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Business process management:
a maturity assessment of Saudi
Arabian organizations
Omar AlShathry
Department of Information Systems,
Imam Mohammed Bin Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Business
process
management
507
Received 24 July 2015
Revised 20 September 2015
Accepted 7 November 2015
Abstract
Purpose – Business Process Management (BPM) has become increasingly common among organizations
in different industries. There is very limited research on the application of BPM in the MENA region
and particularly in Saudi Arabia. The purpose of this paper is to provide empirical maturity assessment
for selected Saudi Arabian organizations from broad range of industries. Findings showed that there is
notable variability of BPM perception within the functional groups of the sample organizations.
Organizations with holistic business strategy and resilient change management procedures showed
more adherence to BPM practices than those with functionally driven or ad-hoc BPM initiatives.
Design/methodology/approach – In this empirical study, structured interviews were undertaken
with selected business functions owners from ten Saudi organizations. All selected organizations
resides in the city of Riyadh with most of them having local and regional branches. The selection of
the organization followed non-probability sampling technique whereby the selected organizations were
those seemed easy to access and showed willingness to participate in the research. The sample
organizations included different types of businesses in different industries. Even though the purpose of
the study is not applicable to a particular industry type or sector, variety of business domains and
variability in organizations size were considered in the selection process. Table 1 shows an overview of
the organization business sector.
Findings – This research investigates the current status of BPM implementation among Saudi
Arabian organizations. Although there is positive favour towards BPM concepts among Saudi
organizations, it seems that the practical understanding of BPM is yet to be matured. One of the noticed
findings from the survey is the apparent sharp disjoint between information technology (IT)
and business strategy. This segregation, from a BPM perspective, created two variants of BPM
understanding; a business variant related to designing and managing business operations, and the IT
one which focusses on configuring and installing BPM systems. There is a lack of a holistic view of
business processes and its associated activities within an organization. Most surveyed organizations
have either no clear business strategy or it is too complicated the thing that make it difficult to
integrate it with BPM initiatives. Some organizations have no defined process owners for their main
core business processes neither there are measurable goals for their performance. Their main BPM
endeavour is mainly focused on the process activities rather than the process output and performance.
Originality/value – This is the first research paper that provides empirical research on the status of
BPM in the MENA region and particularly in Saudi Arabia.
Keywords BPR, BPM, Business excellence, Work flow, Process maturity, BPTrend
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
The technological advancements of the last decade have driven organizations to
occasionally invent new business models to stay ahead in the competition race. To cope
with such important business changes, businesses have started to embrace a relatively
new concept in today business world called Business Process Management (BPM).
Recent studies showed that BPM has become the main criteria of success for business
professionals and managers (Harmon, 2015; Lohrmann and Reichert, 2013; Harmon and
Business Process Management
Journal
Vol. 22 No. 3, 2016
pp. 507-521
© Emerald Group Publishing Limited
1463-7154
DOI 10.1108/BPMJ-07-2015-0101
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Wolf, 2014). It is seen as a vital approach for keeping business process in control by
implementing continuous analysis, optimization and improvement activities the thing
that results in clearer business visibility and better performance. The importance of
BPM is confirmed by a recent report from Gartner (2010) showing that BPM is the most
identified issue by CEOs for six consecutive years. The idea of process management is
to manage the business process in a way it meets its intended customers’ requirements
and hence ensures their satisfaction. This concept of BPM faced some criticism as
being a barrier to the organizations creativity which may encourage them to find easier
ways for making profit (McCormack et al., 2009; Sanders Jones and Linderman, 2014).
The objective of this research is to conduct an empirical assessment study on the
status of BPM application among Saudi Arabia organizations. Different organizations
from varied sectors, which were believed to have BPM solutions in place, were selected
and assessed against a proper BPM maturity assessment. This research intends not
only to provide informed data about the BPM status of the surveyed organizations, but
also to pave the way to them for process improvement plans. In the next section, a
literature review is presented focusing on the BPM and process approach concept.
In Section 3 the research methodology is presented, in Section 4 the results are analysed
and discussed. Finally, Section 5 includes the conclusion and a short indication for
future studies.
