Business Process Modelling

[Former Member]

what are the best Business Process Modelling techniques? what are the most widely used? and could someone give me web links on resources for the same.

Thanks

[Former Member]

Hi Varun

I'm curious how your quest for an affective process modelling approach has progressed in the past year. Hopefully you found some of the replies helpful. I've only just joined the "Ecosphere". Hence my reply may be far to late for your enquiry.

Since you posted your question SAP Press published a comprehensive book [Business Process Management: The SAP Roadmap|http://www.sap-press.com/product.cfm?account=&product=H2977]

Ann Rosenberg (SAP) one of the authors of this book presented at a process management conference in London last year just before the book was published. You may find that presentation helpful. [Link|http://www.nimbuspartners.com/sites/default/files/presentations/SAP-RoadmapToBPM/player.html]. If I can distill what she said into 2 points.

(1) If your objective with process mapping is that end users will understand the content, and you will therefore improve the alignment between IT and the business - keep it very simple. A simple common language is what's required. Regretably neither ARIS-EPC, nor BPMN are typically successful in achieving such simplicity. (The evidence for this is witnessed on virtually every SAP project where end user training efforts do not employ any of the process content created in technical modelling tools. Content has to be recreated at huge expense in a format which end users will actually read and understand.)

(2) If your objective is process automation (SOA type development) then in the SAP arena BPM for Netweaver which employs BPMN as the notation format is the tool of choice. However, don't expect that to be used or understood by business folk. Also bear in mind that only 4% of your processes are likely to be good candidates for SOA, Correspondingly 96% of what most customers require can be (and should be) kept very simple indeed.

How to do this - is explained to some degree [here|https://ecohub.sdn.sap.com/irj/ecohub/solutions/control2007].

I've worked in the SAP change management and training sphere for 10 years (4 years with SAP-UK) and supported major SAP customers including Shell, BBC, and many more. Only recently have I found a solution to this challenge which really works. I was so convinced of the approch, I joined the company. [Nimbus|https://ecohub.sdn.sap.com/irj/ecohub/solutions/control2007]. Kind regards, Nigel Warren