business process management (BPM)

Business Process Management (BPM) is a management concept with which business processes can be described, controlled, modeled and optimized. Business process management links business processes with one another. It forms the basis for organizational and information technology initiatives to improve the value chain within companies and between companies and their suppliers.

Business process management includes supply chain management( SCM), customer relationship management( SRM), enterprise resource planning( ERP), and business intelligence( BI).

The Business Process Management Initiative( BPMI), as the lead standards organization for business process management, defines it as: Method as well as procedure for the continuous improvement of business processes through, among other things, a workflow management system( WMS).

Functional areas of Business Process Management (BPM)

Business processes run dynamically, they are complex and closely intertwined with customers and users. Business Process Management can coordinate and automate cross-functional processes. With BPM, it is possible to model these processes and adapt them to the business requirements of the company and to those of the business partners. Direct adaptation to dynamically changing conditions plays an essential role in this process, because fast real-time reactions are made to new information, thus achieving a high degree of flexibility.

BPM management integrates the analysis and modeling of a process, its implementation, and the monitoring of the results. Often these processes are executed by Microsoft's BizTalk servers. It accelerates time-to-market for new products, improves product quality, simplifies business processes, and helps reduce costs.