BPM vs Workflow

(I first published this around 2004 but I often still need to provide a “simple” explanation. This is the best I could come up with. It is done from a BPM tools vs Workflow tools perspective and not BPM as a management methodology. There is a post “Process-Centric Management” that does a better job of describing BPM as a strategic approach)

I often get asked what the difference is between BPM and Workflow. I guess I’ll answer it like any consultant. “What do you want it to be?”. It is really based on your point of view. If you come from a technical or tools perspective then the difference is quite so obvious. When you look at it from a business perspective some clear points of difference are visible.

For me BPM is about managing a business problem where workflow is a technology. BPM use workflow as one of its dimensions to manage business processes. The thought of dimensions led me to think of some of the other dimensions of BPM. It also reminded me of the cube as the icon for BPM with its six sides. The six sides of the BPM cube.

• BPM has a human workflow (WF) dimension;
• BPM has a rules engine (RE) dimension;
• BPM has an enterprise application integration (EAI) dimension;
• BPM has a service oriented architecture (SOA) dimension
• BPM has a content management (CM) dimension; and
• BPM has a business intelligence (BI) dimension.

So if BPM has all these dimensions one can argue that a BPM Suite (BPMS) should allow for the configuration of all of the dimensions from one interface or product suite. A BPMS provides the ability to create Composite Process Solutions (CPS) with all of these elements from a single toolset. A typical CPS may be a complex Order Management Cycle (OMC) solution with complex business rules, human intervention, various documents and data integrated to the CRM and ERP solutions in the business. The OMC solution needs to provide operational feedback and notifications to line managers as well as the ability to analyze completed processes and identify and opportunities to improve the processes by reducing bottlenecks and redundancy.

A simplified model of the cube would be to integrate RE with WF as well as EAI and CM with SOA. This leaves three dimensions for BPM:

• Rules-based human-centric workflow and process automation [Automate]  A
• SOA based EAI and CM [Integrate]  I
• BI based Performance Management [Manage] M

Are you AIMing your processes in you organization? This should be more important than debating workflow vs. BPM