Chapter 1: Methodologies for Identifying Business Processes 1
BPM TRAVELER’S GUIDE
© PNMsoft All rights reserved
Foreword
Business Process Management (BPM) is now a
well‑established, multi‑billion dollar field1 . Many organizations
above 1000 employees have some sort of process
management system in place, if not a full BPM suite. But few
companies and vendors realize the true potential of BPM! This
potential can only be achieved by choosing the right processes
to optimize, selecting an appropriate BPM vendor, and
adopting an intelligent, agile BPM project methodology.
At PNMsoft, we’ve had over 17 years of experience in BPM and
seen all types of BPM journeys. Our BPM Traveler’s Guide is
intended to guide you, the BPM traveler, around the common
pitfalls that threaten BPM initiatives, and toward the golden
path — that sought‑after road that leads to BPM project
success, and hence, the success of your company. For BPM,
more than any other IT tool on the market, has the potential
to equip your business to capitalize on opportunities, adapt
to a rapidly changing market and trigger a true business
transformation.
The chapters of the BPM Traveler’s Guide will help you reach
each milestone on this journey in one piece.
The contents of this eBook are based on a series of highly
popular articles that first appeared on our website,
pnmsoft.com, and were then featured by industry leading
websites such as bpmleader.com and it-director.com, all of
which generated a tidal wave of interest among BPM experts
and novices alike with thousands of visits and shares.
We look forward to presenting these knowledge resources in
one unified guide. I am optimistic that it will help you get your
BPM journey started on the right foot.
Happy travels,
Eli Stutz
PNMsoft Head of Knowledge and Collaboration
1
MarketReportsHub.com research forecasts the BPM market to grow from $4.71 billion in 2014 to $10.73 billion by 2019.
Chapter 1: Methodologies for Identifying Business Processes 3
Chapters
Chapter 1: Methodologies for Identifying
Business Processes
What is your first destination? In this chapter, you will be faced
with the question: which processes in my company need
improving? Knowing the problem is the first step in attempting
to deal with it, and here you will be advised to use all your
senses and faculties to interpret the signals your organization
is sending out every day — if only someone would listen.
Chapter 2: What to Look for in a BPM Solution
— 8 Questions
So you’ve identified which processes you’d like to tackle on
your quest for transformation, now it’s time to order tickets
for your BPM journey. The question is — from whom to buy?
There are dozens if not hundreds of vendors on the market
and you need a list of questions that will help you narrow
them down to the top 2–3 for your business. You’ll find these
key questions here.
Chapter 3: Steps for Implementing a BPM
Project in your Company
Your tickets are bought. But what about your itinerary?
What stops are you going to make along the way? In order
to succeed in any BPM initiative you’ll need to plan out
your journey carefully — and also be prepared for plenty of
surprises. Here we’ll tell you what to pack (i.e. what team to
assemble), which paths to take, and which to avoid. We’ll give
you a SCRUM‑oriented take on BPM project methodology that
puts the emphasis on quick wins and iterative improvement.
Bon Voyage!
Chapter 4: BPM Technology that Overcomes
Human Aversion to Change
Surprise! Your baggage just got lost — what do you do now?
The single biggest obstacle to a BPM journey’s success (and
business success in general) is your company’s ability to adapt
to change. But there’s a problem — Prospect Theory research
by Nobel Prize laureate Daniel Kahneman proves that people
are averse to change. This seminal article by PNMsoft CEO Gal
Horvitz describes a framework for taking change aversion into
account and building a change‑centric BPM solution that works
with and not against human nature.
© PNMsoft All rights reserved
4
Methodologies for Identifying
Business Processes
Your organization is brimming with processes that occur every day. Some
of these processes work well and others are plagued by inefficiency. Some
are quick and are accomplished without thought, others are long term and
involve many people, and may be critical to your business outcomes.
If you are investigating a BPM (Business Process
Management) solution, with a view of improving
these outcomes and achieving these goals, it is
advisable to identify which processes you need to
improve.
BPI (business process improvement)
can reduce cost and cycle
time by as much as 90% while
improving quality by over 60%.
1
— you may be surprised at what you hear. Once
you’ve summarized your company’s business goals
(they should be simple and fit onto one page), the
question becomes: Are existing processes effective
in achieving these goals?
