Visualisation on steroids

Business process modelling (BPM) software that not only allows project teams to visualise their future states, but also steps them through workflow sequences, measures efficiency, automates documentation and then compiles down to operational code, is a game changer. It alters the very nature of enterprise software, in terms of its implementation, and hence also business managers' relationship with it. Indeed, BPM, as most recently conceived, finally enables what ERP consultants have been advocating for years – the removal of major projects from IT departments' control to ownership by the business. Sounds like hyperbole? Well, no. Mike Beasley, director of IT at tubing manufacturer and long-term QAD ERP user Mueller Industries, says that its new Business Process Management tool, which his company started using on QAD's early adopter programme last year, is a breath of fresh air. "Something like this just didn't exist before. If you were implementing new ERP, it would help you to build a better system much faster. For us, it's been supporting business improvement by providing really good workflow visibility, linking people together during development and documenting the changes. But it could also help you to identify anything from bottlenecks to quality problems and training requirements." And James Greaves, systems manager at Portsmouth Aviation, agrees – in his case, citing a combination of Workflow Manager, Event Manager and business intelligence in IFS Applications 8. This aerospace engineering firm is also on its software supplier's early adopter scheme, and Greaves reports: "For me, the really interesting achievement has been the blurring of the line between day-to-day operations and evolution of the underpinning ERP. With these new modules, we're able to evolve the system and help the business help itself to run better." Wrong direction So what's this about? Talk to any of the ERP software vendors and consultants, and they all tell the same story. Manufacturers expend far too much effort on system selection and way too little on reviewing their business processes. In fairness, that's largely because attempting to do the latter has been so difficult. As Paul Roebuck, sales and marketing director with K3 Syspro, puts it: "I've seen hundreds of business process mapping projects that never left the boardroom. Walls covered in flowcharts, designed by the project team. Then, when the new software comes, and there's the push to go live, the problems surface and the new designs don't make it." Why? Well, he identifies two key limiting factors. First, business process mapping has been a major, difficult and often paper-based undertaking. And second, because of that fact, it's been done by senior management, mostly in silos and almost invariably with no business users involved. Hence the issues, in terms both of visualising the current and future state processes and then making them work. Hence also the proliferation of so-called rapid implementation methodologies by all of the ERP software vendors. But, while a major step in the right direction and without doubt faster, increasingly sophisticated, and tuned to the requirements of industry sectors and manufacturing types, they don't quite hit the spot. Two reasons: on the one hand, they're based on standard templates (albeit proven, refined and, it has to be conceded, flexible); and, on the other, they don't easily enable full visualisation. That really matters. Roebuck again: "Manufacturers only replace their ERP software once every eight to 11 years. So this is by far their best opportunity to seriously review how they're trading, where they're going and what they need to do to streamline their business processes and improve their opportunities and competiveness." And much the same applies to software upgrades. But if the IT itself gets in the way, it's never going to happen. New model Enter the new BPM, which Gordon Fleming, chief marketing officer of QAD, describes as "enabling managers and users to get a detailed but holistic view of their business processes, so they can improve their configurations, automate where appropriate, but also monitor execution". Note that, for him, this is not just about a configurable workflow engine. Such software has been around for a while. No, this is also about business users being able to measure existing operations, model improvements and then check those – and not just in terms of transactional efficiency, but also whole process efficiency. "We have now embedded this capability into our application," says Fleming. "So, working with our standard user interface, people can visualise transactions and business processes graphically. They can drag and drop functions and steps, and then, when the new state is in operation, it lets them see transactions moving through the process and assess the efficiency of each step, using standard operational metrics." Like Mueller's Beasley, he explains that, as a result, the system helps business users – not just IT – to reveal back office bottlenecks, constrained resources, dependencies, etc, and then sort them out. "BPM is a critical building block for the next generation of ERP," asserts Fleming. "It's one of the most important developments in the last 10 years. Our stated vision is to help companies become more effective enterprises, working with peak efficiency. Without BPM, it's hard to deliver on that goal. This is a key enabler." QAD is not alone. Mario Villarejo, a senior programme manager at Epicor, for example, describes his company's XSOL business process mapping tool as designed to "display workflow and processes, produce documentation and then link with the software". Notwithstanding a general caveat – that, for the sake of speed, support, cost and certainty, it still makes sense to stick to standards where possible – he says that it's all about helping users to modify the system without changing the source code. Most importantly, he states that, whereas before, ERP configurations and business processes had to be defined and approved early on, with the inevitable specialist silos, now there's a real flexibility. "It's a discovery process. You don't have to decide everything at the beginning. So as people learn more about the software and their business during the project, they can identify the gaps and make improvements." So there are different flavours. But enough of the vendors' views. Greaves' experience at Portsmouth Aviation is testament to just how much new BPM changes everything. "We have a panel that gets together regularly to push ideas for improvement. Before, if they had a good idea and it involved making some software changes, I would probably have said 'we can't do that easily'. But now, because the systems are so flexible and we can visualise and control processes, the answer is 'well, yes, we can probably do this – and you're empowered to get involved'. "Last year, we brought in a whole new commercial process and upgraded the system to suit the way we wanted to run. We turned a lot of what we had done for 15 years on its head, using the new software first to visualise the processes as flowcharts, then to hyperlink into IFS Document Management so users get dynamic work-to lists, and to then enforce the processes with Event Manager and make it fly. "Business improvements are much faster now. ERP is seen as part of the business, with control back in the company's hands. It's a tool to improve how we work, get us into new markets and make us more efficient – rather than something that holds us back."