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The purpose of this study is to identify the characterizations of business process management (BPM) methodology in hotel industry through an aggregate processing of the core cyclesteps (CCCs) of the highly-cited BPM life-cycle models in the literature aiming to highlight the major issues of the current methodological approach of BPM in hotels when to put the notion of service process into practice.

The paper identifies and examines the most popular BPM life-cycles models in the literature and locates 15 life-cycles that are highly cited. The paper then focuses on applying the theory on nine listed hotel companies in Egypt using a questionnaire in the form of a semi-structured interview technique.

The CCSs of BPM life-cycle model applied in hotels revealed a gap between BPM theory and practice in this sector. Utilizing this model of BPM life-cycle, the paper focuses on describing several of the main problems or pitfalls found in the methodological approach of BPM in hotels, which brings the essence of the whole operation management problems.

In light of these findings, the paper discusses the practical implications and focuses on recommendations on how to properly improve the methodological approach of BPM in hotels in order to get better business results.

The paper bridges the gap between BPM theory and practice and suggests recommendations that will assist hotel companies to eliminate the problems of poor process management (PM). There are also future research recommendations to enhance the knowledge of BPM theory in the service sector.

The purpose of this paper is to propose and validate the process of parent teacher meeting in private schools through applying BPM life-cycle approach and using quality tools to fill the gap of standardized practices for parent teacher meeting (PTM).

BPM life-cycle approach (Dumas et al., 2013) was used and two focus groups were conducted at first and second stage. The recommendations of previous studies for third, fourth and fifth stage of BPM and quality tools like SIPOC chart, responsibility assignment matrix (RAM) and CTQ trees were used for process management.

The previous studies reveal that, in developing countries, most of the private schools are not fully aware from the benefits of PTM. Beside, where the evidence of PTM is seen in few instances, no standardized process is available to conduct an effective PTM process. Owing to long-term sustainability and reciprocate economic benefits, school management is desired to have a standardized PTM process for an effective all-round performance. Likewise, the parents have a lot of expectations from schools and they want to be treated in a mannered way in which their complaints are formally addressed from the school management. The authors formulated all three phases from start to end process. The proposed process is validated in four private schools and got satisfactory results in terms of increased parents’ participation and decreased number of complaints.

This process will facilitate school managers to deal with parents effectively, collect the data from PTM, analyze it and use for the continuous improvement. Implementation of this process will ensure better meeting environment for the parents as well as for the teachers. The study bridges between quality management tools and BPM approach to improve the state of art of BPM practices that will lead to generate a trend of application of quality tools and management theories in private schooling industry.

The authors first time used BPM life-cycle approach to manage the process of PTM in private schools. The authors design a process to match the working of schools and the application of desired quality tools.

Business process management (BPM) is an emerging research theme in management. BPM lifecycles are models that systematize the steps and activities that should be followed for conducting BPM projects. The theoretical and empirical studies present differences regarding the number of steps and activities that should be carried out for promoting BPM. Using the BPM lifecycle model of the Association of Business Process Management Professionals (ABPMP) – an entity that proposes a common body of knowledge on BPM, as a parameter, this paper conducts a literature review to investigate lifecycle models within the academic-scientific ambit, identify convergences and variations and analyze the alignment between business strategy and processes in BPM activities in these models. The purpose of this paper is to propose a framework that deals with alignment between strategy and business processes in an explicit manner.

A literature review was conducted aimed at prospecting papers about the BPM lifecycle. For such, the Scopus, Google Schoolar and Science Direct databases were accessed. The selection process was structured in two steps: the first filtered studies based on a reading of the title, abstract and key words; the second step consisted of selecting papers based on a complete reading of those papers resulting from the first step and from the references they contained.