Get Your Ear on the Pavement
The next step is to listen. Visit each department,
interview the heads of each team, and ask what is
working and what is not. You should also spend time
with team members, watching the work itself. Listen
more than you talk, and take notes. Take pictures,
and even short videos where possible. Try to identify
obvious (and non‑obvious) activity which is inefficient
or could be greatly improved.
If possible, don’t stop there. Talk to customers as
well. Each word here is worth gold. Are customer
satisfied with quality and service? Customer
satisfaction is truly a gold mine when it comes to
finding processes to improve.
After you’d done this, you should have a list of
at least 10 processes that are candidates for
improvement.
Put Your Finger on the Problem
But how do you effectively identify such processes?
Here are some practical guidelines:
What Are Your Company’s Goals?
The first step in a business process improvement
initiative is to ascertain your organization’s primary
goals. You will have to set up a meeting with
management to get this information first hand
For each of the processes on your list, try to
identify the core problem(s) that are causing these
processes to fall short of achieving the company’s
goals. There is usually a main problem, and perhaps
two or three secondary problems. It could be a
bottleneck around the work of a person or team.
It could be a ‘disconnect’ between teams or a
technological, system‑related issue. Look for the
flow of information. Is there one single version of
the truth? Do relevant people have visibility over
data and workflows? Keep the list of problems short,
and focus on those that prevent the processes from
achieving its goal.
© PNMsoft All rights reserved
Chapter 1: Methodologies for Identifying Business Processes 5
Set Your Sights on the Potential
It’s not just enough to identify problems. You
should also be looking for opportunities. Look at
your list and try to identify those processes which
have the potential to trigger a ‘Big Change’ for your
organization. Here are some possible examples of
areas, which, if improved, can mean a step change
for your business:
• Customer self‑service
down and use your head. Mix and match. Try to
match up processes with potential with the goals
of your company. Which are those that have the
greatest potential to achieve those goals, if they were
improved? Your list should now have been cut in
half. You should have 3–4 candidate processes for
Stage One of a BPM initiative.
By the mid‑90’s, as many as 60%
of the fortune 500 companies
• Better collaboration between teams
• Increased management visibility
• Ability to modify processes quickly in order to
better compete
• Mobility — facilitating location‑independence by
putting processes on mobile devices, especially
for field workers
claimed to either have initiated
business process reengineering
efforts, or to have plans to do so.
Hamscher, Walter: “AI in Business-Process Reengineering”
• Integration — integrating data, processes and
people with disconnected yet critical systems,
such as CRM/ERP
Each of these areas may hold the key to transforming
your business. It’s your job to zero in on a small
handful of processes that, if improved radically, could
hold this potential.
Caution! Watch Out for Value‑less
Processes
MIT professor Michael Hammer once published
an article in Harvard Business Review called
“Reengineering Work: Don’t Automate, Obliterate”.
There, he claimed that the main challenge for
businesses is to obliterate work that doesn’t add
value instead of using technology for automating it.
Michael Hammer, “Reengineering Work: Don’t
Automate, Obliterate”, Harvard Business Review.
Beware of processes which do not add value to
your business, and which do not lead it to achieving
its goals. Do not try to automate such process, but
strike them off your list.
Use Your Head
Now that you know the goals, the process
candidates, the problems and the potential, you
have become the most important person in your
organization! You have all the tools you need to find
the processes whose improvement can transform
it. But data is not enough. Now is the time to sit
Be Practical, Start Small
Your company does not have unlimited resources.
Go over each of the 3–4 process you have selected
and map out how a BPM solution could improve
them. What would the resulting process solution
look like? Would this solution achieve the company’s
goals? If yes, how would you get there? What are the
time and costs involved? It’s not enough to identify
processes that can be improved, there needs to be
a reasonable way to achieve that improvement. Look
for a small steps, Big Change approach.
This is the time to begin consulting with BPM
analysts, vendors and experts. They can best advise
you on the practical viability of each possible project.
© PNMsoft All rights reserved
6 Chapter 1: Methodologies for Identifying Business Processes
At this point, you may have to set aside a process
or two, which is not currently practical to work with.
The initial BPM project that you choose should be
one with attainable objectives, and quick wins. This
will enable you to convince management to move
to Stage Two — the wider reaching processes which
require more time and budget.
Think Beyond Just Workflow
An effective BPM solution which brings about
organization change, is usually more than just
an automated workflow. It will include additional
elements such as analytics, forms, portals,
collaboration, dynamic change and integration.
