AntiAmba

In this article posted by Keith Swenson is argued that BPM is one thing, Case Management is other thing, because: What drives BPM is:" is defined as a way of defining a process, and maintaining it over time.", and, Case management is driven by: "useful for collaborative, dynamic, and information-intensive processes which requires incremental and progressive responses from the case handler to determine actions". I say this may lead people to wrong concepts. I think the issue here is not the definition: what is BPM what CM is. I consider it’s important to define things, otherwise business people, process people will misinterpret the idea and at the end hurt is done. The issue here is that BPM continues to be and it will be the philosophy to manage business processes. Some are structured with more or less flowcharts and documents (some structured processes don’t need documents and charts at all regarding people qualification to perform the tasks!) a...

This a mirror of my first post in Redux online. IBM recently launched the proposal for a new business processes notation called BEDL - Business Entity Definition Language. To access IBM’S documents follow this link: http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/websphere/library/techarticles/1004_nandi/1004_nandi.html According to the team that developed the concept: “in most suites of tools for managing business process, data is treated mostly as an afterthought. The activities and their flows are the main abstractions and the data handled by the processes are essentially the hidden variables. The presentation and aggregation of data are treated outside the process definition and implemented through generic service calls. This unique approach of the process ignores the important data perspective during the analysis of business operation”. When I started reading the article I’ve got caught by the idea of developing a standard that would help implement business processes in BPMS, represen...

This is just to let you know that from today, I became a guest blogger in Redux online. Redux is a leading BPM blog that encourages people to share ideas among the BPM community. I’m very proud of sharing my contributions inside Redux. If you’re interested check AntiAmba Redux link . Thank you Theo for the invitation.

30 years passed since last IMF visit. Seems this time Portugal doesn't need another bailout, because Portuguese government corrected the problem. Only. It did not implement corrective actions to eliminate the cause of Portuguese debt. If Portuguese Prime-Minister drawn a concept map like the one bellow that represents the Afghanistan stability, maybe it could figure it out how to do it (this map is some kind a joke of the lack of Pentagon's understating of Afghanistan situation).   

Some days ago I took a ride in IBM's Lombardi Blueprint another on-line tool that let's you discover, design and document business processes and share process knowledge among your team and peers. Very aligned what today is called collaborative process management or social BPM. In this article I don't analyse Lombardi's tool regardless I liked the way data is structured, clear, specially for non bpm experts that need to participate in process mapping and analysis, allow simple documentation (yet sufficient) with some automation provided, there is also risk analysis - very basic, probably useless. Anyway, the core feature is the capability to introduce on-line collaboration that runs smoothly. The thing is the suite have a built in feature that can import Visio process diagrams designed using BPMN notation, meaning that you don't have to construct process diagrams all over again. Lombardi announce, or suggests, users to get rid of Visio and start using Blueprint...

Some interesting debate about Process Modeling : Doing by Design, from Gartner's Jim Sinur. My thoughts about it: I don't agree with Keith when he says that "BPM is synonymous with BPMN graphical notation". Many people continue not to understand what BPMN is all about. Geeks say it's mandatory to execute BPEL in order to authoring BPM processes inside a BPMS suite, but as I far my experience goes I never saw any BPM suite doing it magically without a lot of hard code work. On the other hand, I see BPMN as a door to process oblivion, once people start using it incorrectly, I mean with all the stuff,and complex symbols attached (please don't read 2.0 draft, because it is more and more complex). By the way, I tested IBM's Lombardy that can't import true BPMN diagrams. This means that BPMN never become a standard at all. When designing something new, I prefer to use storyboards. I assemble a team with process facilitators, process team and end user...

