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Business process management (BPM) is still mostly associated with methods and software tools for process modeling, automation and redesign/performance analysis, with limited effort toward building and applying interdisciplinary approaches which capture the real complexity of business processes. The purpose of this paper is to elaborate a system view of BPM and presents an actionable body of knowledge to enhance process-related decisions and actions within organizations.

A design science approach is used to build a conceptual contribution based on extended process management literature and a multi-year author experience in the area of business process engineering in both research and education contexts.

A business process management system includes strategy, model, execution and performance dimensions whereas the management of a process involves activities related to scope, structure, resource, systems, dependency, exception, performance and external integration.

The frameworks and related definitions need further theoretical development and refinement in terms of the components and reciprocal relations among system and activity elements. In this vein, the study would also benefit from real-life applications and empirical analysis.

The paper can support process implementation, maturity assessment and competence development efforts within organizations as well as be a foundational work to advance the creation of a global body of knowledge on process management.

The paper proposes a holistic perspective on BPM as a system of components and a bundle of activities, thus providing a twofold strategic and operational tool for process analysts and managers at different levels.

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.

The purpose of this paper is to describe and analyze the benefits of the application of a requirements engineering framework to assist Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) development. This framework combines the technology-driven and the process-driven approaches for requirements analysis and implementation. Specific business process modeling methods enhance the framework and assist the formulation of the functional specifications of the ERP system and the management of requirements.

A case study strategy was chosen as the most appropriate method to answer the research question and test the theoretical propositions. The case study’s unit of analysis is a Greek manufacturing company and its ERP implementation project. A requirements engineering framework enhanced with business process modeling methods was applied and the results were evaluated using metrics for ERP implementation success. Data were collected using multiple sources of evidences, including interviews with various stakeholders, structured questionnaires, direct observations, vendors’ functionality papers and company’s documentation.

This study proves that the configuration of ERP’s reference models together with the adjustments of organization’s processes, provided through a structured requirements engineering framework can lead to reliable functional specifications, a smooth transition to an ERP system and, eventually, to successful ERP implementation, concerning its alignment with requirements.

A single case study is conducted in a typical manufacturing company, providing opportunities for further research in other industries, testing in parallel well-defined requirements and other success factors for ERP implementation.

The paper fulfils the identified needs for applied methodologies and frameworks for requirements engineering which can assist successful ERP implementations.

Nowadays, the aspects of the intellectual capital (IC) management have become important, valuing it as an integral part of the organisation. Researchers emphasise the strategic importance of IC management, particularly in the context of satisfying the stakeholders' interests and value creation. However, the existing studies reflect individual elements of IC management, not analysing them as a system which is a part of the organisational management system, and hence it is impossible to draw valid conclusions on the impact of IC on the organisation's performance. The aim of the paper is to describe an approach to the elaboration of the IC management strategy and its integration into the organisation's management system.

The developed approach is based on a holistic and systemic view of the organisation, where IC management is integrated into the organisation's management . This approach is based on the structure of IC developed by Lentjušenkova and Lapina (2016). In this structure, business processes are the IC component that unites the other three ones – human capital, technologies and intangible assets. The study has used induction and deduction, as well as analytical and synthetic qualitative research methods, including logical constructive and conceptual (concept) analysis.

Elaborating the organisational strategy by taking into account the stakeholder interests, the organisation is able to ensure sustainable development. Using the integrated management approach, IC management is integrated into the organisation's activities and joint operational strategy. In this case, IC management becomes an integral part of the organisation's activities functioning in conjunction with the other organisation's systems, and it is integrated into all ongoing business processes.

The approach the authors have proposed to IC management could be adapted by small and medium-sized companies. Using it, companies do not need to create special functional units or division, because IC becomes an integral part of organisation's processes.

In previous studies, business processes were considered as one of the components of IC. In the study’s approach, business processes imply integration of IC into the overall organisation management system. As a framework for the proposed approach, the authors have used the Deming cycle “Plan-Do-Check-Act” that envisages dividing the development and implementation of the IC management and development strategy into four phases, with a clear allocation of tasks and a defined outcome for each individual phase. To use this approach, it is enough for organisations to conduct an analysis of processes and, depending on the strategic goals of the organisation, make additions related to managing IC.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether investment in a quality system leads to process management. Do firms that have invested in documenting their processes in a quality system also manage their processes?

The research question is approached by applying four fundamental dimensions of process management: process awareness, process ownership, process measurement and process improvement. A multi‐case study based on interviews and live demonstrations of the quality systems in question is designed, and quality managers in 23 firms are interviewed. Various analyzing techniques such as descriptive and interpretive analysis, meaning condensation, and thematic scoring are applied.