Therefore, when imagining possible solutions,
do not limit yourself to just workflows alone. Try
to think bigger, and start to read about iBPMS
intelligent BPM suites which have greater potential
for positive change, and will have more significant
impact on both the present and future state of your
organization.
Walk through the Solution
Now that you have selected the 1–3 processes which
you will start with, and mapped out the hypothetical
path of a solution, go back to the teams, and walk
through this solution with them. Carefully gauge their
reaction. Is it positive? What are their comments?
Listening is one of the most important aspects of
business process improvement, and it continues
throughout the entire initiative. If your simulated
solution fails to impress, go back to the drawing
board. If it is well received, then you may be well on
your way to accomplishing your objective. At this
stage, you can even begin to start prototyping the
solution — this can lead to important feedback and
conclusions on its value and viability.
Draw Up a Plan, Focus on ROI
Now you know what needs to be done, it’s time
to get management to sign off. Create a business
process management plan which outlines the goals,
processes, and solutions which you propose. Make
sure to include estimated ROI for each step, and a
timeline. Bring this plan to your management and
get their approval.
Once that is done, you begin your next step in the
journey — selecting a BPM solution which will bring
your plan to fruition.
© PNMsoft All rights reserved
7
What to Look for in a BPM
Solution — 8 Questions
You believe BPM has the potential to help your organization. But you
realize you don’t really know what to look for in a BPM solution. With
dozens of BPM vendors on the market, and projects that range from tiny to
mega-large, how do you choose the right BPM solution for your company?
This article provides some directions that can help
you make the right choice. It doesn’t cover every case
(each scenario is different), but it will give you some
basic guidelines that can help you avoid common
pitfalls, and end up with a solution that will achieve
your company’s goals. Start by asking yourself these
questions:
The first step is to understand the current state
of the system you are trying to improve. In most
cases, you’ve been directed to BPM because you
have an existing set of processes which are either
manual, low‑tech (email, spreadsheets, etc.), or
based on some legacy/bespoke system that is
causing your organization a great deal of headache.
This headache can be in the form of too many
employee‑hours, poor quality of product, poor
customer service, compliance or governance issues
that result in damages or legal costs, and the list
goes on. This is a definitely a problem that BPM
can solve, and the fact that you have defined the
problem will help you look for a BPM solution that is
capable of addressing it.
In other cases, you may feel that there is a no
‘problem’ per say, but rather, you wish to improve
on processes that are working moderately well, and
bring them to the level of excellence. You’ve heard
that BPM solutions have led businesses to achieve
truly amazing results.
2
In either case, you need to define your current
scenario, and set your goals from the get‑go.
BPM was initially created to improve IT
system‑to‑system processes. As time progressed, it
was found that BPM had the potential to improve
human‑centric processes as well. So ask yourself
— is the challenge you face primarily technology
related? Is it a question of getting multiple
systems to coordinate or operate processes more
efficiently? Or, do you need better human process
management, for example, around a request or
approval cycle? Do you need to get more users
involved in a specific process? Or perhaps your
challenge involves both human and system
elements?
Depending on the answers to the above, you
can start looking for a BPM solution provider
whose strengths lie on the Human‑centric or
Machine‑centric axis (note: you may require an EAI
system for complex system integrations). Some
vendors specialize in one or the other, and this
can be a key decision point. Alternatively, if you
require a combination of human and system‑centric
capabilities, you should start investigating an iBPMS
(see the section on that below), which include
strengths in both areas.
© PNMsoft All rights reserved
8 Chapter 2: What to Look for in a BPM Solution — 8 Questions
Try out this BPM ROI calculator to assist you in making
this estimate.
With this estimated budget, go back to the list of
BPM vendors. Some of the larger vendors only do
long‑term, large scale projects, where the budget is
in the millions, and the time scale is in years. If this is
the type of solution you’re looking for get ready for a
massive project, because that’s what it looks like you
have on your hands.
Some BPM solutions solve a very specific
process‑related challenge, that may be limited to a
single department, and which does not affect the
rest of the organization. At this point, you should
begin to define the scope of your project, and you
should be answer scope related questions such as:
If, however, you are aiming to achieve goals in a
shorter time frame, on a smaller or medium sized
budget, you start looking for BPM vendors who
provide great features and rapid delivery capabilities,
at a reasonable cost. This will certainly help you
narrow down your list.
Whichever type of vendor you examine, find out
what you can about their cost of licenses, and the
cost and availability of services, as this will help
you match up your budget with realistic vendor
candidates.
• Number of users affected?
• Number of processes?
