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More organizations are moving to a service-oriented architecture (SOA), and many of the companies transitioning to SOA are also deploying business process management (BPM). In fact, experts say the use of BPM is a logical step in the process of adopting a services architecture.

“The first focus of SOA was to ease portal integration or integration between applications,” says Henry Peyret, senior analyst at Forrester Research. “The next step in SOA adoption will be [BPM], because this is where SOA brings the most value: easily connecting existing systems for an end-to-end process reengineering.”

BPM technology enables organizations to evaluate and improve the efficiency of their operations and as a result better serve customers and in some cases cut costs. Some enterprises deploy BPM to consolidate systems and standardize business processes.

The implementation of SOA has been a driver of BPM adoption, according to Forrester. In a survey the firm conducted in 2007, of those companies that had a SOA strategy, nearly all said BPM was “important” or “very important” for their SOA strategy. These companies likely view BPM as a way to deliver the agility promised by SOA to the business users of technology, Forrester says.

BPM, in addition to business process modeling (which enables organizations to design, execute and monitor business processes), allows enterprises to become more agile and reactive to changes, Peyret says.

Through interviews with companies that have gone through BPM implementations, Forrester has developed best practices guidelines and general rules that organizations can put in place to manage their BPM implementations. These best practices cover areas such as planning, building the team to deploy BPM and using BPM technology.

Upfront planning, including how BPM will be executed within the organization, is key for successful BPM implementations. Forrester says many of the companies it has interviewed have spent years on BPM analysis projects, creating detailed process models that are left to languish because they’re too vague to be of use, too complex to deploy or too broad to make sense to any single person.

Organizations should focus not on creating a detailed plan for the entire BPM project, but on a project structure that’s flexible enough to take advantage of the agility BPM enables.

In structuring the team for BPM implementation, organizations need to consider how they will acquire the process modeling skills and BPM-related development skills that tend to be in short supply, Forrester says. That could mean training existing staff in these skills. BPM project managers should include key BPM stakeholders in building the team, which should include both business and IT representatives, as well as some end users.

Selection and use of technology is another important factor. Choosing the wrong BPM suite can lead to a failed project. BPM is at its best when it serves as a collaboration tool and a bridge between IT and the business, Forrester says. Organizations must be sure to select BPM tools with features that are easy for business people to use.

By following these practices, organizations will have a better chance of successfully implementing BPM as part of their SOA strategy.

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