Making Business Improvement Real: How People Power the Process

White Paper
Making Business Improvement Real:
How People Power the Process
An overview of Savvion BusinessManager 7.0
Purpose
This white paper highlights how Business Process Management (BPM) can successfully
identify and improve business processes based on how people work. The paper also
illustrates the enabling role that Savvion BusinessManager™ 7.0 plays in making BPM
successful in real world situations.
Intended Audience
BPM business and IT owners, project team leaders and members, managers, business
analysts and consultants working in financial services, manufacturing and other sales
driven organizations, as well as any business person balancing quality control, regulatory
compliance and profit pressures.
Mar 2008
Savvion, Inc. 5104 Old Ironsides Drive Suite 205 Santa Clara, California 95054 | 408-330-3402 | 888-544-5511 | www.savvion.com
White Paper
An overview of Savvion BusinessManager 7.0
Table of Contents
The promise of improvement. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Your people will show you what to do . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
The Savvion Solution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-11
Savvion Process Modeler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Savvion Process Asset Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Savvion BusinessManager Platform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
BPM Studio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-10
BPM Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
BPM Portal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-11
Keeping the team involved ensures that initiatives succeed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Success with Savvion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Hundreds of companies across dozens of industries. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Next Steps
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Savvion, Inc.
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White Paper
An overview of Savvion BusinessManager 7.0
The promise of improvement
Great theory that needs help working in the real world
B
usiness improvementincreasing efficiency, quality and customer satisfaction while cutting costsshould be
the goal of every person working. What's not to like about conducting business faster, better and more
profitably?
That's why so many ways of nurturing business improvement have sprung up over the years: Total Quality
Management (TQM), Process Re-engineering, Six Sigma, etc. Each purports to encourage and track
improvement initiatives so all have taken hold at one time or another. Yet despite avid acceptance in
corporations, few manage to achieve their claims outside management texts and PowerPoint presentations.
In those confines, issues can be simplified to the point that broad solutions seem to work. But of course
such neat simplification ignores the messy realities of day-to-day business.
Instead of making our jobs better and more efficient, the initiatives feel like work on top of the real work.
People, teams and departments fail to provide input. Managers and consultants running the projects gloss over
or make assumptions about the missing information.
Few organizations are ready for business improvement initiatives. People have never had to think in terms
of process. They have difficulty articulating their current processes much less optimal ones. Best practices exist
in their heads, not as documents for others to learn from and follow.
In addition, success at the executive level often has little do with the performance of the organization.
Worse, senior management doesn't have tools to correlate high-level metrics with the work people do every
day.
Pre-packed systems often perpetuate these scenarios. The so-called solutions tend to be monolithic and
difficult to adapt to individual organizations. They don't allow for special circumstances, which constitute the
norm in business.
Little wonder then that most organizations shrug off process improvement exercises.Oh sure, solutions
get released with fanfare and are lauded for a time. But in the end they're typically ignored as work continues
pretty much the same way it always has.
Savvion, Inc.
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White Paper
Page 4
An overview of Savvion BusinessManager 7.0
Your people will show you what to do
Provided they have the means to communicate and collaborate with you
T
he best way to improve any business is to meet people where they are and understand how they think.
Once you do, you can let them contribute to improving the functions they perform. Appreciating this people
dynamic is an important step in creating a culture that encourages business improvement.
It's human nature that people understand and care about things that impact them daily or significantly.
They need to know, “what's in it for me?” At all levels, people follow the same basic process: take one or more
inputs, use that information to determine what to do then do it.
In business, people execute the same basic process.
Information
Decision
Action
The vast majority of people in any organization are relatively unconcerned with what happens outside
their individual roles. But almost universally those same people care passionately about what they do because
it reflects on them. As a result, they always want to do better.
That is the key to managing process improvement.
Real improvement happens when people are given the tools to define their jobs and imagine ways to
make them better. Often, people don't know how to fix things. They only know what is holding them back. Even if
they can't visualize a specific solution, people instinctively know what makes their jobs easier, faster and more
efficient. They want to make it better because it improves their world.
It is important to recognize that the people who do the work of an organization often have
valuable insights. The most successful project improvement teams manage to capture such input
and use it to solve process issues. Such a collaborative input method is the best way to nurture real
process improvements.
Improving a business starts with taking away pain and allowing people to do their jobs better. That means
understanding the process as it stands today, finding bottlenecks in its capabilities, then testing potential
improvements to it. Once these improvement ideas receive endorsement from the relevant constituents,
solutions can be assembled and deployed to the people who have a vested interest in seeing them succeed.
In a nutshell, that's what Business Process Management (BPM) is all about.