• Number of systems involved?
• Number of department involved?
• Will the system need to scale up?
• Effects on other parts of the organization?
• Timeline of the project?
• Lifetime of the system?
Understanding the scope and scale of the project
is the first step in understanding what your budget
should be. This goes hand in hand with the next
question.
Now that you’ve laid out the estimated scope, what
is the estimated ROI you hope to achieve? What
concrete benefits could your organization see if the
solution works well? If you can assemble the answers
to these questions in a short list, you will be able
to define a realistic budget for the project. This is
something you should share with your management.
When selecting such a significant BPM solution
provider for your organization, it’s not enough to
rely on web reading or anecdotal stories. You need
to find the right consultant or analyst who can
recommend the right vendor for you. It’s important
to have answered the first four questions before
you get to this stage, as even the best analyst or
consultant will not be able to help you if you haven’t
defined your challenges, scope or budget.
Come prepared to your meeting with this
information, and you will get better guidance. While
it is out of the scope of this article, choosing the right
advisors is also a key factor in project success.
© PNMsoft All rights reserved
Chapter 2: What to Look for in a BPM Solution — 8 Questions 9
In some cases, you will assemble an internal BPM
project which will design and implement your
solution. This is no simple task. Your team must
include not only IT developers, business analysts
and project managers, but also BPM experts. In
many cases, it will be worth it to find a BPM vendor
which also provides their BPM implementation
experts as part of a solution package. In such cases,
it is imperative to search for a BPM provider whose
implementation teams have a solid track record of
expertise and success.
We place this topic last for a reason, even though
logically you might expect it to be the first question.
Specific features are important, but only after you
have a firm idea of the challenge, scope, budget and
methodology of your project.
Ask yourself which features are must haves for your
BPM solution. Is a mobile interface a must? Do you
need analytics? Is it important to have integration
with other key systems such as SharePoint, CRM
or ERP? Think not only about the present, but two,
three or even five years down the road. The BPM
solution you select should have elements which are
important to your company as it grows.
A note on iBPMS vs. BPMS
After you have implemented our solution, how
likely is it that you will have to modify it (even in
small ways) to meet changing real live conditions?
If the answer is “often” or even “semi‑frequently”,
you should look for a provider whose technology
can facilitate process change. This will enable you
to keep your solution relevant as time goes on, and
continually improve it. Look for BPM vendors who
put a strong focus on change capabilities, as the
ability to handle and control Change is perhaps
the biggest factor in the long‑term success of your
project. Read more about Change‑enabled processes.
Ease of use is a key element of system usability. Do
you plan to have business users develop processes,
or just developers? How friendly is the system for
end users? What is your timeline for training? There
are an increasing number of user‑friendly BPM
solutions on the market that are accessible enough
for the “power user” and do not require months of
training. Put these on your radar if ease of use is
important.
Among BPM vendors, there is a subset which
Gartner calls “Intelligent BPM Suites” (iBPMS),
which include a broader set of features that help
organizations achieve intelligent business Operations
see this article. Intelligent operations might sound
like hype, but they are exactly the sort of thing that
helps your organization collaborate, improve and
out‑match competition. Intelligent features includes
capabilities such as intelligent analytics, mobile BPM,
social collaboration, dynamic/agile processes and
integration with external systems.
If you were buying a mobile phone, would you prefer
a legacy model or a smartphone? And what if the
prices were similar? For most people, the choice is
clear — they opt for the smartphone. The same goes
for iBPMS vs. BPMS. If you can choose an intelligent
BPM suite, this is preferable, as you will on‑board
a product that is more flexible for not only your
current project, but the future state of that project,
and future projects within your organization.
© PNMsoft All rights reserved
10
Steps for Implementing a BPM
Project in your Company
BPM projects have the potential to bring about a step change in your
business — but only if planned and executed correctly. Your strategy as
you plan this project will have a direct effect on this outcome. This article
provides several guidelines for a successful BPM project strategy.
Choosing your first
BPM project
The first BPM project within an
organization should be carefully
selected. A good starting point is
to assess where the “Quick Wins”
are. The key principles you can
utilize in deciding which process
will be your first process for
implementation are:
3
CYCLE OF CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT
MODEL
AND DESIGN
ANALYZE
AND OPTIMIZE
CONFIGURE
AND DEPLOY
• High business impact
(demonstrating a clear Return
on Investment) with a low risk
to the business.
• A well understood/defined
process (ideally) that is feasible
to change/automate.