2. Literature review
2.1 Process approach and organizations
The term “process” has evolved dramatically since the pre-historic times when people
relied on themselves to produce the products they need (Dumas et al., 2013; Harmon,
2015). The consumer and the producer of a product, at that time, was the same
individual. This concepts has changed dramatically following the development of
societies in the ancient times, where people had become specialised in producing
specific types of products, i.e., different activities for producing different products.
At the inception of the industrial times, the concept of process improved further when
individuals have become specialised in part of an activity in the production process of a
product, rather than being the sole designer of the product. Generally, a process is
defined as a sequence of activities that convert an input into an output. In business
term, business process consists of a set of independent activities that are purposefully
structured to deliver a specific output which can be an event, an input or a trigger to
other business applications or human actors. In other words, a business process is a
series of processes that function in business context. Business in this definition can be
an organization or a division in an organization responsible for providing goods or
services (Sanders Jones and Linderman, 2014). Organizations who have variety of
processes started to adopt the process approach in order to integrate multiple
functional areas related to their day to day operations (Sanders Jones and Linderman,
2014; Harmon, 2015). Porter and Rosemann and vom Brocke (2015) defined two set of
processes: core processes and support processes. Core processes include processes that
are linked in the creation of value product/services to the organization. The support
processes, on other hand, are processes that enable and allow to the creation of the first
category processes, such as; human resource (HR), information technology (IT)
infrastructure procurement, etc. (Rosemann and vom Brocke, 2015). Other categories of
process types were proposed which include management-related process such as
corporate governance. The number of business processes in an organization relies on
its ability to provide management resources to coach and monitor such processes.
2.2 Business process models
There are plenty of business process frameworks or methodologies organizations can
adopt to design their business work flow. Some of these methodologies have a
holistic, enterprise nature of business process like Six Sigma, Lean BPTrend,
Rummler Brache, CMMI, etc. Others are more specific at the implementation level like
ARIS, UML BPMN. However, BPM should not be looked as set of steps to be
completed, but it has to be viewed as an organization capability which is incubated
by supportive factors. Rosemann and vom Brocke (2015) proposed six elements
(components) defined as success factors that are to be integrated in any BPM
initiative. These elements are: strategic alignment, governance, methods, IT, people
and culture. Thomas Kohlborn et al. (2014) proposed ten principals that guides
successful implementation of BPM. Figure 1 shows an overview of business process
methodologies wrt to the business hierarchy.
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2.3 BPM maturity assessment
Since the early invention of capability maturity model integration, the term “maturity”
has begun to be the defacto for measuring a business capability in performing specific
functionality. Maturity models are a set of criteria or standards that are used by
organization and business owners to assess the level of their process management
efficiency and compliance. It is an approach by which the ability of an organization
towards a class of application domain is portrayed in a level-based sequence
(Rosemann and vom Brocke, 2015; Becker et al., 2009). Maturity models are designed as
a set of levels each of which has its own requirements that have to be addressed by an
organization to be considered compliant to that level. The current level of an
organization describes its business capability and how this capability can evolve by
achieving higher levels. Many BPM maturity models were proposed in the past years.
Notwithstanding the scope of this research is not to evaluate such models efficiency, it
is important to give a short overview about some of the common widely applied
models. Generally when referring to process maturity there are two types of maturity
models: process-based models and the organizational-based ones (Rohloff, 2011).
In other words, there are models that assess the attributes of a process in terms of its
documentation, control and management, etc., and others that assess the holistic
Enterprise Level
Strategy, Process Architecture,
Process Management, BPM
Governance and Planning
More Comprehensive Methodologies
More Specialized Methodologies
• Enterprise Adoption of Six Sigma
• Rummler-Brache-PDL Methodology
• Balanced Scorecard Perf. Eval. and
Strategy
• CMMI-BPMM Process Management
Change
• SCOR (Bolstorff-Rosenbaum)
• xBPL Methodology (Business Genetics)
• Business Rules Methodologies (Ross)
• BPTA Enterprise Methodology
Enterprise
Process
Management
Business Process Level
Process Documentation,
Redesign and Improvement
Business
Process
Improvement
Projects
Implementation Level
• Lean Six Sigma (DMAIC)
• BPTA Process Redesign Methodology
Projects Undertaken to
Develop Resources to
Support New Processes
• BPM Methodology
• RIVA and HIM
Human
Resource
Infrastructure
IT
Infrastructure
Physical Plant and Hardware Used
Source: Harmon (2015)
• IDEF0 Methodology
• ARIS (IDS Scheer)
• Unified Software Development
Process (Rational, UML methodology)
Figure 1.