Seven BPM lifecycle models were selected and analyzed. A comparison was presented between the model steps and the model proposed by ABPMP. The particularities of each model were identified and the study suggests an alignment of these models with the BPM lifecycle proposed by ABPMP, in particular with the analysis, design and modeling, implementation and monitoring and control steps. Four models do not include the planning step, whereas four others do not incorporate refining. The majority of models studied projects the automation of business processes. This study reinforces that ABPMP's BPM lifecycle is a reference model, observing that the activities in the other models studied are projected in it. However, it was observed that in the ABPMP model as well as the models studied, there is little emphasis on organization strategy and on defining process architecture. Thus, this study suggests the incorporation of activities proposed by Burlton (2010) as an additional instrument for the ABPMP BPM lifecycle model to align strategy to processes in BPM projects. For such, a framework was proposed that deals with alignment between strategy and business process in an explicit manner.

This study presents a typology of BPM lifecycle models, with common characteristics and peculiarities, and it analyzes the alignment between processes and strategy in the models’ activities. This study can assist professionals in the adoption of a model for implementing BPM projects and for continuous improvement.

In the last two decades, a proliferation of business process management (BPM) modeling languages, standards and software systems has given rise to much confusion and obstacles to adoption. Since new BPM languages and notation terminologies were not well defined, duplicate features are common. This paper seeks to make sense of the myriad BPM standards, organising them in a classification framework, and to identify key industry trends.

An extensive literature review is conducted and relevant BPM notations, languages and standards are referenced against the proposed BPM Standards Classification Framework, which lists each standard's distinct features, strengths and weaknesses.

The paper is unaware of any classification of BPM languages. An attempt is made to classify BPM languages, standards and notations into four main groups: execution, interchange, graphical, and diagnosis standards. At the present time, there is a lack of established diagnosis standards. It is hoped that such a classification facilitates the meaningful adoption of BPM languages, standards and notations.

The paper differentiates BPM standards, thereby resolving common misconceptions; establishes the need for diagnosis standards; identifies the strengths and limitations of current standards; and highlights current knowledge gaps and future trends. Researchers and practitioners may wish to position their work around this review.

Currently, to the best of one's knowledge, such an overview and such an analysis of BPM standards have not so far been undertaken.

This work explores the potential benefits of aligning the strategic planning process with a BPM program in a clinical research center (CRC). The purpose of this paper is to define a process for executing strategic planning oriented towards the promotion of a BPM program.

The method applied is action research. This allowed the solution of a practical problem and at the same time the proposition of a new approach to promote BPM in alignment with strategy, which was synthesized in the model presented.

The analysis and structuring of the strategic planning process, with the assessment of the as-is situation, were adequate as a preparation step for the first cycle of a BPM program in the CRC. Based on lessons learned along the research project, a model was proposed for the strategic planning process oriented towards promoting BPM.

The model was conceived from a single application at a CRC, through a cycle of action research. This is one of the limitations of this work. The model was not yet sufficiently tested in other contexts. This represents opportunities for future research.

The evaluation step in the action research cycle revealed that the organization in focus was satisfied with the results. New management practices in the organizations in focus were implemented as a result of this work.

Process improvement initiatives are a novelty in the CRC context, and this work may serve as a reference for CRC managers seeking to improve overall performance. The proposed model in this work indicates that a BPM program should start with strategic planning. An initial assessment of the as-is situation of the organization in focus was performed based on the analysis of the undesirable effects in the organization’s management practices, using a technique of the Theory of Constraints. The use of this technique facilitated the identification of solutions to the root causes identified in the assessment. The level of the assessment was deeper in comparison to results obtained with traditional tools used in strategic planning processes. The assessment supports the definition of actions oriented to solving the majority of the management dysfunctions of the organization in focus.

This paper aims to address the extant and arguable role of enterprise systems (ES) in relation to management accounting practices (MAPs) through an inclusion relative neglect account of business process management (BPM). This is also extended to draw out an analytical framework to advance our understanding of how BPM mediate ES-MAPs interplay.

A cross-sectional case study was adopted as a research strategy with which to collect data about the ES-BPM-MAPs interplay as a unit of analysis. The latter, in the first stage, was examined across (89) mini-case studies operating in the UK context through reports and documentations collected from cases’ websites, vendors and consultants of information systems. Drawn insights from cross-sectional analysis and contributions made by prior studies are blended together to inform the second stage that outlines an analytical framework for ES-BPM-MAPs interplay.

