Today enterprises must strive to improve their competitiveness in a changing environment. To reach this objective it is necessary for companies to evaluate their performances and to combine modelling, business process re-engineering and benchmarking techniques. This book demonstrates the successful combination and implementation of these various techniques.

Process Management is a compendium for modern design of process-oriented companies. A hands-on approach introducing, realizing and continually administering process management is presented with a thoroughly critical reflection of the necessary activities regarding the state of the art of organization theory and information management. This is done by following individual stages of a process model which has already successfully proved in practice. The progress of the project is described by a continuous case study which is the process management project of a modern service company. The included recommendations are summarized in a series of checklists for each stage of the project.

The first English-language edition of this book was published in 1989 under the title "Enterprise-Wide Data Modelling." It introduced a new enterprise data model that has since gone on to enjoy widespread use as a reference model. Since that time, the author has continued to develop the representation of application problems, both on a theoretical basis using modeling languages and on a practical basis using real-world studies. This has led to so many new aspects that this second English-language edition (the original German version is now in its fifth edition) constitutes a completely new book. The new title expresses the stricter emphasis on business processes in contrast to the previous edition, which was geared more toward a functional structure. This approach reflects the trend toward process oriented structural and procedural organization in enterprises that is currently being supported by new means of information processing. Perhaps the most obvious way in which the second English-language edition differs from the first is in the increased number of pages. This is a direct result of the higher degree of detail and the more thorough problem description presented in the new edition. The degree of detail has increased in the case of those problems that are particularly important in terms of selecting and designing information systems in an industrial enterprise, e.g., the product description and CAM factory organization. This approach provides greater reality and thus facilitates a better understanding of the complex organism that is an industrial enterprise.

This book is addressed at decision makers, project teams, project managers, company's IT-managers, and staff of consulting companies, who are either involved in complex standard software implementation, or release migration projects. The book stresses the shortcomings of many present standard software implementations which mainly pertain to insufficiently optimised business processes, thus standard software has caused a lot of dissatisfied companies. The authors analyse certain popular implementation approaches (life-cycle-models) of different Standard Software suppliers. It shows how a new semi-process oriented way of implementing modern standard software systems may contribute to a better business performance.

"This book generates a comprehensive overview of the recent advances in concepts, technologies, and applications that enable advanced business process management in various enterprises"--Provided by publisher.

Business Process Management (BPM) has become one of the most widely used approaches for the design of modern organizational and information systems. The conscious treatment of business processes as significant corporate assets has facilitated substantial improvements in organizational performance but is also used to ensure the conformance of corporate activities. This Handbook presents in two volumes the contemporary body of knowledge as articulated by the world's leading BPM thought leaders. This second volume focuses on the managerial and organizational challenges of Business Process Management such as strategic and cultural alignment, governance and the education of BPM stakeholders. As such, this book provides concepts and methodologies for the integration of BPM. Each chapter has been contributed by leading international experts. Selected case studies complement their views and lead to a summary of BPM expertise that is unique in its coverage of the most critical success factors of BPM.

Business processes are among today's hottest topics in the science and practice of information systems. Business processes and workflow management systems attract a lot of attention from R&D professionals in software engineering, information systems, business-oriented computer science, and management sciences. The carefully reviewed chapters contributed to this state-of-the-art survey by internationally leading scientists consolidate work presented at various workshops on the topic organized by the editors of the book in the past few years. The book spans the whole spectrum of business process management ranging from theoretical aspects, conceptual models, and application scenarios to implementation issues. It will become a valuable source of reference and information for R&D professionals active in the fascinating interdisciplinary area of business process management and for ambitious practitioners.