Business process
pyramid
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organization capability towards BPM (Roglinger et al., 2012). These models vary in
their application and efficiency wrt the size of enterprise or the business domain. Many
researchers argue that a good selection of a maturity model should consider aspects
like its validity, reliability and more on its cost effectiveness (Simonsson et al., 2007).
The CMMM model was intended to assess the software development contractors for
their ability to perform software development projects (Roglinger et al., 2012).
This model has improved to a more standardized process-oriented version CMMI for
software development process. At present CMMI has three model standards for process
improvement: product and service development (CMMIDEV), service acquisition
(CMMIACO) and service establishment and management (CMMI-SVC)(Rohloff, 2011).
In 2007, Harmon (2007) proposed BMP model which is derived from the CMM model.
He separated process maturity from business maturity by proposing the process audit
approach that forms competencies checks for both the process and the business.
Another model by Rummler-Brache Group, proposed a set of success factors that key
business process shall comply to in order to achieve the required business excellence
(Van Looy et al., 2010). Curtis adopted CMM into the business process using similar
levels-based approach (Curtis and Alden, 2007). The incremental approach of the model
insists on completing the previous level before moving up to higher maturity levels.
Curtis model is now supported by Object Management Group as a Process Maturity
Model (BPMM). BPMM is a detailed specifications following the evolutionary approach
of CMM on how organizations assess their business process maturity. Rosemann and
De Bruin (2005) proposed a three dimensional model that account for five factors: IT/IS
alignment, methodology, performance, accountability and culture. These factors are
considered as main drivers for successful implementation of the model. Despite having
rich tools of supportive surveys and case studies that aids in its implementation,
Rosemann’s model has received criticism in regard to its complexity. A detailed
literature on process assessment maturity models can be found in Roglinger et al. (2012)
and Van Looy et al (2010). Apart from using assessment models, some researchers
addressed areas that are believed to have impact on the efficiency of BPM adoption;
like using process aware infrastructure (ERP, CRM, etc.), the understanding of the
organization culture etc. (vom Brocke and Sinnl, 2011; Schmiedel et al., 2015).
2.4 BPM in Saudi Arabia
There is little literature that provides a comprehensive view on the current status of
BPM among Saudi Arabia organizations. A study by Nader Abdul-Hadi et al. (2005)
surveyed 33 organizations in the construction industry for the barriers affecting
business process re-engineering (BPR) implementation. Among the 29 barriers found,
lack of proper implementation methodology was the main prominent one. Another
study surveyed 88 Saudi organizations against the level of awareness towards BPR
procedures (Rahali et al., 2008). Findings showed that there is positive awareness
among Saudi organizations, however, it could be improved by having better BPR
strategy that encapsulate all business functions and responsibilities. The other
available literature seen relative reviewed BPM in the context of change management
analysis (Schierholz and Al-Mudimigh, 2007), role of IT in organizations or the adoption
of quality standards or eServices (Magd, 2006; Alsmadi et al., 2012). It would seem that
there is lack or even limited literature covering the area of BPM application among
Saudi Arabian firms. The lack of such literature could be attributed to the infancy of
such concept among world businesses. Thus, this research contribute to the literature
by providing an empirical study on the status of Saudi Arabian organization wrt BPM.
2.5 Goals of this research
The main objective of this research is to have a clear picture of the current status of
BPM in Saudi Arabia. It also aims to assess the organization BPM efficiency
and gives business stack holders an overview of their gaps and conformities to
BPM best practices which in turns helps them for future improvements. It also aims
to give organizations the confidence on their current BPM level of compliance to
BMP best practices.
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3. Methodology
3.1 Sample design
In this empirical study, structured interviews were undertaken with selected business
functions owners from ten Saudi organizations. All selected organizations resides
in the city of Riyadh with most of them having local and regional branches.
The selection of the organization followed non-probability sampling technique
whereby the selected organizations were those sounded easy to access and showed
willingness to participate in the research. The sample organizations included
different types of businesses in different industries. Even though the purpose of the
study is not applicable to particular industry type or sector, variety of business
domain and variability in organizations size were considered in the selection process.
