Implementing BPM
Experienced Challenges and Lessons learned
Agenda
• BPM implementation: The Customer package process
• Business Perspective
• Software Engineering Perspective • Process Participants Perspective
• Organizational and Technological challenges • Lessons Learned
BPM Implementation
Customer package
• Customer package = A number of financial products
bundled together for a specific group of customers
• Example customer package:
• Account • Credit card • Credit
• Internet access • …
Business Perspective
Customer package scenario
Juni 2003 August 2003 October 2003 December 2003 Marts 2007
Introduction of Customer packages.
Customer package scenario
Juni 2003 August 2003 October 2003 December 2003 Marts 2007
Backoffice group created
Customer package scenario
Juni 2003 August 2003 October 2003 December 2003 Marts 2007
Case Transfer System
Customer package scenario
Juni 2003 August 2003 October 2003 December 2003 Marts 2007
Workflow enabled creation process v. 1
Customer package scenario
Juni 2003 August 2003 October 2003 December 2003 Marts 2007
Workflow v. 6
Customer Packages values
•
WFM has shown real business value
•
Is the glue that binds different systems together
• 27 different products, 10 different silos, 30 sub
processes
•
Workers have become more efficient
• Before 20 cases a day. Now 50 cases a day
•
Approximately 40 fulltime positions cut away
•Process instances are handled homogeneously
•Process is better understood
•
Centralized process control enables continuous
Software Engineering Perspective
Business Process Development
• From manual work practice to Implementation
Business Analyst Solution/Technical Architect Process Developer Worker
Packaging
Accounting
Shipping Quality Assurance
Work practice ASIS/TOBE Process model
BPEL describes Talks with creates implements creates Engineering Perspective
Understanding work practice
• Difficult to understand real business process. • Workers have different views of the reality • Workers work differently
Engineering Perspective
Before, we thought we knew our process. Now, after implementing WFM we know do!
•
Model of initial incomplete version
Solution not complete
ASIS
Process model
Solution not complete
•
Developer creates implementation based on
solution model from architect.
•
Encounters following:
• Missing scenarios• Missing information
• Activities not broken down
• Sequence of dependent activities
•
Several iterations between developer/architect,
users and business analyst before complete
version 1
Using SOA
•
Integrates services from 10 systems
• Loans, Cards, Agreements, Accounts…
• Services are developed and maintained by different
departments
• No services developed by Customer Package project
•
Several manual activities could by automated
• Does it allready exist? • How do I find it?
• Who shall develop, support and maintain it?
Using SOA : Service standards
•
No common enterprise domain model
• Difficult to understand semantic of attributes • Difficult to map data
•
No standards for return codes
• Difficult to implement exception handling
Backoffice Workers Perspective
BPM Systems
•
Ideal
• To externalize process knowledge from within minds
and applications into a centralized executable workflow
• Only one place to change process knowledge
•
Workers should only focus on separated tasks.
•Process knowledge is not needed by people
•The Process distributes tasks to the right
Reality
•
Completely new way of working
• Fragmentized, no understanding of working context
•
Things happen unexpected, exceptions occur:
• Technical failures
• Business Scenarios not thought of
•
Easier, quicker to handle exceptions when the
same person has handled a complete case
•
Claimed control of the workflow
• IT development team created an “imaginary” task as
the first one in the workflow
Reality
“You get better case workers when they follow complete cases”
“It gives a better feeling when doing a complete piece of work”
“We will not be a factory”
Vibeke, a worker
Challenges
Technological challenges
• We were early on combining WFM(BPM) and SOA • System Stability
• Long response times • Instability
• Technological Complexity
• Workflow language has changed 3 times on three year • Translation from one language to another is very time
Technological challenges
•
Developer complexity:
• Many technologies: XML, WSDL, XSD, Java, BPEL,
SCA, XPath, COBOL, zOS, JMS, Webspere, …
• Transactions, compensation
•
Multiple versions of same process templete
• Running instances of different versions of same
process
• Instances running up to 5 years
Organizational challenges
•
Participants all new to MDD, SOA, BPM
• Received no education, no best practices, no
governance
• Development process has not been followed
•
Other services not service oriented
• ”Old” COBOL developers
•
Who owns a service?
•Who owns a process?
• Much more difficult than service ownership
•
The business owner does not understand
Lessons learned
•
Development process is VERY important
• Service orientation and business process
management requires much of a project team
• Static tests, Documentation, Governance
•
SOA and BPM experience important for smooth
project
•
Stepwise optimization
•
User involvement very valuable
•
Process oriented thinking is not easy.
Today
•
Much work on maintaining and operating the
BPMS platform
•
Development outsourced to India
•
Much work on how to construct processes
•Correct specification is a key to success
•Projects must specify the process model
•Workflow Consultant helps projects
• Expert from the BPM System department
•
The business owners still do not think in
Summary
• SOA and BPM have proved business value
• Hugh savings in labor numbers • Consistent handling of cases
• It is difficult to adopt SOA and BPM. It requires
• Technical excellent skills
• Inhouse experience / experts • Educated, trained organization
• Development process & Governance!
•
The business owner must think in processes ,
understand the possibilities of BPM technology, take
leadership of the implementation project.
Further information
•
Software Engineering Perspective
• S. Brahe: BPM on top of SOA: Experiences from the Financial
Industry. 5th International Conference on Business Process
Management, LNCS 4714 p. 96-111 (2007)
• S. Brahe: Early Experiences on Adopting BPM and SOA: An
Empirical Study. Technical report, IT University of Copenhagen,
TR2007-96 (2007)
•
Computer Supported Cooperative Work Perspective
• S. Brahe & K. Schmidt: The Story of a Working WorkflowManagement System. GROUP 2007, Sanibel Island, Florida
