1. Create a Comprehensive BPM Strategy for Successful Process Automation
Avoid project failure by keeping the “B” in BPM.
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2. Table of Contents
1. Project Rationale for a Business Process Management Automation Strategy
2. Structure the BPM Automation Strategy
Template: BPM Strategy and Roadmap Project Charter Template
3. Gather Requirements and Business Processes for Automation
Template: BPM Stakeholder Interview Guide
Tool: BPM Process Appropriateness Assessment
4. Identify Capabilities
Tool: BPM Maturity and Gap Assessment Tool
5. Create BPM Automation Strategy Roadmap
6. Make the Business Case
7. BPM Automation Strategy Implementation
Template: BPM Communication Planning Template
8. Appendices
9. Workshop Deck

3. Our Understanding of the Problem
IT managers, CIOs, and decision makers involved in BPM strategy setting.
Small and mid-sized organizations looking to adopt more process-oriented approaches to running their business.
Large enterprises wanting more visibility into, and control of, their processes.
Understand the costs, benefits, and time investment required for a successful BPM strategy.
Understand the challenges commonly faced during BPM strategy-setting and how to avoid them.
Applications Managers and Enterprise Architects
Business and Process Analysts
Gain a better understanding of what BPM is and how it can be implemented in their organization.

4. Executive Summary
Today’s hyper-competitive and dynamic business environment is forcing organizations to adopt new technologies to improve the efficiency of existing processes.
The business must create the structural capabilities required to maintain their competitive edge and execute innovative ideas.
Shift from focusing on an isolated BPM and process improvement project to a sustainable, enterprise-wide process transformation program.
Take an iterative approach to BPM. Big-bang approaches have failed in the past.
Enhance overall maturity before deciding to automate. Immature processes will have trouble supporting the vast change and complications BPM will impose.
Despite the recognized importance of leveraging process automation, many organizations fail to first create a comprehensive strategy.
Too often a shiny new BPM tool is procured, but then it sits on the shelf.
Organizations need to build on their capabilities and increase their overall maturity before they can automate.
IT and business needs must be aligned from the beginning to create and deliver a BPM automation strategy that delivers quantitative and qualitative benefits to the business.
Info-Tech suggests a thorough analysis of current business processes and process improvement initiatives to select a group of initiatives that lend themselves to automation and align with the overall BPM strategy.
It is crucial to assess current capabilities before moving towards automation. Identify your current and future needs for automation to derive the gaps.
Creating the BPM strategy is a multi-step process. After identifying gaps, prioritize the initiatives through the use of a comprehensive roadmap. A critical aspect of the BPM automation strategy will involve selling the benefits, gaining buy-in, and obtaining implementation approval.

5. How to use this blueprint
Do-It-Yourself Best-Practice Toolkit
Onsite
Workshops
Free Guided
Implementation
Do-It-Yourself Implementation
Use this Best-Practice Blueprint to help you complete your project. The slides in this Blueprint will walk you step-by-step through every phase of your project with supporting tools and templates ready for you to use. You can also use this Best-Practice Blueprint to facilitate your own project accelerator workshop within your organization using the workshop slides and facilitation instructions provided in the Appendix.
We recommend that you supplement the Best-Practice Toolkit with a Guided Implementation.
Guided Implementations are included in most advisory membership seats. Our expert analysts will provide telephone assistance to you and your team at key project milestones to review your materials, answer your questions, and explain our methodology.
Info-Tech Research Group’s expert analysts will come onsite to help you work through our project methodology in a 2-5 day project accelerator workshop. We take you through every phase of the project and ensure that you have a road map in place to complete your project successfully. In some cases, we can even complete the project while we are onsite.
Leverage each of the tools in this blueprint to complete the optimization of this project.
Enroll in a GI for your project.
Or call and ask for the GI Coordinator.
Book your workshop now! to get started.

