Glossary

BPM lifecycle

The sequence of process identification, discovery, analysis, redesign, implementation and monitoring.

The sequence of process identification, discovery, analysis, redesign, implementation and monitoring. This methodology retains it but subordinates it to the objective: the cycle revolves around the outcome to be achieved, not around the current process.

It is a cycle, not a project, and that is the practical difference: monitoring is not the last phase but the input to the next turn. Organizations that treat it as a project end up with processes that age without anyone noticing.

Related terms

AS-IS

A model of the process as it operates today. It is captured only to the depth required to redesign, and must answer three questions: what prevents achieving the objective, what should be…

BPM

The discipline and software category for designing, executing, measuring and improving business processes as governed assets.

Evidence-based continuous improvement

The practice of redesigning from operational data (timings, backlog, rework, exceptions, data quality, satisfaction) rather than opinion or perceived efficiency.

PDCA

A four-step improvement cycle: plan, do, check, act. Here it translates into interpreting indicators and forming a hypothesis, adjusting in a controlled environment, validating end-to-end and…

Process reengineering

The tradition holding that automating a fragmented structure accelerates a bad design rather than fixing it, and that redesign must start from the customer, the outcome and the complete flow…

TO-BE

The design of the future process. Here it is not an optimized AS-IS but the mechanism built to maximize the fulfilment of a verifiable objective, together with its data, rules, risks,…