• Stakeholders and Business
Owner cooperation.
MONITOR
AND MANAGE
EXECUTE
• Tight scope
• Demonstrable business
benefit in rapid timescales
e.g. 12‑16 weeks
• Low‑to‑medium complexity (e.g. with integrations,
other departments, external users, etc.).
provide some pointers on how it can be adapted to
BPM. We called this adaptation ‘Evolutionary BPM’
methodology.
Project Phases
Project Delivery
Approach
BPM‑enabled change can be viewed as a cycle of
continuous improvement.
We recommend, wherever
feasible, to adopt an Agile/
SCRUM approach to BPM
project management and a
focus on developing applications that can be easily
modified according to changing conditions. We will
not elaborate in too much detail on the SCRUM
approach here learn more about SCRUM but rather
A cycle of improvement as shown in the diagram can
then be seen to represent a phase in the project,
with analysis of the current state being the first
starting point.
Phase 1 of the project should look to deliver
business benefit in rapid timescales. Using SCRUM,
this can be shortened to a sprint of 2–4 weeks.
© PNMsoft All rights reserved
Chapter 3: Steps for Implementing a BPM Project in your Company 11
INPUT FROM END USERS
BPM PROJECT USING
SCRUM
PRODUCT OWNER
RETROSPECTIVE
Product backlog
refinement
Customers, team and
other stakeholders
PRODUCT BACKLOG
SPRINT BACKLOG TEAM
New features to
be considered
Select how much to commit to
do by Sprint end
PLAYBACK
POTENTIALLY
SHIPPABLE PRODUCT
Customers, team and
other stakeholders
DAILY UPDATES
its adoption. Much like End
Users, their early engagement in
the change is key to delivering a
successful project.
BPM Product Specialists
(SCRUM Team)
This team takes the user
requirements, drafts the
functional specification in line
with the architecture, and then
configures the process’s activities.
They may also be required to
create gauges and reports once
the process is configured.
Additional Roles
Subject Matter Expert (SME)
SPRINT 2–4 Weeks
No changes for duration
Phase 1 should then be monitored, with feedback on
this first iteration, as well as any other requirements,
being placed on the product backlog for further
analysis, design, development and deployment.
The BPM project using SCRUM diagram illustrates
our recommended approach.
Project Roles
There are a number of roles
critical to the success of a BPM
project:
Business Process Owner
(SCRUM Product Owner)
A Process Owner must be identified from the
onset. There can be only one process owner who
has both the authority and passion to agree the
process design, and manage the performance of the
organization regarding the process.
Business Manager (SCRUM Master)
Reporting to the Business Process Owner, Business
Manager (SCRUM Master) is a key stakeholders in
terms of defining the required process and driving
A SME may be involved in
designing and agreeing on the
process, and then administrating
and maintaining the process in
future. The SME is someone
with extensive experience in the
business area in question, who is empowered to
agree on changes to the process from the business.
End User
End User’s and their buy‑in to the process
automation are key to the success of the project.
Engaging with the end users early on so they feel
ownership of the change process rather than
as an after‑thought is key to successful change
management.
Business Process Analyst
The business process analyst is responsible for
analyzing, modelling and documenting the business
requirements, and agreeing these with the Business
Process Owner/SMEs. The workflow can be
documented directly within the BPM software.
Enterprise Architect
For complex projects, especially those involving
integrations, an Enterprise Architect may
be responsible for understanding high level
requirements and drafting the workflow application
design. They should be able to draw upon a wealth
of BPM and solution delivery experience, champion
© PNMsoft All rights reserved
12 Chapter 3: Steps for Implementing a BPM Project in your Company
BPM within the wider community, and be aware
of the process artifacts available from previous
implementations.
Initiation
Through the requirements gathering and process
analysis phase, you need to:
• Ensure the business requirements have been
At the start of any BPM project
it is always very important to
understand the specific business
challenge that needs to be
addressed, the way it will be
measured and the processes that are affected.
The main focus at this stage of the project is to
ensure that business and technical stakeholders
understand what is expected of them and how the
project will move forward.
The key deliverables for this phase will include
agreement on the following:
• Vision statement with business benefits mapped
out.
• A high level project plan with agreed milestones.
• Named resources for the project team, team
structure (roles and responsibilities) and agreed
upon project governance model, e.g. weekly
review meetings.
• High‑level agreement on the scope of work.
