9    Introduction to SAP BPM and BPMN 2.0

If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.
                                                                                                   —Albert Einstein

This chapter introduces the fundamental concepts of business process management (BPM) in general and specifically the use of SAP Business Process Management (SAP BPM) and Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN 2.0) as core parts of SAP Process Orchestration (SAP PO). With BPM, organizations are able to react and adapt rapidly to changes in their operating environment. BPM enables companies to manage the entire lifecycle (see Figure 9.1) of their business processes, which involves graphically designing, modeling, executing, monitoring, and continuously improving those business processes. That holistic process is supported by sophisticated BPM software that uses easy-to-make and understand flow charts and diagrams, based on open standards and globally supported by the biggest software vendors.

Figure 9.1    BPM Lifecycle

BPM Lifecycle

The BPM lifecycle is an iterative process applicable for any business process and consists of the following steps:

• Design
  This first step involves the analysis of existing business processes (as is) and design of the new (to be) processes, including the mapping to application functionality and information architectures. If the business process is totally new, then you start from scratch designing the business process based on the functional requirements.
• Model
  The model step comprises the translation of the high-level process model (Unified Modeling Language [UML] or BPMN 2.0 describing the process at an abstract level) to the more detailed and executable process flow model modeled in BPMN 2.0.
• Execute
  At this stage, the process is executed by the BPM software platform in charge of interpreting the BPMN 2.0 source code into an orchestrated software program.
• Monitor
  This stage encompasses the monitoring of running business processes on the BPM platform. The monitoring of processes depends on how the business wants to collect and analyze the process data (i.e., real time, near real time, or based on historical data). Real-time monitoring is also called business activity monitoring (BAM).
• Improve
  This step is intended to be a continuous process on its own and uses the design and monitoring steps as input.

First, we’ll get started by discussing the motivation behind using BPM, and then we’ll explain this process as well as BPMN in more detail.

9.1    Managing Business Processes

Think about everything we do as part of a process that can be mapped out, from ordering a cup of coffee at your favorite coffee shop (see Figure 9.2) to checking in at the airport for your next business or holiday trip. While performing those activities, you’re a participant of a business process, triggering different kinds of events and providing input and context for specific process instances.

Figure 9.2    Coffee Ordering Process

In fact, in our daily lives, we’re continuously surrounded by business processes. Whether you approach this philosophical thought from a private or business perspective, you end up with the same unambiguous conclusion that most actions we undertake in our daily lives belong to a particular process step in a business process.

Having said that, it doesn’t come as a surprise that companies around the world, no matter their size and the industries they serve, also have to deal with a large number of business processes in different types and levels of complexity. The demand to gain more control, flexibility, and agility in business processes comes mainly from the business and is directly driven by different phenomena, such as globalization, legal and regulatory compliance acts, big data, linked data, and social media, to mention just a few. In addition, don’t forget about the cost efficiency and operational excellence aspects related to the adoption of BPM as a management and IT discipline.

Now that we’ve briefly introduced the hidden forces behind the need for BPM in most organizations, it’s time to bring clarity to what type of BPM approach your organization is applying or planning to apply. As you might already know, BPM isn’t something new; in fact, it was around nearly four decades ago.

BPM has two different meanings, depending on the context and to whom you’re talking. It’s important to know the differences between them:

• BPM as a management discipline
  Involves managing the end-to-end processes (rather than the tasks) that organizations perform to create value for their customers and other stakeholders. It helps companies standardize and continuously optimize operational processes to reduce costs, improve quality, and increase agility. Good examples of BPM applied as an instrument to implement management strategies are methodologies such as Six Sigma, Kaizen, and lean.
• BPM as a technology
  When BPM is used as an IT enabler, it is also sometimes referred to as a business process management suite (BPMS), which is a suite that combines different tools to design, model, build, deploy, run, manage, monitor, and improve business processes and their running environment during the entire lifecycle. SAP BPM covers the functionality of a BPMS and qualifies as such.

Now that you understand what SAP BPM is, we’ll explain how it supports BPM functionality and how it’s positioned in the organization. After that, you’ll learn how to use BPMN 2.0 to design and model your business processes.