can be applied in smaller firms as well. Students will learn about strategic alignment, business process management, work system theory, business process management, and notation, and user resistance during information technology-induced change projects in small- and medium-sized organizations.

Management ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 100-110
Author(s):  
Olena O. YERSHOVA

Introduction. Contemporary market realia urge companies towards a transition from functional to process-based management, with processes as the key object of control. Effective business process management enables organizations to reduce costs and increase profitability. In case the management vector is shifted towards a company’s business process development, that involves constant monitoring and optimization, it will also contribute to gaining long-term sustainable competitive advantage. Since modern business environment is intrinsically inseparable from scientific information and intellectual attainments and their implementation results (information technology), management of business process development must be supplemented by powerful information support.The research objective is to provide deeper insights into conceptual framework and structural components of the information support system to facilitate enterprise business process development management as well as to identify the key factors to be considered when designing information software.Research methods. The following methods were used within the current study: comparison, systematic approach, analysis, modeling, synthesis and analytical framework.Findings. Modern approaches to building information support framework for an enterprise as a whole. The importance to provide a description of business processes is argued to design an effective information support system for business processes and their development management mechanism. An author’s original model of information support structure for business process management has been suggested.Conclusions. Complete and accurate information support for business processes is critical to ensure their effective operation. The information support for ensuring business process development management mechanism encompasses the formation and subsequent functioning of the overall system which includes information resources, information technology, software, and corresponding personnel, with following up further division by information support subsystems for providing in-depth analysis and ease of convenience, i.e. the information platform of the of business process development management mechanism.


Author(s):  
Skliar D.

The article describes the specifics and main trends that characterize the world practice of business process management in the field of e-commerce in the context of its impact on the formation of prerequisites for economic development of enterprises in this field in modern conditions. It is determined that the activity in the field of e-commerce is based on the execution of transactions by electronic means of communication, ie, on modern information and communication technologies and significantly depends on their development. The development of these technologies determines the dynamics and variability of the use of leading technological solutions in e-com-merce and causes the rapid rise of e-commerce over the past three decades from an experimental channel of product promotion / sales to a significant field of activity. The management of business processes in the analyzed area is considered in the context of the transition of modern enterprises to practices that have become possible due to the introduction of information technology and significantly reduce operating costs and increase sales of e-commerce products and services. It is determined that the world practice of business process management is focused on the implementation of the following areas of managerial influence on the activities of enterprises in order to increase its efficiency: improving relationships with suppliers; automation of internal processes related to e-commerce; improving the customer experience; optimization of order return and cancellation processes; integration of artificial intelligence. The world practice of business process management in e-commerce is characterized by the widespread use of numerous systems that support the manage-ment of various aspects of e-commerce. The main ones are ERP-systems, enterprise resource planning systems. These are systems that support the management of the company, optimizing the use of its resources and all processes occurring in it. It is advisable to develop management practice at the level of a particular e-commerce enterprise in accordance with these areas, paying attention to the successes and challenges of leading market players at the global and local levels.Keywords: business processes, e-commerce, e-commerce, business process management, management, e-business, information technologies. Охарактеризовано специфіку та основні тенденції, що відображають світову практику управління бізнес-процесами у сфері електронної комерції в контексті її впливу на формування передумов розвитку підприємств даної сфери за сучасних умов. Визначено, що діяльність в сфері електронної комерції заснована на сучасних інформаційно-комунікаційних технологіях та суттєво залежить від їх розвитку, який визначає динаміку та варіативність використання провідних технологічних рішень в електронній комерції. Світова практика управління бізнес-процесами зосереджена на реалізації наступних напрямків: удосконалення взаємовідносин з постачальниками; автоматизація внутрішніх процесів, пов’язаних з електронною комерцією; покращення клієнтського досвіду; оптимізація процесів повернення та скасування замовлень; інтеграція штучного інтелекту. Ключові слова: бізнес-процеси, електронна комерція, електронна торгівля, управління бізнес-процесами, електронний бізнес, інформаційні технології.


