Business Processes
This topic is specific to Optimize for Process. A business process is a series of inter-related business tasks that are performed:
In a specific order
Using an associated set of business rules
By multiple systems, people, and partners
Examples of business processes within a corporation might include preparing for a new employee, handling a purchase order, bringing a product from inception to market, delivering a timely and accurate invoice, or enabling Vendor Managed Inventory.
The business process to prepare for a new employee might include business tasks such as assigning office space for the new employee, enrolling the employee in the internal Human Resources (HR) system, notifying the external partner that handles payroll, and obtaining the necessary office equipment (e.g., computer, phone).
Business process management is the ability to define, implement, manage, analyze, and optimize business processes, which includes interactions between:
Systems within your own corporation (e.g., applications and information stores).
People in your corporation.
External business partners.
With business process management in place, the effort to prepare for a new employee can be automated, including the required human interaction. For example, the HR department could initiate the business process by filling out and submitting an online form. Upon receiving the form, the business process would initiate and automatically update the internal HR system, as well as send a notification to the external partner that handles payroll. Additionally, that same single action by HR could result in the appropriate people and departments being notified about the new employee, so they can ensure that office space is assigned and the necessary office equipment is available by the employee's start date.
An automated business process usually also includes the actions to take should an error or exception occur in the process. For example, if there is no office space available, the Facilities Manager could be notified to determine how to handle that situation.
You can use business process management to monitor and manage each instance of a business process. For example, if you have three new employees starting, you can view details about the business tasks that have been completed for each of the new employees; that is, you can determine whether office equipment has been ordered or whether the payroll provider acknowledged notification for all three employees.
You can have several instances of a business process running at the same time. For example, if you have six new employees starting, you would have six instances of the new employee setup process running.
As business processes run, Optimize tracks KPIs that enable you to improve business process performance.
For information about setting up business processes you want Optimize to monitor, see Administering webMethods Optimize.