Different ES are mobilised to address different orientations of BPMs and being used for different managerial functions and purposes. Different patterns of ES-BPM-MAPs interplay are identified across (89) UK-case studies and the BPM is a fulcrum understanding. These patterns are centred around three key BPM including customer, logistics and control processes and all oriented by a continuum of an organisation intention focus on control, understanding and strategising. Both processes and orientations explain ES development and MAPs evolution processes. Standardisation, integration and intelligence are key characteristics sought through ES mobilisations. By complementary, information provision, analytics and simulation are three sophisticated ways of using MA information facilitated by ES characteristics.

Dynamic processes of MAPs change over time and are beyond the reach of this study. Such approach requires full access to case studies. BPM is fulcrum understanding of MAPs change and/or stability in relation to ES implementation including other components.

Findings and analytical framework could be used as a base for establishing the best approach in adopting ES to fully exploit the potential of future ES applications as well as to avoid organisations pitfalls of implementations. Organisations are advised to understand their existing business processes, characteristics of MA information would be achieved first upon which decision of ES components selection and implementation could be outlined.

The indirect interplay between ES and MAPs through business processes is rarely examined. By the inclusion of BPM and using cross-sectional case studies, this research contributes to the existing shortcomings of ES-MAPs interplay by broadening the picture and proposing an analytical framework. The latter advances our understanding by focusing on attributes of ES-BPM-MAPs upon which informal changes in-the use of MAPs are recognised.

Significant numbers of business process management (BPM) projects fail. Their failure is attributed toward many factors. Among them, low quality of BPM is one reason. Some of the tasks in BPM have their roots in business process reengineering (BPR). The literature has cited many different critical success and failure factors for quality BPM and BPR. Lack of software tools is one of the technology-oriented factors that results in poor BPM and BPR. This paper aims to build a generic feature set offered by software tools for process modeling their analysis implementation and management. It presents an objective analysis in identifying weaknesses and strengths of these tools, primarily for BPM.

A method is proposed to evaluate the quality of process reengineering and management delivered by software tools. It consists of four phases: feature extraction, tool selection, data extraction and tool evaluation.

The data gathered is quantified to test research hypotheses, the results are statistically significant and highlight multiple areas for future improvements. Moreover, the cluster visualizations created also help to understand the strengths and weaknesses of BPM/BPR tools.

Despite the research approach used, there is a chance of subjectivity when it comes to evaluating different tools.

The paper includes implications for practitioners and researchers for choosing appropriate software tool for process modeling, analysis, implementation and management, matching their requirements with BPM and BPR. It also identifies features that are missing in these tools.

This paper provides a comprehensive analysis of BPM and supporting tools, relates them to key stages of BPM life cycle and BPR methodologies. It also identifies various areas for further development in these tools.

The purpose of this paper is to assess the state of the art of social business process management (Social BPM), explaining applied approaches, existing tools and challenges and to propose a research agenda for encouraging further development of the area.

The methodology comprises a qualitative analysis using secondary data. The approach relies on searches of scientific papers conducted in well-known databases, identifying research work related to Social BPM solutions and those contributing with social characteristics to BPM. Based on the identified papers, the authors selected the most relevant and the latest publications, and categorized their contributions and findings based on open and selective coding. In total, the analysis is based on 51 papers that were selected and analyzed in depth.

Main results show that there are several studies investigating modeling approaches for socializing process activities and for capturing implicit knowledge possessed and used by process actors, enabling to add some kind of flexibility to business processes. However, despite the proven interest in the area, there are not yet adequate tools providing effective solutions for Social BPM. Based on our findings, the authors propose a research agenda comprising three main lines: contributions of social software (SS) to Social BPM, Social BPM as a mechanism for adding flexibility to and for discovering new business processes and Social BPM for enhancing business processes with the use of new technologies. The authors also identify relevant problems for each line.

Some SS tools, like wikis, enable managing social aspects in executing business processes and can be used to coordinate simple business processes. Despite they are commonly used, they are not yet mature tools supporting Social BPM and more efficient tools are yet to appear. The lack of tools preclude organizations from benefitting from implicit knowledge owned by and shared among business process actors, which could contribute to better-informed decisions related to organizational processes. In addition, more research is needed for considering Social BPM as an approach for organizations to benefit from the adoption of new technologies in their business processes.