2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 192-208 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wasana Bandara ◽  
Charon Abbott ◽  
Paul Mathiesen ◽  
Lara Meyers ◽  
Mindy Nagra

Continuously managing business processes is globally a high organisational priority. The necessity for organisation-wide process management approaches (as opposed to ad hoc initiatives) is widely recognised. Yet, the required skills and capabilities for such enterprise-wide BPM is a well-known gap, with little resources to date to address this. This teaching case is based on the Bank of Queensland (BOQ—one of the oldest financial institutions in Australia). The narrative provides an overview of a range of Enterprise level business process management (hereafter referred to as ‘E-BPM’) activities that have taken place to date at BOQ to build its E-BPM capability. The teaching case presents how the development of E-BPM capability is a continuous journey which requires applied management and strong governance, and articulates some of the issues encountered when embedding BPM within an organisational structure. Based on the case, a series of student activities pertaining to E-BPM practices covering key aspects of BPM governance, strategic alignment, culture, people, IT, methods, etc., is provided (with model answers). This case is complemented by a rich set of teaching notes, making it a valuable resource that can be easily and directly applied for E-BPM training.


Author(s):  
Ute Riemann

Business processes are not only variable they are as well dynamic. A key benefit of Business Process Management (BPM) is the ability to adjust business processes accordingly in response to changing market requirements. In parallel to BPM, enterprise cloud computing technology has emerged to provide a more cost effective solution to businesses and services while making use of inexpensive computing solutions, which combines pervasive, internet, and virtualization technologies (). Despite the slow start, the business benefits of cloud computing are as such that the transition of BPM to the cloud is now underway. Cloud services refer to the operation of a virtualized, automated, and service-oriented IT landscape allowing the flexible provision and usage-based invoicing of resources, services, and applications via a network or the internet. The generic term “X-as-a-Service” summarize the business models delivering almost everything as a service. BPM in the cloud is often regarded as a SaaS application. More recently, BPM is being regarded as a PaaS as it facilitates the creation and deployment of applications, in this case business process solutions. The PaaS landscape is the least developed of the four cloud based software delivery models previously discussed. PaaS vendors, such as IBM, Oracle, and Microsoft delivered an application platform with managed cloud infrastructure services however, more recently the PaaS market has begun to evolve to include other middleware capabilities including process management. BPM PaaS is the delivery of BPM technology as a service via a cloud service provider. For the classification as a PaaS a BPM suite requires the following capabilities: the architecture should be multi-tenant, hosting should be off premise and it should offer elasticity and metering by use capabilities. When we refer to BPM in the cloud, what we are really referring to is a combination of BPM PaaS and BPaaS (Business Process as a Service). Business Process as a Service (BPaaS) is a set of pre-defined business processes that allows the execution of customized business processes in the cloud. BPaaS is a complete pre-integrated BPM platform hosted in the cloud and delivered as a service, for the development and execution of general-purpose business process application. Although such a service harbors an economic potential there are remaining questions: Can an individual and company-specific business process supported by a standardized cloud solution, or should we protect process creativity and competitive differentiation by allowing the company to design the processes individually and solely support basic data flows and structures? Does it make sense to take a software solution “out of the box” that handles both data and process in a cloud environment, or would this hinder the creativity of business (process) development leading to a lower quality of processes and consequently to a decrease in the competitive positioning of a company? How to manage the inherent compliance and security topic. Within a completely integrated business application system, all required security aspects can be implemented as a safeguarding with just enough money. Within the cloud, however, advanced standards and identity prove is required to monitor and measure information exchange across the federation. Thereby there seems to be no need for developing new protocols, but a standardized way to collect and evaluate the collected information.


2018 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 95-105
Author(s):  
Marco Aurélio de Souza MENDES ◽  
Marcello Peixoto BAX