Enterprise Architectures at it's best (or worst). I like this image very much. Source: http://blogs.msdn.com/mikewalker/archive/2009/03/11/mapping-current-state-architectures-across-the-enterprise.aspx

This year I rediscovered concept maps. I remember using it 10 years ago when I started working on BPM projects. I don't know why but I stop using it, maybe because BPMS promised a lot of tools to architect  Business Processes. Figured out that some key points are always missed if you start diagramming immediately processes.   This map was created using a simple free tool from called CMapTools  http://cmap.ihmc.us

Nem mais! Leiam abaixo: João Querido Manha: O incrível Guerrero in record Se Hamburgo fosse Portugal, o jogador Paolo Guerrero já sabia que iria sofrer uma suspensão da Liga entre 1 a 4 jogos, por ter atirado com uma garrafa de água a um espectador, mesmo à entrada do túnel do seu estádio. Com parecer jurídico de algum catedrático, talvez lhe conseguissem reduzir a suspensão, considerando que foi provocado de forma acintosa e inaceitável pelo público agredido. Porque, pela luso-jurisprudência desportiva, quem levar provocações para casa não é filho de gente fina. Embora não restem dúvidas que, apesar da barreira de "stewards" à entrada do túnel, foi à cabeça de um elemento do público que ele fez pontaria, o problema de Guerrero é Hamburgo situar-se no Norte da Alemanha e pertencer à Bundesliga, o mais sério, competitivo e transparente campeonato nacional de futebol. Por enquanto, não se conhece o castigo a aplicar-lhe pela Bundesliga, mas não deixará de servir de azimute aos...

Porque pelos vistos continua actual, porque as manobras no CJ da FPF continuam a existir, porque a desfaçatez de quem polui o nosso futebol lhe permite manter o "status quo" adquirido, recupero hoje um pequeno texto que escrevi acerca dos casos Apito Final e Apito Dourado, e em que relato uma história burlesca que se passou há algum tempo e que teve honras de abertura de jornais televisivos e 1.ªs páginas em quase todos os jornais diários publicados no nosso país. Trata-se de um texto de humor. Uma sátira aos feudos e senhores feudais que ainda existem no nosso futebol. Mas vamos à história porque isso é que interessa: 1. As escutas. Ora bem, a discussão acerca da admissão ou não das escutas prende-se pura e simplesmente com o facto de as mesmas não serem admissíveis para crimes com moldura penal inferior a 3 anos. Isto daria total razão aos defensores da nulidade das mesmas não fosse o facto, pelos vistos insignificante pois tem sido ignorado pela maioria dos ...

I always hated meaningless definitions, specially if they bring confusion to people mind, are used by business consultants implement no results project. Today BPM is facing the lack of a strong and revised definition. Today there is new (old) BPM reality: Adaptive Process . Gartner calls it ad-hoc processes, Forrester calls it dynamic case management. A lot of definitions are popping up among the community. Today I revisited OMG's process definition included in BPMN 2.0 draft. Take a deep breath. This is only an extract: Private business process - internal use (?!) Private business process can be: executable or non-executable (?!) Public processes - represents the interactions between a private Business Process and another Process A Choreography is a type of process, but differs in purpose and behaviour from a standard BPMN Process. A standard Process, or an Orchestration Process. (?!) I remember some time ago BPM Nexus where trying to produce and accord document to ...

5 years ago a leading BPM vendor I worked with promised the possibility to break the barrier of accessing information - they called it artifacts, assessed trough pc/mobile/phone/ whatever people real need to work with. Today this barrier still exist. This end-user expectation it's about the capability to connect immediately to data/forms/things if a user wants to, specially when these artifacts aren't available - that makes people mad, slow down task execution, people "invent" excel files, increase cycle time, error, etc. Accessing information in real time when you real need it, manipulated by the end user directly , if no data connection is available is the holly grail of IT. If you have some real world examples, please, leave a comment. This requirement is related to adaptive process definition by Max J. Pucher . I would like this requirement to be a reality, but unfortunately isn't and it seems to me it's an utopia. It's necessary that the BPM comm...

Like this tool to bring social engagement to your company. From Democrasoft .