Table I shows an overview of the organization business sector. The selection of the
sample organization ensures that all organization have been active for at least ten
year with a considerable annual profit earning. The sample organizations of our
study have achieved annual revenue in 2014 financial year in the range from SR
12 million SAR to 850 million SAR (Figure 2).
Sector
No. of organizations
Telecommunication
Oil and Gas
Manufacturing
Government agencies
Healthcare
2
2
2
2
2
Table I.
Surveyed
organizations
overview
Annual Revenue
45%
25%
15%
< 10
15%
10 - 100
100 - 500
> 500
Figure 2.
Annual growth of
sample organizations
in million SAR
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3.2 Cross-functional areas
It is impractical to survey the entire population of an organization as the
effort and time required would be too high. The selection of respondents
within the organizations was undertaken on the basis of a sampling method
called stratified sampling. Stratified sampling is a type of probability sampling
techniques which allows for sampling a group or sub-population from the overall
population under study (Neuman, 2005). The term “population” refers to the group of
people to whom the findings and results of this survey could be applicable and
extendible. The process of stratified sampling is done by dividing the population
into homogeneous groups or strata. Every stratum categorize the population of an
organization based on participants’ roles and the functional areas they belong to.
The following identified sub-populations or strata are applied to every organization
in our sample:
•
business executive: management role in the organization;
•
IT function: any matured IT function individual;
•
human resource: any senior HR individual;
•
finance manager: any senior finance individual; and
•
line manager: sub-ordinate to HR manager who administrate production line of
services or products.
The classification of the sample groups or “strata” were based on their exposure and
involvement to BPM activities in their organizations. The scope of the study is meant
to include five levels of the organization business authorities. The enterprise level, by
targeting business executive members, the mid-level represented by the supportive
functions of the organization like IT, HR and finance, and finally the line manager
level where we target process owners of a main core functional area. Business
executives or enterprise-level member pose important knowledge on the organization
functional areas and the cross-functional activities of the main business processes.
IT function along with line managers hold shared knowledge regarding the
organization business processes and how IT is facilitating the execution of their day
to day work (Ray et al., 2004). Therefore, representatives from those two categories
are expected to provide more in-depth view of how business processes are
orchestrated throughout the organization.
3.3 Interview specification
The interviews were guided by ten questions all of them were asked to every
respondent in the same order. The questions are completely derived from and follow
the same fashion of Harmon survey of BPM maturity assessment (Harmon and Wolf,
2014). Every question holds weight of 1 to 5 mapped qualitatively into a maturity scale
of five levels (from never to always) as follows: if the respondent shows no signs of
performing this activity before, a value of one is assigned. If, on the other hand, the
interviewee shows positive awareness to the practices involved in the activity in a way
that it is part of the routine work (100 per cent of the time), a value of 5 is assigned.
Other scale values are assigned depending on the researcher judgement and analysis.
The feedback from all functional areas in an organization is calculated (Table II) w.r.t
every maturity question, and then aggregated to produce a mean value mapped to a
proper maturity scale.
Organization 1
Maturity question/functional area
IT function
HR function
Line manager
Finance function
Business executive
Average value (/25)
Maturity level (never →always)
Organization 2
Organization 10
Maturity-level result
Maturity level (never→always)
Scale value
Never did it
Occasionally
Frequently
Most times
Always
Q1
4
5
Q2
5
4
Q3
1
4
Q4
1
2
Q5
3
4
Q6
4
1
Q7
5
5
Q8
2
3
Q9
1
3
Q10
4
2
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↓
↓
↓
↓
↓
↓
↓
↓
↓
↓
↓
↓
↓
↓
↓
↓
↓
↓
↓
↓
Occurrence (%)
0
1-30
31-60
61-99
100
Value
1
2
3
4
5
Table II.
Maturity
assessment form
4. Maturity assessment result
4.1 Are work processes documented?
Business processes should be fully documented in terms of its procedures, policies,
models, etc., so that process users know how to follow the process proper execution.
Based on our interviews with the domain experts of the sample organizations,
it would seem that four organizations (40 per cent) responded that they document
their main business process frequently, i.e., 31-60 per cent of the time (Figure 3).
One organization responded that they do not usually document their main business
processes. In total, 20 per cent (two organizations) have good process documentation
of their business processes with a relatively clear process charts and description.