Abstract Enterprise information architectures still do not deliver all the value that comes from integrating structured and unstructured information. Enterprise Content Management and Business Process Management were developed as autonomous disciplines. Thus, Enterprise Content Management still occurs without formally considering the business processes that generate and manipulate content, while Business Process Management initiatives arise without a documented treatment of materials produced by the processes. The non-integrated approach to these disciplines collaborates to reduce the potential benefits expected in Organizational Change Management programs. In such context, the article discusses the interrelation between Business Process Management and Enterprise Content Management, approaching from a historical view of these disciplines, their conceptual limits, technological support, and dialogues that would benefit both initiatives. The paper contributes to clarify a question still vague in the field of Information Management, which is how to integrate Business Process Management and Enterprise Content Management treating structured and unstructured information in a unified manner. It discusses how to approach this issue in a broad scope of IM by combining the concepts of Enterprise Content Management and Business Process Management. Based on a literature review, the paper analyzes and synthesizes experiences in Enterprise Content Management and Business Process Management acquired in the context of a project carried out in a Power Sector Company. The article reveals problems in separating approaches to Enterprise Content Management and Business Process Management. It shows the importance of an effort for integration and presents three instruments that promote the linkage of the two initiatives, approximating process offices and analysts’ information.


2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (6) ◽  
pp. 1291-1316 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Zelt ◽  
Jan Recker ◽  
Theresa Schmiedel ◽  
Jan vom Brocke

Purpose Many researchers and practitioners suggest a contingent instead of a “one size fits all” approach in business process management (BPM). The purpose of this paper is to offer a contingency theory of BPM, which proposes contingency factors relevant to the successful management of business processes and that explains how and why these contingencies impact the relationships between process management and performance. Design/methodology/approach The authors develop the theory by drawing on organizational information processing theory (OIPT) and applying an information processing (IP) perspective to the process level. Findings The premise of the model is that the process management mechanisms such as documentation, standardization or monitoring must compensate for the uncertainty and equivocality of the nature of the process that has to be managed. In turn, managing through successful adaptation is a prerequisite for process performance. Research limitations/implications The theory provides a set of testable propositions that specify the relationship between process management mechanisms and process performance. The authors also discuss implications of the new theory for further theorizing and outline empirical research strategies that can be followed to enact, evaluate and extend the theory. Practical implications The theory developed in this paper allows an alternative way to describe organizational processes and supports the derivation of context-sensitive management approaches for process documentation, standardization, monitoring, execution and coordination. Originality/value The theoretical model is novel in that it provides a contextualized view on BPM that acknowledges different types of processes and suggests different mechanisms for managing these. The authors hope the paper serves as inspiration both for further theory development as well as to empirical studies that test, refute, support or otherwise augment the arguments.


2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 191-211
Author(s):  
Patricia Bazan ◽  
Elsa Estevez

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to assess the state of the art of social business process management (Social BPM), explaining applied approaches, existing tools and challenges and to propose a research agenda for encouraging further development of the area. Design/methodology/approach The methodology comprises a qualitative analysis using secondary data. The approach relies on searches of scientific papers conducted in well-known databases, identifying research work related to Social BPM solutions and those contributing with social characteristics to BPM. Based on the identified papers, the authors selected the most relevant and the latest publications, and categorized their contributions and findings based on open and selective coding. In total, the analysis is based on 51 papers that were selected and analyzed in depth. Findings Main results show that there are several studies investigating modeling approaches for socializing process activities and for capturing implicit knowledge possessed and used by process actors, enabling to add some kind of flexibility to business processes. However, despite the proven interest in the area, there are not yet adequate tools providing effective solutions for Social BPM. Based on our findings, the authors propose a research agenda comprising three main lines: contributions of social software (SS) to Social BPM, Social BPM as a mechanism for adding flexibility to and for discovering new business processes and Social BPM for enhancing business processes with the use of new technologies. The authors also identify relevant problems for each line. Practical implications Some SS tools, like wikis, enable managing social aspects in executing business processes and can be used to coordinate simple business processes. Despite they are commonly used, they are not yet mature tools supporting Social BPM and more efficient tools are yet to appear. The lack of tools preclude organizations from benefitting from implicit knowledge owned by and shared among business process actors, which could contribute to better-informed decisions related to organizational processes. In addition, more research is needed for considering Social BPM as an approach for organizations to benefit from the adoption of new technologies in their business processes. Originality/value The paper assesses the state of the art in Social BPM, an incipient area in research and practice. The area can be defined as the intersection of two bigger areas highly relevant for organizations; on the one hand, the management and execution of business processes; and on the other hand, the use of social software, including social media tools, for leveraging on implicit knowledge shared by business process actors to improving efficiency of business processes.