This research finds that investments in quality systems have not resulted in process management. Business executives are not particularly concerned about their firms' business process on a daily basis, process accountability has not been institutionalized, explicit process goals are seldom set and measured, and continuous improvement practices are rarely found. This could be read as if the executives view their quality system as an artifact which is forced upon them, rather than a valuable resource for managing and developing their companies.

First, without process management, firms do not know whether they are satisfying quality requirements and achieving customer satisfaction. Ideas as to what quality managers could do to move toward process management are consequently provided. Second, the findings challenge the present certification arrangement. Although a certain firm is certified, a substantial gap may exist between how the processes are described in the quality system and how they are practiced by the employees. This should be discussed by those who consider a quality system as a written guarantee for managed quality.

Given that the processes in a quality system must be managed, it has not been found that the question of whether investments in quality system leads to process management is empirically investigated in as detailed a manner as one would expect. In this multi‐case study, it was found that a quality system is viewed as something enforced upon the firms. A quality system is a prerequisite for doing business, and the investment is primarily a consequence of external orders, demands and expectations. In the context of quality systems, firms are not concerned about developing better organizational and management practices, i.e. process management; they are concerned about satisfying external requirements in order to stay in business.

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems have become imperative for companies in order to be competitive in a turbulent and highly competitive business environment. Unfortunately, the success rate of ERP implementations is very low, which was cited in many researches and a majority of authors have reported up to 90 percent failure rate. Therefore, new empirical studies are more than necessary to validate companies' contributions to the increase of the success rate of ERP implementation, which was the primary reason for this investigation. The main goal of this paper is to stress the impact of business process management (BPM) and some other critical success factors (CSFs) on successful ERP implementations.

The paper details an empirical investigation combined with a confirmatory approach using structural equation modeling.

The hypotheses confirm the impact of top management support, change management, and BPM on successful ERP implementation. These factors have a positive impact on successful ERP implementation and should be treated as very important in ERP systems implementation projects. The results also support the importance of top management perception (MP): if they consider BPM as a basis of business change, this contributes to a strong and positive influence on successful ERP implementation.

Other CSFs, also required for successful ERP implementations are not covered in this paper. The sample of companies used in this study is limited only to one country, and the aspect of chief information officers (CIOs) should not be omitted either, because other CIOs might have answered the questionnaire in a different way.

Companies should treat BPM as a basis of business change and therefore increase its usage in order to increase a possibility for a successful ERP implementation. Although the ERP implementation is not the most efficient per se, its effectiveness on business performance can be greater.

Contributions of the paper are important for both practitioners and researchers. The paper will provide a very few specific factors and findings which are useful for companies when planning to implement ERP systems, and should not be omitted. From theoretical standpoints the most CSFs in ERP implementations can be combined, which are dispersed in the literature, and thus facilitate or somehow even stimulate other researchers in further investigations of those factors, which are still not defined enough or investigated.

Business process implementation has been primarily seen as a redesign of the workflow with the consequent organizational change assumed to be taking place automatically or through a process of “muddling through”. Although evidence suggests that 70 per cent of business process reengineering programmes have failed due to lack of alignment with corporate change strategy, the question of alignment of workflow redesign with the organizational change process has not received adequate attention. The purpose of this paper is to provide a framework for managing organizational change in a structured manner during workflow redesign, a perspective missing in the literature on business process management (BPM) implementation.

This paper attempts to integrate the 8-S dimensions of Higgins model across the different phases of workflow redesign to develop a process framework of managing organizational change during BPM workflow redesign. As an exploratory study the paper draws on existing literature on BPM and change alignment to conceptualize an alignment framework of associated managerial activities involved during different phases of BPM workflow redesign. The framework is evaluated against two case studies of business process implementation to substantiate how lack of alignment leads to failure in BPM implementation.

The paper provides a conceptual framework of how organizational change should be managed during BPM implementation. The model suggests the sequence of alignment of the 8-S dimensions (Higgins, 2005) with the different phases of the workflow redesign and identifies the role of the managerial levels in the organization in managing the alignment of the 8-S dimensions during business process change.

This framework would provide managers with an execution template of how to achieve alignment of the workflow redesign with the 8-S dimensions thus facilitating effective organizational change during business process implementation.

This paper proposes a process model of how organizational elements should be aligned with the workflow redesign during business process change implementation. No such model is available in BPM literature proposing alignment between hard and soft factors.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the fundamentals of a performance measurement system (PMS), in order to ascertain if they satisfy the measurement requirements of business process management (BPM) by means of a systematic review of the literature.