One of those two organizations works in the oil and gas industry and has ISO health
and safety certification. Mr A.N., a line manager of a massive ITIL compliant
incident management process in a telecom company which uses BMC software,
Are Work Processes Documented?
20%
10%
30%
40%
Never
Occasionally
Frequently
Most Times
Always
Figure 3.
Documentation of
business processes
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quoted that “we know what we should do every time, we have become matured
enough and familiarized in working with coming incidents without referring to any
process documentation”.
4.2 Do units that perform similar activities use standard or similar processes?
The main aim of this question is to check the level of consistency between business
processes among organization divisions. Large companies with hundreds of business
processes may share complete or segments of their business processes in different
business functions. These business processes should be implemented and executed
similarly using the same structure and tools to avoid discrepancy of process performance.
Also, some organizations may have different business processes that serve the same goal,
leading to inconsistency and low-performance records. One witnessed case from our
survey is for an organization which has two variants of order fulfilment process, one in the
sales function and the other in the materials acquisition; both processes have two different
performance and efficiency levels. M. S., an IT executive in a government agency quoted
“Some of our units were previously separated units each of which has its own business
model, but we are trying to fine-tune them into a single business model”. This statement
was in response to our inquiry to the reason of having two variants of a capacity
management process. With respect to our survey (Figure 4), two (20 per cent)
organizations showed good level of standardization for their main business processes and
sub-processes. Both organizations belong to the IT service sector where ITSM compliant
process engines are in place. It is noted that most of the IT service organizations benefits
from common ITSM frameworks like ITIL to manage their IT processes which represent
their core business, and this has reflected on high standardization levels of such processes.
4.3 Are standard process models defined for each major process?
Organization processes whether supportive or core ones may span through different
business functions and functional areas within the organization; to form what so called
value chains. Such business architecture, which organizations are reliant on to generate
values, has to be well maintained to sustain consistency and to improve performance.
The questions in this aspect is to do with the availability of process charts, models or
even an understanding of the major processes that belongs to a specific value chain.
Based on our respondents’ feedback (Figure 5), one organization (10 per cent) showed a
well-defined process model for their major business process, 30 per cent of the
organizations showed no signs of having such models for their major process neither
an understanding of value chain concepts.
Do Units That Perform Similar Activities
Use Standard or Similar Processes?
10% 10%
30%
30%
20%
Figure 4.
Standardization of
business processes
Never
Occasionally
Frequently
Most Times
Always
Business
process
management
Are Standard Process Models Defined
for Each Major Process?
10%
30%
30%
Never
Occasionally
Frequently
30%
Most Times
Always
515
Figure 5.
Availability of
process models
4.4 Are standard process measures defined for each major process?
This part of the survey emphasizes on the importance of having key performance
indicators KPI, performance criteria or any sort of measurement to help organizations
assess the performance level of their single or major value chain processes.
By looking at our survey responses in Figure 6, it was surprisingly discovered that
around 40 per cent (four out of ten) organizations showed no signs of having process
measurement for their main business process that represent the main value chain of
their core business. In total, 20 per cent of the respondents have process measurement
for part of their main business process, especially those work in the IT service sector.
One organization, on the other hand, showed satisfying signs of having active process
metrics for all of their main business processes and sub-processes. There is notable
misunderstanding of the way a process should be assessed by most of our sample
organizations. They have confusion as to define the best process metric whether it is
the quality of service, or the value generated by the process output, or even the
compliance level of the process towards certain business or government regulations.
Mr K.A., a QA manager in a healthcare organization quoted “One of the KPI used to
maintain the appointment handling process in our department is the help desk agent
idle time which is calculated and reviewed monthly”. This KPI would be true for
evaluating the business value of the process rather than the process performance
itself where the level of satisfaction, active and waiting calls etc., would be much more
appropriate. One of the IT service providers from the telecom industry has
implemented a set of KPIs for their incident management process, which should
theoretically be reviewed by the process owner for process performance assessment.
However, none of their KPI’s account for user satisfaction or customer feedback.
Are Standard Measures Defined for
Each of the Major Processes?
10%
40%
30%
Never
Occasionally
20%
Frequently
Most Times
Always
Figure 6.
Availability
of process
measurements
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Some organizations have established many KPI’s for their provisioning management
process with the same level of prioritization, which indicates that the process owner is
keeping attention to all of the process functionality. A senior manager of the admission
office in a hospital failed to express knowledge about common KPIs for his department
such as readmission rate, time spend in emergency room, etc.