2011 ◽  
pp. 143-154
Author(s):  
Joseph Cruz ◽  
Daniel Lévano

Las empresas, a nivel global, tienden a una mayor dependencia de las Tecnologías de la Información (TI), no solo para el mantenimiento operativo de las instancias de la organización, sino también para el aumento de valor a la empresa por medio de la explotación de datos y sobre todo bajo el análisis y optimización de sus procesos. La metodología Business Process Management (BPM), al combinarlas con las buenas prácticas propuestas por Information Technology  Infrastructure Library (ITIL), permite la posibilidad de aumentar el valor de la entidad por medio de la mejora y adaptación de los procesos desde una perspectiva más ágil, automatizada y robusta con la capacidad de adaptación al cambio, permitiendo a las organizaciones orientar sus procesos al cliente.


2020 ◽  
pp. 36-39
Author(s):  
Andrea Dobrosavljević ◽  
Snežana Urošević

Business processes are present in all types of organizations, regardless of the size or industry within which the organization operates. Successful business process management (BPM) is an indicator of the level of process maturity of the organization. Within the supply chain, it is possible to observe the presence of business processes of a collaborative nature, as BPM relies on the principles of partnership, development, and exchange of information through links that exist within this chain between all actors [1]. Within this paper, BPM in the relations with suppliers and consumers within the supply chain of organizations operating in the fashion industry is considered. Lambert [2] lists eight macro processes that take place in the supply chain, between suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, retailers and end consumers, as follows: customer relationship management, supplier relationship management, demand management, order execution, fl ow management production, product development and commercialization and return management. Within this paper, a research is presented which analyzes the segments of managing collaborative business processes within the supply chain of the fashion industry, based on the responses of 508 managers and employees in the fashion industry in the Republic of Serbia. The needs for the development of certain segments in accordance with the needs of modern business process management have been explored.Scientifi c novelty. The research part of this paper relies on the application of Friedman's test which enables the analysis of the current state of BPM in relations with suppliers and consumers within the supply chain of the fashion industry, expressed through workers' responses with a ranking of their preferences. This paper contributes to the creation of a knowledge base within the research in the fi eld of the impact of BPM on improvements in the supply chain, on the basis of which it is possible to conduct further research and upgrade knowledge.Practical value. The fi ndings derived from the results of research of this type contribute to the development of the business from various aspects. The benefi ts can be refl ected not only through the strengthening of the competitive position but also through the sustainability of business on the basis of adequate application of BPM practices in all business segments. Accordingly, in addition to the scientifi c novelty, which is refl ected in the results of the rese arch work, there is a practical novelty, which is refl ected in the guidelines for the development of modern BPM within the supply chain of the fashion industry.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (515) ◽  
pp. 446-454
Author(s):  
Dongcheng Wang ◽  

The article is aimed at determining the level of maturity of the business process management system of an agro-industrial enterprise. The existing common approaches to assessing the maturity of the business process management system are identified, their defining features are determined. A definition of maturity of the business process management system of the enterprise is made. The features of the process and enterprise maturity model (PEMM) developed by M. Hammer are described in detail. Four levels of business processes that form the system according to the Hammer model are characterized. The aspects and directions of research of maturity of the business process management system of enterprise according to the PEMM model by M. Hammer are specified. The scale of assessment of the level of maturity of the business process management system of enterprise according to certain criteria is provided. The procedure for assessing the maturity level of the business process management system of the enterprise under research is described and a scale is provided that helps to determine the current level of maturity of the system from the very low to the very high (five such levels are defined in general). Descriptions of the levels of business processes according to the PEMM model are specified in terms of the aspects of Projecting, Contractors, Process Owner, Infrastructure and Indicators. For each aspect, an assessment of the business process management system of the enterprise under research was carried out. The results are presented both by a separate direction and by each aspect of the assessment of the maturity of the business process management system of enterprise. For each aspect of the assessment of the system maturity, the characteristic features are determined, the main disadvantages and achievements are indicated. On the basis of the determined estimates of the business process management system of the enterprise under research, an assessment of the maturity of the business process management system of this enterprise in view of certain aspects is computed, as well as its current level is defined. To identify the most problematic areas in the business process management system, the existing level of maturity of the system is depicted using a petal chart. The main directions of further improvement of the existing system are defined.


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