This will later be validated as the project
progresses, and should indicate at a minimum
which requirements are mandatory, and which
are optional for the delivery of the first release.
Preferably it should include the process flows to
be developed at a high level.
• Agreed deliverables and who will be responsible
for delivering them.
• Agreement on budget and the way costs will be
managed and recovered.
Requirements Gathering
captured to a level of detail that will ensure
the development team can start designing the
process.
• Ensure that this forms the agreed scope of
work for the first iteration and meets the
expectation and is approved by the end users
and stakeholders.
Stakeholders
Mobilizing the relevant stakeholders is one of the
greatest challenges associated with implementing
a process. This too‑often‑neglected step is crucial
to on‑time delivery and satisfactory process
deployment.
Activities that require stakeholder involvement
during the project include the following:
• Consult with stakeholders on design issues.
• Keep stakeholders up‑to‑date on what the
developers have achieved. We advise using a
SCRUM Board for this purpose. This board clearly
shows who is working on what, what comes
next (To Do) and how much time is remaining to
complete.
• Encourage stakeholders to continually provide
input.
• Make stakeholders feel that they are co‑owners of
the development process.
Envisioning
The Envisioning Workshop is designed to help you
identify and prioritize Strategic Business Objectives,
related processes and the metrics used to measure
the identified processes.
Using this information, it is possible to identify,
quantify and discuss any “quick wins” that will
form the basis of a potential Business Process
Management Proof of Concept (PoC) or project and
realize demonstrable value to the stakeholders.
Discovery
The Discovery Workshop comes in many forms and
usually follows the Envisioning Workshop. When
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Chapter 3: Steps for Implementing a BPM Project in your Company 13
you have already identified a “candidate” process
the Discovery Workshop ensures that the business
and functional requirements can be captured in a
structured manner.
The main purpose of the workshop approach is
that all aspects are considered when compiling a
business case. This supports the generation of a PoC
and the ability to implement the project.
Using Agile/SCRUM, you can begin to actually build
the first prototype of the process in this workshop.
Through the requirements gathering and process
analysis phase, you need to:
• Ensure the business requirements have been
captured to a level of detail that will ensure
the development team can start designing the
process.
• Ensure that this forms the agreed upon scope of
work for the first iteration, meets expectations
and is approved by the end users and
stakeholders.
Estimation
In the estimation stage, the
SCRUM team estimates the work
associated with each feature.
This is important in order to
understand the size of the project,
and to decide which features will be included in
each sprint. The team should then rank the features
according to their importance.
Construction
This stage includes both design
and development of the solution
in an agile manner.
Design
A design is required for every piece of development.
Regardless of project methodology, a design is
required by the developers to ensure they are
interpreting business requirements correctly.
Myth: “Agile/SCRUM means no design”.
Speclets
Create short, concise design documents, called
Speclets, which include UI’s, Business rules, Reusable
components and Process flows.
Designing the Workflow
Having gathered the business requirements it is
important to define the process in suitable detail
for implementation stages. Getting this wrong will
negatively impact project delivery and business user
expectations.
Key Design Considerations
Prior to creating any process, you should consider
the following:
• What is the high level process and what does it
do?
• Initiating the workflow — a human or automated
event?
• What activities should the workflow include?
• What is the desired activity type (web‑form, email,
triggering external systems into action) for each
of these activities?
• Who will be performing the task and who should
the tasks be handed to?
• User groups and associated permissions
• The look‑and‑feel of web‑forms
Using SCRUM, you will maintain a product Backlog —
a document including all the features that should be
included in the solution. Strive to describe features
in terms of how they will be used, as ‘user stories’ or
‘use cases’.
Development
The development team should work hand in hand
with the SMEs and Business Analysts to understand
the high level requirements, and drill them down to a
lower level of detail.
If Agile/SCRUM approach is adopted, the build phase
will be closely interlinked with getting approval from
users once some functionality has been developed.
The design can then be adapted to ensure it meets
end user need and expectations.
Reality: Agile/SCRUM may mean a design that
evolves over time and no ‘Big Design Up Front’, but it
does not mean ‘no design’!
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14 Chapter 3: Steps for Implementing a BPM Project in your Company
To develop a process you carry out the following
steps as a minimum requirement:
• Create a process
• Add activities
• Implement business rules
• Connect activities
• Assign permissions
• Unit test the package
Sprints
SCRUM development is achieved in Sprints. Start the
Sprint with a planning meeting, where you decide
which features from the backlog will be included in
the sprint.
