Issue No.1 | October 2007

Welcome to the first edition of "The BPM Professional" - your process and change management e-zine!

Visitors to my web site - imrehegedus.com - will know that I regularly post News and Events information on the site. This e-zine provides subscribers with a summary of the latest items of interest and subscriber resources on the site and highlights trends and developments in the process and change management space.

Featured in this edition is the newly-added presentation, BPM - Key Elements for Sustained Transformation. Based on 'real world' experience, the presentation illustrates my personal perspective on deploying process thinking. I trust that it will be not only thought-provoking, but also encourage tangible actions for those in the field.

While the 'Key Elements' presentation is predominantly about business aspects of BPM, I also place great importance on the IT developments, thinking and technology that enable BPM. Some aspect of BPM technology will be featured in each issue of the e-zine... I think you'll enjoy the Technology section this time!

The coming months are sure to be busy so keep checking back to my site for regular updates... but for now read on and enjoy.

Until next time!

Imre


The BPM Professional

Contents:
1. What I have been up to
2. What I have coming up
3. News and Events Summary
4. Latest Resources
5. Technology
6. BPM Jobs Market

1. What I have been up to (looking back)

Since launching the site, I have continued my commitment to the Australian BPM chapters and with the local chapter chairs have run 10 meetings across five cities! I was fortunate to attend forums in Melbourne, Canberra, Adelaide and Perth. Interest continues to be strong with good attendance at meetings and great presentations and workshops. We are always looking for speakers, hosts and sponsors so contact me if you are interested in participating in any way. See the schedule upcoming meetings for more information.

We are extremely pleased to have announced that from September 1st these face-to-face forums are part of the BPTrends community and look forward to further developing the value and scope of the BPTrends Forum in the coming months.

Other activities I have been involved with include the July BPM Roundtable held in Sydney, Australasian Process Days 2007, and BPM 2007.

2. What I have coming up (looking forward)

Community
All six BPTrends FORUM Chapters will be meeting in October and November as follows:

MELBOURNE	BPTrends FORUM Chapter meeting	16th October
ADELAIDE	BPTrends FORUM Chapter meeting	18th October
PERTH	BPTrends FORUM Chapter meeting	25th October
CANBERRA	BPTrends FORUM Chapter meeting	late October
SYDNEY	BPTrends FORUM Chapter meeting	1st November
BRISBANE	BPTrends FORUM Chapter meeting	early November

Invitations are being sent to those on our local lists - contact me if you wish to be added to the distribution list for any of the Chapters or would like to know more about them.

Note: Check back to the News & Events section for updates on all BPTrends FORUM meetings.

Training
BPTrends Associates are running their first series of training courses in Australia from October 22nd to 26th. The methodology used is a comprehensive, integrated approach to BPM and addresses the Enterprise Level, the Business Process Level and the Implementation Level.

Conference
I will be Conference Chair for the ARKGroup's "Capitalising on Business Process Management" Conference from November 26th to 28th in Melbourne. This is set to be an excellent event featuring speakers from Australia and New Zealand.

I will also be running a half-day post-conference seminar on Integrating BPM and Process Improvement for sustained transformation.

Click here for further information and a brochure.

See BPM Training and Events for more information on all of the above.

3. News and Events Summary

The News & Events items are a popular discussion piece. They are generally published on Mondays so if you come back to the site on a weekly basis you are sure to find something new. A few items to give you an idea of the topics covered include:

BPM Conferences in Australia - a summary of what is coming-up on the conference front for the second half of year in Australia
BPTrends Forum launches in Australia - a significant move forward for the Australian BPM Chapters
Six Sigma and Innovation - a thought-provoking article that touches on a key interest of mine in relating BPM with Process Improvement.
Kaizen has come Jojo at Toyota - Article references on the Toyota Way and it’s influence on Supply Chain Management and Product Development.

Click here for the complete list...

Contact me if you have any suggestions for News & Events items.

4. Latest Resources

Book Summary - The Discipline of Market Leaders (added in August)

The BPM Library on my site lists books that I see as being pre-requisite reading for anyone interested in process and change management. The latest summary is on "The Discipline of Market Leaders" by Michael Treacy and Fred Wiersema.

Treacy and Wiersema present us with the "Value Disciplines" model within which they describe three value disciplines of:
• Operational Excellence - best total cost, speed, delivery
• Product Leadership - best product
• Customer Intimacy - best total solution

They propose that successful companies develop a level of threshold competence in all three disciplines but choose only one in which to excel. Click here for the rest and visit this section to find updates which will include a healthy mix of business, IT, quality, and change management texts.

Presentation - The Key Elements of BPM* (added in October) - subscriber access only

*The "Key Elements of BPM" is a companion presentation of the popular "BPM and PI: Performance Partners" series of articles. There is a wealth of information in the slides and viewing the slides alone does not do the content justice. The best way to communicate the information is by presentation and workshop. It takes about 90 minutes to present though much more time could be spent in a more in-depth workshop on the topics covered. If you and your team would like to hear the presentation then contact me to discuss how we would best deliver the key messages based on your needs.

5. Technology

The hype associated with SOA and the dynamics of the BPM tools market is drawing me back into the technology domain of BPM more and more. You can read my latest news item on SOA and BPM and I will write more about the technology aspects of BPM in coming months. For now, let’s take a somewhat lighter technology-view of BPM…

This great piece of 'cinema' summarises how many business people probably feel about SOA - it is from Tibco and is a great leap forward (in a Dilbert kind of way) in illustrating the business-IT divide. It is a great introduction to the issues and reinforces my views that SOA is to the Business what BPM is to IT - we are just looking for a common language to bridge that ever-present divide between the two disciplines.

So here it is http://gregthearchitect.com/episode_SOA_this.html.
Thanks to Warwick Moyse (Adelaide BPTrends FORUM Chapter Chair) for bringing "Greg the Architect" to my attention.

6. BPM Jobs Market

This section provides an avenue for both employers and potential employees to express their interest in particular roles and target to particular skills within a known process community. So if you are in the market for a new role or an employer looking to attract the right process professional please email me the details for inclusion in our next edition. Here are a couple of exciting opportunities to start with:

Business Process Analyst - Corporate and Shared Services
Auckland - New Zealand: Fonterra

A consultative business analyst for a dynamic global company! Fonterra seek a talented business analyst who enjoys consulting to a business on process improvement to join our Global Business Process team. The Global Business Process team represent a cross-functional group of business process experts who provide an internal consultancy role to the Fonterra business.

If you enjoy working as part of a vibrant team and are passionate about helping business units realise their improvement initiatives then click on the following link to find out more and apply on-line www.fonterra.snaphire.com/jobseeker/safelink=JSHL&O_p=UPyd7&

Business Process Improvement Consultants
Canberra - Australia: SMS MT

SMS is currently seeking experienced Business Process Improvement Consultants to join their team of dynamic professionals. Key to the role requirements include a blend of experience in business process management and business process improvement and the ability to bridge the business/technology gap.
For Further Information please contact Renae Calder, National Recruitment Administrator on +61 3 9674 3356 or go to
www.smsmt.com/Job-Posting/Business-Process-Improvement-C.aspx

Next issue of The BPM Professional: December 2007

Feedback: Tell me what you think of The BPM Professional by emailing me at enquiries@imrehegedus.com