Anyone who suffers the pain of correcting process mistakes discovered after a major technology roll-out or is frustrated by the management of complex relationships between policies, procedures, systems, and data, take heart: You are not alone. In a study of large- to medium-sized companies recently completed by the Delphi Group, 70 percent of those surveyed said capturing and documenting business requirements is a difficult process. More than 60 percent said their organization has trouble implementing process or policy changes.

On the surface, it appears that any organization worth its salt should be able to define and document the business requirements for a new technology initiation or the automation of an existing process. In reality, however, the task can be overwhelming because it involves understanding -- and accurately documenting -- the numerous and complex relationships surrounding the companies internal and external policies, the internal control and statutory required procedures and the manual activities needed to accomplish all this utilizing information from people, systems and data formats throughout the enterprise. And at every turn, there are gaps in standards, logic, documentations, systems, policies, knowledge and so much more.

Business Process Management (BPM) offers a solution. BPM helps companies visualize a business process, define the process workflow and integrate the process into an existing infrastructure. Adding intelligence into business process management with business rules and business rule management capabilities enhances the value of the technology dramatically by allowing business analysts to play a larger role in accurately defining the business requirements and managing the sophistication and complexity of real world business problems. A business-oriented rules and process modeling tool helps business analysts prevent business mistakes in business logic from being built into the process, improves efficiency and ensures that the final product truly meets the business need. It also makes it easier for IT to convert those requirements into executable computer code as well as to consolidate and integrate legacy systems throughout the improved business process.

Companies in a broad range of industries are reporting measurable payback from this technology. Ninety-eight percent of those who have implement workflow improvement tools say the solution meets or exceeds their expectations, according to Gartner Group reports. In industry assessments and other printed reports, improvements cited include:

• 30-45% reduction in process operating costs
• 50-75% reduction in end-to-end process completion time
• 60-90% reduction in time to change business requirements
• 75-90% reduction in manual operations errors