BPM helps make business improvement real. It complements other management systems (TQM, Six
Sigma) and actually makes them more effective.
Savvion, Inc.
White Paper
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An overview of Savvion BusinessManager 7.0
The Savvion Solution
People find their own answers
S
avvion has created a comprehensive BPM suite, Savvion BusinessManager 7.0, which allows people to
collaborate on process improvement ideas, test and rollout real world solutions, and control their daily
process-driven business activities. It puts role-specific tools directly into the hands of those who know the
process best so they can make an impact on the business.
Savvion
BusinessManager Suite
Savvion
Process
Modeler
Savvion
Business
Expert
Savvion
BusinessManager
Platform
BPM
Studio
Savvion
Process Asset
Manager
BPM
Portal
BPM
Server
For the businessperson these tools include:
An easy
n
to use Savvion Process Modeler which helps them model and simulate their business
processes so they can test their improvement ideas
An easy
n
to use, web-based Savvion Process Asset Manager which helps people across functional
areas share and socialize process improvement ideas
Business-driven performance scorecards, analytics and task management that help people control
n
and manage daily business activities and process exceptions.
More technical people also have access to the feature rich BPM Studio which ensures rapid assembly
and quick rollout of process-driven applications. The studio supports sophisticated rules, integration, and web
services
Using Savvion BusinessManager, people can quickly transform and easily deploy their processes as
applications on the web. Then, these process applications can be accessed easily and widely via portals or
wireless devices.
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White Paper
An overview of Savvion BusinessManager 7.0
Savvion BusinessManager 7.0 ranks as the easiest, quickest way for business people to collaborate on and
control process improvements.
Savvion BusinessManager creates an environment where project teams can drive business
improvement through constant, simultaneous cycles of collaboration. Planning, identifying best
practices, prototyping and refining working solutions flow amongst the team with feedback at each
stage improving output at the next.
Tight integration of all phases of the process lifecycle coupled with industry process templates
enables Savvion customers to quickly move from initial process discovery to production in as little as
30 days while seeing a 200% - 300% return on investment (ROI).
Savvion, Inc.
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White Paper
An overview of Savvion BusinessManager 7.0
Savvion Process Modeler
Collaboration in Savvion BusinessManager 7.0 starts with the Savvion Process Modelera high-quality
business process designer featuring a drag and drop, code-free interface. With it, a businessperson can mock
up a business problem in a few minutes. There is no complex configuration or code to learn. It allows people to
focus on the issues at hand rather than getting lost in the weeds.
Best of all, Savvion Process Modeler is free. People throughout the organization can easily install it on
their office desktops, laptops or their home PCs. Savvion makes it easy for just about anyone to jot down
thoughts on a process and share them with others.
Easily create forms with the Savvion Process Modeler Form Editor.
Savvion Process Modeler enables people to:
n
Model
how the business works and how to improve it today. Savvion Process Modeler
empowers people to create a visual representation of their business process using process-flow
diagrams. These diagrams contain activities with the time and resources required to carry out each
step in a process. In addition, business people with a vision for how a solution should be built can
quickly put together web-based forms to communicate how their solutions should work.
Simulate bottom line impact of their process improvement ideas. Business people can test their
n
process models against defined loads (10,000 orders for example) while visually observing
potential bottlenecks and contention points. Simulation reports include costs and resource
utilization metrics to accurately predict performance and productivity.
Document
n
best practices, communicate requirements and comply with regulations. Process
models form the starting point for applications. The Savvion Process Modeler automatically
generates documentation to communicate detailed requirements to anyone affected by the
process. This documentation also can be used to maintain compliance with industry and
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White Paper
An overview of Savvion BusinessManager 7.0
government regulations, such as Sarbanes-Oxley, Basel II and HIPAA.
n
Optimize
and improve existing practices. Savvion Process Modeler makes it easy for people to
check ongoing process performance and optimize as needed. Business people can simply make
changes to the process models, enabling application and process revisions.
Savvion Process Asset Manager
Savvion Process Asset Manager extends the core capabilities of Savvion Process Modeler by enabling
cross-functional teams to share and socialize process-modeling projects. Any work done in Modeler can be
saved to a common location and reused by other people on your team. Business people using Savvion Process
Modeler can search this process repository and apply best practices to their own efforts.
Teams, particularly those spread over in multiple locations, are well served by this distributed design
concept. People in different offices as well as those who travel often can check models out of Savvion Process
Asset Manager and make modifications offline. When they're satisfied with the changes, they can check the
revised models in, making their contributions instantly available to other team members.