Conduct daily stand‑up meetings attended by all
team members. At the end of the sprint hold a
retrospective meeting to review progress and make
improvements for the next sprint.
Transition
While out of the scope of this
article, the next stages in the
BPM project are Testing and
Deployment (called ‘Transition’
in SCRUM). These stages are
obviously of critical importance, and we plan to
devote a subsequent post to them.
Top things to remember
• Think BIG but start small. Plan for iterations, and
publicize/vocalize this is what is going to happen.
Communication is KEY.
• Make sure your team are properly trained before
starting development.
• Keep it simple — simple applications are much
faster to develop and most likely capturing 80% of
the requirements.
• Don’t try to build an entire application that meets
all requirements in the first iteration (i.e. don’t try
to ‘boil the ocean’).
• Use an Agile/SCRUM approach where possible.
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15
BPM Technology that Overcomes
Human Aversion to Change
Gal Horvitz, CEO of PNMsoft, uses Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman’s
research on Prospect Theory to explain what causes people’s aversion
to Change, its relevance to Business Process Management, and the
philosophy behind PNMsoft’s intelligent BPM Suite.
4
I’m sure some of you are familiar with Prospect Theory
by the Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman and the
profound implications of his work on economics.
Prospect Theory is a behavioural economic theory
that describes the way people choose between
probabilistic alternatives that involve risk. Kahneman
proved that people are mostly risk averse and yet in
some scenarios they become risk seekers.
For example, he showed that for most people,
if given the opportunity to choose between the
options:
(a) Win $9,000
(b) Get a 95% chance to win $10,000 (and 5%
chance to win nothing)
Most people will prefer the sure thing and choose
option (a), hence being risk averse.
On the other hand, the same people faced with the
options:
(a) Lose $9,000
(b) Get a 95% chance to lose $10,000 (and 5%
chance to lose nothing)
Will suddenly become risk seekers and will choose
option (b).
In both these examples, the more rational behaviour
if calculated mathematically is to choose (b) in
the first scenario and (a) in the second one! And
yet usually people don’t follow these rational
calculations.
Kahneman also proved that people’s decisions
change according to their reference point. People
don’t want to change, but once they make a change
they don’t want to go back (to revert to their original
position).
For example, every person has his own curve of
Salary/Holiday days. You may settle for less holiday
days for a better salary, and you may be willing to
give up a potential raise if instead you get many
more holiday days to enjoy with your family. Let’s
assume you can choose between two options that
are equally good for your personal preferences:
(a) Get a raise of $X
(b) Get an extra Y holiday days per year
Assuming that both options are equally good for you,
you flip a coin and choose one. Let’s say based on
this random decision you decided to choose a raise.
A year passes and now you get an option to change
your mind. Would you do it? Are you willing now to
decrease your salary in return for more holiday days?
That’s hard, as you and your family have adjusted
to a higher income. And what if you had chosen a
year ago to get the extra holiday days, would you
© PNMsoft All rights reserved
16 Chapter 4: BPM Technology that Overcomes Human Aversion to Change
be willing to change it now? You and your family are
now used to a long holiday together, are you willing
to give it up for more money?
What happened is that once the reference point has
changed, most people would not want to go back
and will choose the status quo. People don’t like to
change, but once making a change they equally don’t
like to change back…
Furthermore, as Kahneman describes, when
evaluating a potential change, the majority of people
will give more weight to the disadvantages of this
change. To support a change, people need to be
provided with many advantages and need to be
moved to a new reference point.
Implications for Big Change
and BPM
I found Kahneman’s work very intriguing in relation
to my field of expertise, BPM. Why? I realized that
his findings about human nature and behaviour
clashed directly with what I knew to be the key to
an organization’s success: The ability to change.
Charles Darwin’s famous theory about the survival
of the fittest, or more precisely, those that are most
adaptable to change, supports the need to change,
both for individuals and (in my humble opinion)
organizations.
the next generation of Sequence, our iBPMS suite.
Our challenge: to create a new technology that takes
into account the human nature of resisting change.
Our solution to this uniquely psychological dilemma
is HotChange®. HotChange® is both a technology and
a philosophy that guides everything we do.
HotChange®, in a nutshell, means giving business
and IT people the ability to change business process
applications in the shortest time possible, without
any downtime, as end users continue to operate
processes in production.