The paper uses meta‐analysis to systematically review and examine existing BPM and PMS from the business, non‐business and public sectors. A specific methodology using categorization concept was used to select the appropriate articles. In total, 42 relevant articles are selected and later analyzed. A subsequent content analysis of the information obtained is applied to identify the gaps in the current literature.

The growing interest in PMS has produced an extraordinarily large numbers of papers on the topic. This paper found that, by and large, the PMS as advocated by various authors for over 20 years (since 1990) failed to fulfill the measurement requirements of BPM. This is alarming, considering that past critics of PMS have indicated that the weaknesses of PMS in relation to BPM applied only in isolated or specific situations such as information technology (IT). These findings dispel the notion that a PMS is a prerequisite to the introduction of an effective BP in organizations.

This paper has identified the gaps (weaknesses) of current PMS in meeting the measurement requirements of BPM. This paper proposes a theoretical integrated framework which encompasses a management system, that combines with a measurement system and business processes, and which can be implemented using the popular value‐chain methodology to measure and compare performance within BP organizations.

The results presented contribute towards providing an updated overview of the current state of research into PMS and its relevance to BPM, in order to identify existing research gaps, issues and concerns upon which ongoing and future research efforts on this topic can be built.

Multidisciplinary business process management (BPM) research can reap significant impact. We can particularly benefit from incorporating accounting concepts to address some of the key BPM challenges, such as value-creation and return on investment of BPM activities. However, research which addresses a relationship between BPM and accounting is scarce. The purpose of this paper is to provide a detailed synthesis of the current literature that has integrated accounting aspects with BPM. The authors profile and thematically describe existing research, and derive evidence-based directions to guide future research.

A multi-staged structured literature review approach to search for the two broad themes, accounting and BPM, supported by NVivo (to manage the papers and the coding and analysis processes) was designed and followed.

The paper confirms the dearth of work that ties the two disciplines, despite the synergetic multidisciplinary results that can be attained. Available literature is mostly from the management accounting perspective and relates to describing how performance management, in particular performance measurement, can be applicable to process improvement initiatives together with tools such as activity-based costing and the balanced scorecard. There is a lack of research that examines BPM in relation to any financial accounting perspectives (such as external reporting). Future research directions are proposed together with implications for practitioners with the findings of this structured literature review.

The paper provides a detailed synthesis of the existing literature on the nexus between accounting and BPM. It summarizes the implications for practitioners and provides directions for future research by identifying key gaps and opportunities with a sound contextual basis for extension and new work.

Effective literature reviews create strong foundations for future research and accumulate the otherwise scattered knowledge into a single place. This is the first structured literature review that provides a detailed synthesis of the research that ties together the accounting and BPM disciplines, providing a basis for future research directions together with implications for practitioners.

This paper presents a design approach for process-based knowledge management (PKM) systems that can support knowledge-intensive processes where effective task execution is highly reliant on the knowledge and expertise of participants executing the tasks. The proposed design approach includes design methods and kernel theories governing the design of PKM systems and can also be easily integrated with existing systems analysis and design techniques.

The design science research methodology is used to design and develop the artifact which includes the overall PKM design approach. Information systems design theory is used as a high-level framework to develop and structure the design approach. Relevant design methods and behavioral theories are reviewed to identify kernel theories that guide the design and development of PKM systems. The design approach consists of meta-requirements for PKM systems and design processes to achieve the meta-requirements. A feasibility study is conducted to evaluate the feasibility of the proposed approach.

The design approach presented in this paper can guide system analysts and system developers in the design of knowledge management systems for supporting knowledge-intensive processes. The paper also includes a comprehensive design theory for PKM systems consisting of meta-requirements and a synthesis of various kernel theories into actionable design procedures. The proposed procedures include knowledge requirements modeling, knowledge flows modeling and knowledge and process performance modeling procedures. The feasibility study indicates that the PKM approach can be more useful and effective than solely using unified modeling language (UML)-based systems analysis and design techniques for the design of PKM systems.

An implication to information systems design research is the feasibility of developing a specialized design approach that incorporates significant domain knowledge to solve complex information system design problems. An implication to practice is the significant potential to improve productivity and effectiveness of systems analysts and designers in developing PKM systems. A limitation is the small sample size of the feasibility study used to evaluate the ease of use and utility of the design approach.

The study makes a unique contribution by proposing a design approach that integrates business process and knowledge management considerations. The approach is particularly valuable because of the focus on integration with existing systems analysis and design techniques, thus allowing for easier adoption.