Savvion Process Asset Manager enables people to:
Archive
n
the organization's current policies and procedures. It provides version control for
evolving processes. This knowledge base contains the operational best practices of the
organization, enabling evaluation and reuse of a wide range of process models.
Collaborate
n
on process improvement ideas across boundaries. Savvion Process Asset
Manager provides a browser-based capability for people to browse, modify and adopt models
created by other people, regardless of whether they are in the same department or location.
Search
n
for pre-existing best practices. Savvion Process Asset Manager makes it easy for
business people to find and leverage work that has been done in other parts of the business.
Savvion, Inc.
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White Paper
An overview of Savvion BusinessManager 7.0
Savvion BusinessManager Platform
Once Savvion Process Modeler has been used to identify and begin to form improvement ideas, the
Savvion BusinessManager Platform helps turn those ideas into deployable processes. The Savvion
BusinessManager Platform brings powerful IT tools to bear that extend the work done by business people.
BPM Studio
BPM Studio offers a visual development environment for assembling and rolling out practical process
improvement solutions with BPM Server. Based on the popular ECLIPSE IDE, BPM Studio is intended for the
more technical user both business analysts interested in configuring running applications as well as IT
professionals focused on deep systems integration.
BPM Studio allows collaborative design among IT professionals through it’s intuitive wizard based interface.
BPM Studio has not been watered down. It is geared specifically for application developers. Remember
Savvion BusinessManager 7.0 includes Savvion Process Modeler, the process designer for business people.
That leaves BPM Studio to support collaborative design among IT professionals, business analysts, Web
designers, and solutions providers.
Key features including visual process and business rule definition, web services integration, performance
metric and report design, and document management are accessible via the intuitive wizard based interface.
BPM Studio manages all version control and supports process model sharing with users of Savvion Process
Modeler via the common repository.
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White Paper
An overview of Savvion BusinessManager 7.0
Page 10
Specifically, BPM Studio enables technical professionals to:
Leverage
n
ideas stored in the Savvion Process Asset Manager. Process models are completely
interoperable between Savvion Process Modeler and BPM Studio. IT staff can take improvement
ideas from the people that know the situation best and enrich them to create running solutions. BPM
Studio supports the same simulation features as Savvion Process Modeler so different
improvement ideas can be tested against each other to identify the best alternatives.
Identify
n
data flow by defining the data slots used throughout the process. Data fields can be
populated from any source, including databases, external applications, and people.
Integrate
n
with external systems and web services. Various adapters are included and custom
adaptors can be obtained from third parties or created using the built-in adapter development
framework.
Define
n
event-based business rules for managing dynamic aspects. Savvion Business Rules
enable people to easily define and execute business policies and rules as intelligent components of
Savvion BusinessManager process flows. Business Rules are accessible either via the easy-to-learn
natural language interface or the easy-to-use Rule Wizards that support common rule patterns.
Design
n
forms for human steps. Developers have the option of using system-generated forms,
creating forms with the built-in form designer or customizing forms with any off-the-shelf form
technology. Form ideas developed by business people in Savvion Process Modeler are available in
BPM Studio. Again, developers have the option of using them as they are or enriching them. It is also
possible to provide interfaces for wireless devices for particular tasks.
BPM Studio is customizable and extensible. New tabs with reusable components such as adapters
and rule wizards can be added easily to extend and adapt the tool to various industries and
domains.
BPM Server
BPM Server is a versatile set of Java-based engines that manage running process applications. The
server provides a rich set of services for executing and managing business process applications, including
integration, workflow, and business rules. The BPM Server also includes web applications for administration.
BPM Portal
BPM Portal provides business analysts and managers clear visibility and increased control. With it they
can analyze process metrics then respond to problems and changing business conditions. These tools enable
concurrent reporting of time, volume and informational data from a variety of applications, to determine if
business processes are running at peak efficiency and meeting strategic goals.
Digital dashboards graphically display process metrics on-the-fly.
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White Paper
An overview of Savvion BusinessManager 7.0
Page 11
BPM Portal enables people to:
Monitor business activity in real time through a Web portal interface.
n
Measure performance with pre-built scorecards
n
Analyze real-time data with numerous out-of-the-box reports
n
Drill down
n
into data with a visual query tool or use complementary business intelligence tools for
more detailed data analysis
Optimize processes by providing the visibility and metrics to make improvement decisions
n
Every business has its own ways of measuring progress, according to its own objectives and goals. You
could choose to eliminate the white spaces in a process, reducing time to completion. Or you might opt to add
new steps to ensure compliance with a key signoff.
Savvion BusinessManager 7.0 has the tools to quickly change business rules, alter process flow then
modify and redeploy processes currently in operation. A manager can look at a list of process instances, get a
color-coded status map for a specific process instance then drill down into the active work step and change it.