First revealed in 2012, HotChange® has changed
every single feature of our product. Now in its
second generation, HotChange® drives our massive
annual growth. HotChange® enables teams to make
small, frequent, incremental changes, without any
loss of uptime or performance. It reduces people’s
resistance to change by giving them the option to
always rollback. It puts control over change in the
hands of the business stakeholder, and provides
quick visual feedback. Any change, at any time, by
anyone with sufficient permissions, is now possible.
Big Change, according to Gartner, is what an
organization needs to achieve in today’s rapidly
changing world, in order to survive and stay
competitive. Gartner, in April 2014, said: “Big Change
involves significantly altering ongoing operations in
a high risk environment characterized by elevated
volatility, ambiguity, disparity/diversity and novelty/
scope… At Gartner we call this “BPM Shift” and it
is part of our emerging Business Transformation
agenda.”
But if people are resistant to change, how could can
they achieve Big Change?
Breaking the Psychological Barrier
“Small Steps, Big Change™”
We spent a lot of time at PNMsoft studying
human behaviour when it comes to adapting new
technology and deploying projects. We analyzed
many projects, read a lot of research, discussed with
experts and analysts, and spent countless hours
debating and brainstorming. All of that led us to plan
So how does HotChange® answer the challenge of
Prospect Theory? Simple. It leads people toward
Big Changes in small frequent steps. People may
be nervous about Big Change, even though it can
mean a turn‑around for their business. But if they
are led toward this change in small incremental
© PNMsoft All rights reserved
Chapter 4: BPM Technology that Overcomes Human Aversion to Change 17
improvements, each one achieving a realistic,
concrete goal, that in itself can break their innate
resistance to change. As demonstrated above, once
they take a (small) step and make a change, most
likely they will not go back.
The HotChange® approach can be summarized as
follows:
• Change people’s reference point with incremental
changes and using “prototypes”.
• Allow moving back to previous versions to
mitigate risk aversion.
• Create significant potential return by achieving
Big Change, for a series of very modest risks
(changes).
• Use Agile project methodology.
• Be mindful that Big Change is the target.
Sequence, powered by HotChange® is how to get
there, gradually, with human nature in mind.
To sum up, I believe that Big Change is what
organizations should aim for, and that HotChange® is
the best way for them to get there, in frequent, small
steps.
So what should be your next steps?
• Contact PNMsoft and ask for a workshop to
experience our innovative technology and
methodology.
• Go Agile, go light on documentation. Get
business and IT in one room together to rapidly
create working prototypes of business process
applications using PNMsoft Sequence with its
HotChange® technology. Let them use it for few
days and come back with changes. Make these
changes and let them use it more. Soon enough,
you will get something that they agree can do the
job. An application has been created and you are
well into your BPM journey.
• I highly recommend taking a deep dive into
Kahneman’s work. He wrote books that are
considered masterpieces in his field. For me,
reading his work is like viewing an X‑Ray of our
brain. Kahneman’s work can help you understand
what’s going on in there and why we behave the
way we do.
© PNMsoft All rights reserved
Afterword
Greetings, BPM Traveler! I hope that through reading the
BPM Traveler’s Guide you are now better equipped for your
BPM journey. Perhaps you have already set out on your
way. But the way is fraught with difficulties, not the least of
which are your own organization’s aversion to change, and
an ever‑changing market. At PNMsoft, we put Change at the
forefront, while also providing tools for control.
Change and Control seem to be conflicting terms, but we
have found a way to harmonize them. We’ve crafted a unique
Small Steps, Big Change strategy for meeting the challenge of
Change, and this has made all the difference for our clients.
Most importantly, we specialize in assisting organizations
to make every BPM project a successful one. Our people’s
dedication for getting things done right is second to none.
With the top BPM experts in the world on our staff, a unique
HotChange® technology and Evolutionary BPM methodology,
we make sure every project we take on meets and very often
exceeds its goals.
That’s why dozens of the world’s leading organizations in
nearly every field trust PNMsoft with their mission critical
BPM projects meet some of our customers. At PNMsoft, we care
fanatically about our customers’ success, and their trust is a
result of this special relationship.
We will be happy to assist your organization in reaching its
destination and achieving its business goals. Just contact us
(see our “business card” below) and we’ll get you started on
the journey of a lifetime!
Wishing you success in all your initiatives!
Gal Horvitz
CEO, PNMsoft
Contact us
www.pnmsoft.com • [email protected] • US: +1‑800‑766‑1404 • UK: +44 (0)192 381 3420
© PNMsoft All rights reserved