516
4.5 Is support provided by automated applications consistent with the processes?
In today vibrant business world, business processes are entirely reliant on software
applications for executing business activities especially for paper-heavy processes.
This execution may require partial HR interaction or may completely be automated for
cost saving and better performance targets. However, these automation supportive tools
should in line with the existing business process models and be flexible enough to any
modifications to the way business process is undertaken. They are meant to bridge the
gap between IT division and the business mindset in an organization so that business
rules are executed and optimized in the real time. According to our survey findings
(Figure 7), 20 per cent of the sample organizations showed no signs of consistency
between their business process and software applications running them, 40 per cent
have occasional consistency and notably 10 per cent have fully compliant business
applications. This findings may be attributed to the lack of available BPMS in the market
which is fully tailored to support business processes. One respondents from a government
agency who have recently introduced Ultimus as a BPM suite, stated that the automation
have changed the way we conduct our tasks, I used to have different roles from other
work mates working in the same function but they are not fully addressed. This statement
indicates that some business process needs to care about the needs and responsibilities of
the process users as indicated to in the abstract process model, if existed, or by carefully
discovering the as-is process model. Automation should be built on a matured and
effective business process so as to increase its efficiency or its throughput rate, rather than
automating already ineffective process which may increase the inefficiency. It was also
surprising that most surveyed organizations showed no indication of automating
repetitive procedures like the regulatory compliance requirements given the huge impact
that such compliance have to the business. A business senior when asked about this
responded that “compliance stuff is tedious, we just can’t stand it”.
4.6 Are the skills needed to perform the tasks defined and documented?
Organizations are expected to clearly define the required skills and training needs for
process owners running their business processes. Some business activities require
Is Support Provided by Automated
Applications Consistent with the
Processes?
10%
20%
10%
Figure 7.
Consistent business
automation tools
20%
Never
Occasionally
40%
Frequently
Most Times
Always
specific skills and competency levels that are important for their running and
execution. Organizations should have their staff training needs tailored on the basis of
the employees’ levels and responsibilities. One of the main skills that may be of interest
in this aspect is the knowledge of process owners to BPM concepts like process
monitoring, redesign and the ability to deal with work flow notations like UML activity
diagrams, BPMN, etc. Based on Figure 8, it would seem that 20 per cent (2/10) showed
no signs of having such skills documented neither records of past training sessions to
their process owners. Surprisingly, one of those two organizations have previous
ISO 9001 certification for major service lines of their business. Two organization
(20 per cent) showed good signs of having a well detailed documentation of the required
skills for their process owners, these organization falls in the manufacturing sector
with an active ISO 9001 certification.
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4.7 Are managers trained to do process redesign and to manage processes?
This question investigates the training programs the organization offers to its line
managers and processes owners to improve their skills in areas like: project management,
process redesign, etc. It is worth saying that almost all of the interviewees who
participated in this study and are in a senior positions like business executives or
managing director, showed no past experience of BPM or have even ever heard of it.
As shown in Figure 9, four organizations (40 per cent) showed no skills of process analysis
and design, three organizations provided frequent training workshops and only
one organization showed good training skills for their managers. This result were
surprising for some organizations who have their own BPMS running for a long time.
Are the Skills Needed to Perform the
Tasks Defined and Documented?
20%
20%
Never
Occasionally
30%
30%
Frequently
Most Times
Always
Figure 8.
Definition and
documentation of
required skills
Are Managers Trained to Do Process
Redesign and to Manage Processes?
10%
40%
30%
Never
Occasionally
20%
Frequently
Most Times
Always
Figure 9.
Management skills
of process owners
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Mr J.O., a production engineer at an oil and gas organization, said “we use Honeywell
Process Knowledge System (PKS) and Wonderware Statistical process to manage the
production process”. He also added “W.r.t process redesign skills, we have experienced
process engineer available at our plant who has better experience with international
standards and local regulations”.
4.8 Does your organization have process managers who are responsible for processes?
In this question, we look for defined process managers within the organization who are
responsible for the process coordination and governance. Matured organization should
show signs of process approach across their functional areas and business functions.