Each application in Savvion BusinessManager 7.0 can have one or more designated managers. Any
person with the proper access rights can perform management functions through the web interface of BPM
Portal.
Management functions include the ability to control and influence the behavior of applications. For
example, a manager can change performers of tasks, change priority of work steps and process instances, and
complete or suspend a process instance all in real time.
BPM Portal includes Process Instance Editor. This special tool allows a manager to change the
unexecuted part of a process by inserting or removing a new work step or adding a decision point to it.
BPM Portal provides more than 40 standard reports to help business people monitor process efficiency
and effectiveness. It includes a visual query tool for browsing the Savvion BusinessManager event repository
and generating reports. Whether they're specific to one application or give a view across multiple applications,
these custom-defined reports can be saved for easy single-click access.
Managers receive scorecards for monitoring business activity, tracking metrics and adjusting behaviors
where problems exist. A manager may also be inserted into the escalation process, providing a manual
override of a corrective process before it is launched.
Process metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs) can be defined at design time. This allows a
business analyst to determine what information and reports will be important from a management perspective.
Then that information will be readily available through BPM Portal without the need for expensive business
intelligence activities.
For those organizations with existing business intelligence infrastructure, critical process data is easily
integrated with third party reporting engines including Business Objects, Cognos, Crystal Reports, as well as
Java based reporting technologies.
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An overview of Savvion BusinessManager 7.0
Page 12
Keeping the team involved ensures that initiatives succeed
Savvion BusinessManager provides unprecedented visibility for teams.
T
raditional development processes discourage people. Business executives and project teams are
frustrated by complex vendor methodologies that rely on unwieldy information gathering approaches and
provide little to no visibility on project progress. The result is inaccurately scoped process solutions and slow
deployments.
Savvion's approach is different. Unique in the industry, Savvion provides a BPM Program Portal, which
gives teams unprecedented visibility into your company's BPM initiatives.
The program portal enables users to:
n
View project status
n
Assess program ROI
n
Access job aid templates
n
Post Internal BPM Discussions
The result of the Savvion approach is repeatable results in as little of 30 days. Your team will experience
rapid ROI on your first initiative and will become self-sufficient quickly.
With Savvion, you can expect success.
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White Paper
An overview of Savvion BusinessManager 7.0
Page 13
Success with Savvion
Collaboration gets people involved - yet control produces fast results
S
avvion is the easiest way for people to adopt Business Process Management as a competitive business
asset. Our system focuses on helping people get their jobs done.
People from all parts of an organization can work together to identify and test improvement ideas. As the
best ideas are found, our interconnected tools allow teams to quickly assemble and rollout solutions.
Equally important, Savvion BusinessManager puts an emphasis on control of core processes, allowing
management of rapid change without surprises. Our approach is unique because it's based on the belief that
control is entirely personal. When people have all the tools to get their jobs done and the ability to monitor their
performance, they can rapidly assess and take action to adapt to daily business changes.
Little wonder that the Savvion system helps put process into action fast, often delivering measurable
business return within 90 days.
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White Paper
An overview of Savvion BusinessManager 7.0
Page 14
Hundreds of companies across dozens of industries
Savvion is at work today with a robust customer and partner base
M
any leading enterprises, including hundreds in the Fortune 1000, are using Savvion BusinessManager
today for business improvement. They are extending and adding more processes and applications
based on Savvion, thus capitalizing on their initial BPM investments in Savvion.
Savvion also has a growing number of system integration (SI) partnersregional and vertical as well as
internationalthat can assist customers with Savvion-based projects and implementations. Some SI partners
have built solution templates for various industry processes based on best practices and domain expertise.
These pre-packaged solutions can expedite the development and deployment of full solutions.
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White Paper
An overview of Savvion BusinessManager 7.0
Page 15
Next Steps
1. Download and use Savvion Process Modeler for free.
You can begin using the Savvion approach to business improvement immediately and at no cost. Try it
in your own organization and on your own issues. See for yourself how easy it is to take the first step.
2. Contact Savvion for relevant best practices
Because the Savvion approach has been adopted by hundreds of companies across dozens of
industries, Savvion representatives can draw from a wide-range of best practices to provide you with
solutions relevant to your company size, structure and field.
Savvion, Inc.
Savvion and Savvion BusinessManager are trademarks or
registered trademarks of Savvion, Inc.
All other names mentioned herein may be trademarks of
their respective owners.
©2008 Savvion, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Savvion, Inc. 5104 Old Ironsides Drive Suite 205 Santa Clara, California 95054 | 408-330-3402 | 888-544-5511 | www.savvion.com