Hyperautomation Standards, Notions, & Frameworks

Hyperautomation Standards, Notations, & Frameworks

Episode 5 Outline: Hyperautomation Standards, Notations, & Frameworks

Following episode 4, “What do I automate next?” Host Jimmy Hewitt has put together an episode that will help you learn some of the most important standards, notions, and frameworks within the world of hyperautomation.

Additionally, you will hear about several prominent industry organizations and guilds that prove most useful in nurturing our hyperautomation journeys. Our host, Jimmy Hewitt, will walk through the Who, What, and Why of each standard, notation, and framework revealed in this episode. As a reminder, the technical components discussed will apply to all viewers ranging from experienced to newer in the hyperautomation and business architecture space.

?Listen to episode 4 here!

?Read about our episode 3 now!

Follow along with the episode now!

Guiding Principles

• Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN):

• • Graphical representation, a modeling notation, a collection of symbols that can rapidly convey meaning (specifically about business process)
  • The de facto standard for business process diagrams
  • Original Verison: BPMN 1.0
    • Developed by the Business Process Management Initiative (BPMI) in 2004
    • BPMI merged with the Object Management Group (OMG) in 2005
  • Most current version: BPMN 2.0
  • Why BPMN matters:
    1. Rapid information sharing: pertaining to business processes
    Normal communication (describing using sentence/paragraphs): doesn’t allow for rapid communication of ideas, as the viewer must read every word to see and understand the full picture.
  • Visuals: allows for much more rapid and efficient information dissemination when compared to using our words
    • Creating a key or legend will help your viewer understand the visual better+ BPMN
      • Examples
        • A sheet of music enables someone with a bit of training to play a song
  • BPMN Process Map: allows someone with a bit of training to understand a business process and a wealth of data and metadata about it just by looking at it
  • Common elements of BPMN Process Flow: each element has a specific symbol
    • Events= Circles
      • Start and stop of the process
    • Activities= Rectangles
      • Happens in between events
    • Gateways= Diamonds
      • Decisions, diverges, and converges along the process
  • Very specific BPMN examples: rarely used
    • Transaction= Double-lined rectangle

    2. Interoperability: between process mapping, process mining, and workflow execution tools (software like BPM)

    • Without the BPMN standard, it would be nearly impossible to compare the results of a process mining exercise with the results of a process mapping exercise
      • However, because both capabilities use BPME standard notation, you can compare your process map with the mined process data.
    • NOTE: a process map is only as good as the information collected during a process mapping workshop or interview
      • A process map only represents what a person intimately close to the process tells you about it
      • Often times the resulting process map is not so much a reflection of the business process itself but rather a reflection of that person’s understanding of the business process 
      • Not perfect, but the best we can do up until process mining came around
      • Rather than interviewing people who are close to a given business process, and modeling their understanding of it, process mining involves the ingestion of your systems log data (including a case ID number, an activity name, and at least one timestamp)
      • Process mining will create one of many visual representations of this systems log data from your ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) or CRM (Customer Relationship Management)
      • One of these visualizations is a BPMN diagram
      • Mining is different than mapping because of the data source!
        • Process Mining: Delivering process information from a system. It can pick up on more accurate process details.
        • Process Mapping: Delivering process information from a human
      • How do you normalize your ERP log data with what a process owner’s understanding of that process is?
        • BPMN!
          • Reach out to Salient Process and Sr. Automation Advisor Jimmy Hewitt where we will show you how to use BPMN to compare a process map with a process mining output
    • Workflow: 
      • Rather than creating a workflow application from scratch, all you have to do is import your BPME file and you are halfway there
      • How: If you create a business process map or model in BPME notation in a proper process mining platform (like Blueworks Live,) then you’re able to simply export that “.bpmn” file out of your process mapping platform and import it directly into your process management and execution platform
• American Productivity and Quality Center’s (APQC’s) Framework:
  • APQC:
    • Founded in 1977
    • 150,000 members across 1,000 organizations (Adidas, Zappos, etc) and 45 different industries 
    • World’s foremost authority on business benchmarking process and performance improvement thanks to their process classification framework (APQC’s PCF)
  • PCF: Two forms
    • Generic (cross-industry) form: contains 13 categories of processes across an entire organization
      • Examples:
        • “Market and sell products and services”: APQC #3.0
        • “Manage information technology (IT)”: APQC #8.0
        • “Manage Financial resources”: APQC #9.0
    • Industry-specific form: much more specific than IT or Finance 
      • Example: “Entering employee time worked into a payroll system”: APQC #9.5.2.1
    • Once your business and its procedural architecture have been mapped out within the APQC framework, you can benchmark your business performance with other companies to see where you stand and to see where you could improve modeling your business
    • Important in the hyperautomation community because it accommodates a holistic approach, not a siloed one
      • APQC.org
      • BPMN. org

Industry Guilds and Associations 

• Opex
  • A division of the IQPC (International Quality and Product Center)
    • Hosts several annual events surrounding hyperautomation or in their words “Bringing together people, processes and technology to help you optimize your digital transformation.”
    • Salient Process was a Silver Plus Sponsor this year at the Spring Exchange USA conference in Austin, Texas 
      • Check out our post here
    • More on Opex 
• Business Architecture Guild 
  • Established in 2010
  • Global not-for-profit industry guild focuses on promoting best practices and contributing to the knowledge base of Business Architecture discipline.
  • Driven by practitioners for practitioners  
    • More on BAG
• ILTA (International Legal Technology Association)
  • Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) is closely related to Business Architecture and Process Excellence 
  • Champions these techniques to achieve optimal GRC posture 
    • More on ILTA

Summary

Guiding principles:

1. Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN): modeling notation, a collection of symbols that can rapidly convey meaning about business process
   • Enables both rapid and detailed information sharing about a business
   • Key to interoperability between process mapping, mining, and workflow
2. American Productivity and Quality Center (APQC): world’s foremost authority on business benchmarking process and performance improvement
   • Process Classification Framework (PCF) accommodates a holistic approach, rather than a siloed one, for business benchmarking within the hyperautomation community

Industry Guilds and Associations:

1. Opex
2. Business Architecture Guilds
3. ILTA

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