When a clearly defined process owner for a single process exists, he/she is kept
responsible for its final output. As seen in Figure 10 organization from the oil and gas
industry showed excellent process centric architecture among their functional areas
where there is a known process owner and process accountable for major value chain
processes. Two organizations also showed evidences of having process owner for many
business processes along with well-known RACI model for assigning responsibilities
among process stakeholders. Although having positive feedback for this questions, most
of the organizations showed lack of synchronizations among process owners within the
business functions or among the value chain processes. A business analyst of an IT unit
has failed to understand his process ownership role for a business solution that he is
literally its process owner.
4.9 Do process managers use performance data to manage processes?
Process owners should have updated performance reports of their running processes to
evaluate their performance. Although having process owners in place is seen as a
maturity indication of the organization towards BPM, this has to be supported by the
frequent analysis of the process data. In Figure 11, two organizations reported that
they run periodic performance audit checks for their processes. One organization from
the telecom industry has developed performance checks for their outsourced call centre
process. Ali, a webSphere administrator at a case organization quoted “we have IBM
process manager server and I use to monitor key application bottlenecks but the
metrics we use is not updated nor prioritized?”. This may indicate that setting a goal
and value target is vital for managing process performance as monitoring can react to
incidents instead of suggesting improvements.
Does Your Organization Have Process
Managers Who Are Responsible for
Processes?
10%
20%
Figure 10.
Availability
of defined
process owners
20%
Never
10%
40%
Occasionally
Frequently
Most Times
Always
Business
process
management
Do Process Managers Use Performance
Data to Manage Processes?
20%
10%
Never
30%
40%
Occasionally
Frequently
Most Times
Always
519
Figure 11.
The use of process
performance data
4.10 Are process improvement programs in place to maintain processes
This questions refer to the continuous improvement activities maintained by
organizations to improve the performance of their business processes. Findings to this
questions (Figure 12) came moderate with five organizations have occasional process
improvement programs (once every two year of key processes), one organizations
showed active process improvement cycles, and three organizations showed no signs of
such activities. Mr N. AlG., a sales manager in a dairy company said that, “we have
efficient process improvement actions that monitor the sales staff performance, sales
agents’ relationships, etc. Some proposed improvement to our processes was making
two levels of sales staff to handle orders, improving the year targets of sales agents in
accordance with the demand growth using Siebel systems to maintain marketing plans
and better relationship with our partner”. Another respondent from a manufacturing
company said that “we follow a rigorous Statistical Process Controls (SPC) to maintain
any deviation in our production lines from specific thresholds”. This statement
indicates that there is a lack of preventive actions process or in other words an active
BPM that is triggered as a result of undertaking periodic checks of a process
performance against its predefined qualities targets.
5. Conclusion
This research investigates the current status of BPM implementation among
Saudi Arabian organizations. The purpose of this research was to give insight about
the level of adoption and conformance towards BPM practices, the thing that will help
organizations in their future improvement plans. This research is not intended to
Are Process Improvement Programs in
Place to Maintain Processes?
10%
10%
30%
Never
Occasionally
50%
Frequently
Most Times
Always
Figure 12.
Availability of
process improvement
programs
BPMJ
22,3
520
address the current weakness related to BPM adoption nor to explore the success
factors of BPM implementation, which may be considered in future research. Although
there is positive favour towards BPM concepts among Saudi organization, it seems that
the practical understanding of BPM is yet to be matured. It appeared from our careful
observations and interviews that most organizations lacks a holistic value-based view
towards BPM that encompasses the involvement of all organization stakeholders.
One of the important noticed findings from our survey is the apparent disjoint between
IT and business among organizations. This segregation, from a BPM perspective,
created two variants of BPM understanding; a business variant related to designing
and managing business operations, and the IT one which focusses on configuring and
installing BPM systems. Some organizations have no defined process owners for their
main core business processes neither there are measurable goals for their performance.
Their main BPM endeavour is mainly focused on the process activities rather than
the process output and performance. There is lack of end-to-end holistic view to
institutionalize business processes and its associated activities within an organization.
Organizations should believe in that BPM adoption is a methodology issue which
requires a holistic top-down view rather than a technology solution handled by the
internal IT unit. Most surveyed organizations have either no clear business strategy or
their business strategy is too complicated to be integrated to their existing BPM systems.
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Corresponding author
Omar AlShathry can be contacted at: shathry@gmail.com
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