6. Info-Tech is ready to assist. Book a free guided implementation today!
Book a Guided Implementation Today: Info-Tech is just a phone call away and can assist you with your project. Our expert Analysts can guide you to successful project completion. For most members, this service is available at no additional cost.*
Here are the suggested Guided Implementation points in the BPM Strategy project:
Section 1: Structure the Project
Get off to a productive start: establish the rationale for building a BPM automation strategy and structure the project: validate scope, stakeholders, assumptions, constraints, and set metrics to measure success.
Section 2: Gather Requirements
Discuss the business goals mapping to processes. Review process-owner interviews and information gathered around processes for automation. Review the results of the BPM Process Appropriateness Assessment.
Section 3: Identify Current Capabilities
Review results of the current state maturity assessment, and interpret gaps between current and target states. Review initiatives to fill gaps.
Section 4: Develop the Strategic Roadmap
Review the prioritization of initiatives. Discuss dependencies. Review results of the TCO calculator and potential benefits, and implementation alternative selection.
Section 5: Review Business Case and Implementation Plan
Review the business case and provide insight into selling the case to senior management. Assist with plans for securing resources, communicating initiatives, and implementing the strategy.
*Guided Implementations are included in most advisory membership seats.

7. Project Rationale Understanding BPM automation
Structure the Project
Gather Requirements
Analyze Current Capabilities
Create a Roadmap
Make the Business Case
Implement the Strategy
Understanding BPM automation
Identify if BPM automation is right for you
Reap the benefits of BPM automation

8. Project Rationale 1 Activities in this step Key Question
Understand what BPM automation is and how our organization will benefit.
Make the case for a cohesive strategy to help eliminate the pains we are currently feeling in the IT department.
Review the Info-Tech approach to building a BPM strategy for automation.
Why is BPM automation so important to the business and how can we avoid project failure by using a comprehensive BPM strategy?
Key Question
Section Outcomes
A firm understanding of the benefits derived from process automation.
A sense of urgency to get caught up before we get left behind.
There is no one-size-fits-all strategy. There is a multitude of automation tools and technologies depending on your budget and desired state.
Key Insights
Section Deliverables

9. BPM streamlines processes to eliminate bottlenecks and redundancy
BPM is a collection of methods and tools used to document, improve, and monitor business processes.
What Does BPM Do?
How Do You Do It? A B C 1 2 3 4 5
An undefined, inconsistent, and over-complicated process...
A business process is modeled to document its current state. = D E
The model is simulated in order to identify gaps.
BECOMES
The process is streamlined through re- engineering to fill gaps and eliminate bottlenecks.
A simplified, consistent, and streamlined process. = A B C
Automation is introduced into the process wherever possible.
The process is monitored to ensure it is efficient and effective.
The process still generates the same output, but unnecessary steps and bottlenecks have been eliminated.

10. BPM automation can help if you are currently experiencing any of the following pains …
You should be considering BPM automation if your organization can relate to any of the following symptoms:
Lack of knowledge sharing and collaboration among line managers limits process streamlining to individual teams.
Processes that achieve similar aims vary from department to department with no single best practice.
Even when process outputs are specified there isn’t a defined way of achieving objectives.
Consistently missed service delivery targets.
It is impossible to predict when and where process bottlenecks occur.
Unwillingness of staff to comply with standards and processes.
Inability to point auditors to proof of compliance documentation.
Successful BPM automation strategies are built after already having a strong process improvement methodology in place. To increase process efficiency and effectiveness, many organizations will leverage technology to enhance an already successful business process.

11. A strategic roadmap for BPM will enable fast and successful implementation of process automation
What will having a BPM roadmap do for my organization?
How will I see the benefits of a BPM strategy and roadmap?
Increase in the quality of business processes
Increase in customer satisfaction
Increase the speed of critical business processes
Decrease in errors resulting from human error
Create strategic alignment between IT and the business
Increase process visibility to allow transparency into end-to-end processes
Doing it right the first time around
Eliminating and/or reducing rework due to poor execution
Identifying dependencies/pre-requisites and ensuring processes are deployed in the correct order, at the correct time, and by the right people
Engaging all necessary resources to design and implement required processes
Assessing current maturity and capabilities and designing the roadmap with these factors in mind
Determining level of investment available and designing the roadmap with this in mind
“Measure Twice, Cut Once.”
The more time you spend planning and preparing for your BPM automation roll-out, the lower the risk of encountering roadblocks, which can waste resources, force rework, or even result in project abandonment.
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