The paper assesses the state of the art in Social BPM, an incipient area in research and practice. The area can be defined as the intersection of two bigger areas highly relevant for organizations; on the one hand, the management and execution of business processes; and on the other hand, the use of social software, including social media tools, for leveraging on implicit knowledge shared by business process actors to improving efficiency of business processes.

This paper aims to achieve fully intertwined knowledge and business processing in change processes. It proposes streamlining situated articulation work, value network analyses (VNA) and subject-oriented business process modelling (S-BPM) and execution to provide non-disruptive single and double learning processes driven by concerned stakeholders. When implementing knowledge life cycles, such as Firestone and McElroy’s knowledge life cycle, the agility of organizations is significantly constrained, in particular, when surviving knowledge claims should be implemented in the business processing environment in a seamless way.

The contribution is based on a conceptual analysis of knowledge life cycle implementations, learning loop developments and an exploratory case study in health care to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach. The solution towards non-disruptive knowledge and business processing allows stakeholders to actively participate in single- and double-loop learning processes.

The introduced approach supports problem and knowledge claim formulation, knowledge claim evaluation and non-disruptive knowledge integration into a business process environment. Based on stakeholder articulation, the steps to follow are: holomapping, exchange analysis, impact analysis, value creation analysis, subject-oriented modelling, business process validation and execution. Seamless support of stakeholders is enabled through the direct mapping of stakeholder and activity descriptions from value network representations to behaviour specifications (process models) on the individual and organizational layer.

Current knowledge life cycle developments and implementations can now be analyzed in a structured way. Elements of the proposed approach could be integrated in disruptive implementations to overcome current limitations of knowledge life cycles. However, further case studies need to be performed to identify hindrances or barriers of combining VNA and S-BPM, both on the technological and methodological layer. What works for expert service industries might need to be adapted for production industries, and tools or tool chains might need to be configured accordingly. Finally, the socio-economic impact of the approach needs to be explored.

The presented case study from health care reveals the potential of such a methodological combination, as cycle times can be reduced, in particular, due to the execution of role-specific process models in the respective business processing environment. It can be considered as a fundamental shift for existing change management procedures, as they require rework of the entire functional process models when addressing business processing. Now, stakeholder- or role-specific behaviour can be handled isolated and in parallel, without affecting the entire organization in case of modifications.

The proposed methodological integration has not been done before. It enables stakeholders to perform single- and double-loop change processes in a seamless way.

The purpose of this study is to develop a map for the holistic business process management (BPM) diagnosis in order to guide the choice of techniques that encompass all dimensions of the business process.

The design science research method was used, with the elaboration of seven steps to project solutions to empirical problems: (1) identification of the problem, (2) awareness of the problem, (3) definition of expected results, (4) design and development, (5) demonstration, (6) evaluation of artifacts and (7) communication. These steps were organized in different analyzes: descriptive, experimental and observational. The descriptive analysis comprised steps one to three (identification of the problem, awareness of the problem, definition of expected results) and made use of the systematic literature review procedure for proposing artifacts. The experimental analysis comprised steps four to five (design and development, and demonstration), where the consultation with specialists' procedures and then the Delphi procedure for the construction of the artifacts were carried out. In the observational analysis, steps six (evaluation of artifacts), where two case studies were performed, and step seven (communication), in which the map for the holistic BPM diagnosis was presented were carried out.

The article systematizes the BPM diagnostic techniques scattered throughout the literature and relates how these techniques relate to dimensions. A map for the holistic BPM diagnosis is generated containing 21 techniques and 9 dimensions, with 45 relationships between these techniques and tools. Another aspect is that the map shows that in BPM promotion projects, techniques are not restricted to any specific phase of the life cycle.

Professionals can use the map to form a blend with selected techniques and use them for holistic BPM diagnosis according to the skills and other resources of the project team.

The map developed is innovative because it relates a set of consolidated techniques for each dimension of the process to provide the holistic diagnosis for the organization. It is important to highlight that these techniques and dimensions were scattered in the literature.