Exploiting network science in business process management: A conceptual framework

Abstract

This paper investigates whether the introduction of network science tools in Business Process Management (BPM) leads to better identification of the entities themselves and to the structure of their interactions within an organization. The objective is to provide more formal measures and metrics to be considered as a support for suitable decisions during the re-engineering phases. A novel conceptual framework is presented for organizational decision making; one that is able to synthesize the relationships established in the network and provide an overview of the characteristics of the entities. Decision makers can improve the knowledge of the current organizational policies and procedures to be used in process re-engineering. The framework is an innovative initiative of integration of classic BPM and network science methodologies. It allows a systematic assessment of the interplay between the different organizational units and the indirect effects on the performance and it can be used in any kind of organization that implements a Business Process Management System.