Gartner uses a crystal ball to introduce a set of trends that companies and software vendors should look for. Some of them are often vapourware. Anyway one of the latest trends is a pattern based strategies. Some of the links available are these: Spotting Patterns on the Fly: A Conversation with Birders David Sibley and Julia Yoshida How Will BPM Deal with Pattern Based Strategies (PBS)? Jim Sinur Performance-driven culture key for pattern-based strategy - IT online Some useful concept usage can be found bellow: The Predictive Accounting Revolution And where it all began: Strategy Theory Initiative" (STI) The other one is the adaptive processes: The agenda - Michael Hammer 's last  book When Should a Process Be Art, Not Science? - Joseph M. Hall and M. Eric Johnson Some very interesting points about the subject here: Gartner Group predicts Adaptive Process Trend - Max J. Pucher Adaptive BPM…No Mapping tools… - Andrew One degree Managing unstructur...

Numa das minhas errantes viagens pelos sites dos nossos diários na "internet", deparei-me com esta notícia . Dado que o título e assunto me cheiravam a mais um assalto ao meu pobre bolso de contribuinte, continuei a ler o desenvolvimento da notícia com algum interesse. Quando cheguei à parte em que se listam as entidades que poderão beneficiar dos já famosos 0,5% do IRS de cada contribuinte, confesso que entrei num estado de tédio compulsivo e saltei de imediato para o sumo que os comentários a uma notícia destas me prometiam. Apesar de alguns comentários traduzirem na perfeição o sentir de um pobre elemento da classe média Portuguesa, a quem ciclicamente lhe assaltam a casa morando este ao pé de uma esquadra da PSP, a natureza eminentemente sexista e quase xenófoba de outros, impediu-me de ir adiante da 2.ª página de alarvices. Como tal accionei de imediato o botãozinho lateral para retroceder de página que existe no meu "mouse", e logo de seguida coloquei o meu d...

In the past 3 years we have seen in Portugal exponential growth of retail business at gas stations. Although the concept is not new, it started 20 years ago in A1 highway, SONAE together with  GALP were responsible for the growth of this business concept. Some stores even have become small coffee shops, where customers stop to drink coffee and read the newspaper headlines. The main problem is the difficulty in serving customers, especially at peak times, mainly early morning, when people stop to fill up the car and some drink an espresso and buy a newspaper. There are not enough people to meet payment requests and to serve coffee, and sometimes all the people available are serving coffee and no one is receiving the payments, or vice versa. In order to be served inside the store you need to pay everything simultaneously. You cannot pay fuel first and coffee latter (is this a process constraint?). Business impact. First, fuel sales decrease (a huge loss) once cycle time is ...

Viste o jogo ontem Carlinhos? Abriste bem os olhos? Ou continuas com a visão desfocada? Para que não digas que não sou teu amigo, aqui te deixo estes... Pode ser que assim te passe a miopia. PS: Não posso deixar de mostrar o meu total repudio contra a selvajaria que visitou ontem terras de Sua Majestade. O Allgarve não merecia tão triste espectáculo. Uma pergunta me assaltou ontem ao ver as imagens da tarde pré-futebolística: O que pensará ou sentirá um motorista de autocarro de adeptos de futebol? Receio? Medo? Puro terror? A certeza de que a sua hora pode chegar a qualquer momento?

Li num blog da concorrência a seguinte pergunta: "Hilário não é titular do seu clube e tem 34 anos! Como se justifica a sua chamada à Selecção?!" Apetece-me por isso "esmiuçar" este assunto. Vejamos: Liedson é chamado... Nuno Gomes fica de fora "porque não é titular". Até aqui tudo bem. Demonstra critério. E todos sabemos que o Carlos gosta de critérios. Quim é titular... Hilário é chamado. Mau! Então o critério? Pois é, o único que me ocorre é ser ou não do Benfica. Ora bem, não sendo o critério o facto de jogar ou não jogar no Benfica(vês Carlos? também sou capaz de ser simpático para ti e julgar que não és influenciável...), qual será então? Empresário? Ordens "superiores"? Influências externas ao organismo Federativo? A mim, que não sou parvo, cheira-me a esturro... Afinal não há critério nenhum. Há apenas um homem que teima em entupir os nossos ouvidos e olhos com uma verborreia tacanha e com constantes péssimas exibições do nosso selec...