Business Process Management Initiatives Research Articles

Beyond Optimization: The Evolving Role of Business Process Management in Industry Transformation

This article delves into the multifaceted realm of Business Process Management (BPM), exploring its historical evolution, transformative dimensions, and pivotal role in reshaping industries. Emphasizing the significance of BPM beyond mere optimization, the study examines the shift from traditional paradigms to holistic and innovative approaches, positioning the approach as a catalyst for enduring organizational transformation. Through a comparison of transformative aspects, case studies of companies showcase the diverse applications and positive outcomes of transformative BPM initiatives. The analysis extends to the evolving landscape of Industry 4.0-5.0, the integration of emerging technologies like AI, IoT, and Blockchain, and anticipated trends, highlighting BPM’s role as a strategic enabler for innovation, agility, and sustainability. Addressing challenges and proposing solutions in BPM-led transformations, the article provides insights into the dynamic and adaptive nature of approach implementations. Ultimately, this exploration contributes to a deeper understanding of BPM’s transformative potential and its profound impact on organizational excellence in the ever-evolving industrial landscape.

СТРАТЕГІЧНЕ УПРАВЛІННЯ ІННОВАЦІЙНІСТЮ БІЗНЕС-ПРОЦЕСІВ ПІДПРИЄМСТВА

The article examines and summarizes the concepts and basics of enterprise business process management. The effective functioning of the enterprise depends on the implementation of a complex of business processes, their integrity and consistency in business processes. The details of their strategic management are taken into account. The purpose of the article is to research and establish the peculiarities of the formation and implementation of strategic management of business processes in the conditions of the development of the innovative orientation of enterprises. The stages of business process development are considered in detail. Enterprise strategy depends on strategic innovation management, which is the key to achieving competitive advantage in a complex and competitive market. There are questions about the need to develop a strategic model for managing innovative development, which will contribute to stimulating economic activity, increasing competitiveness, and motivating the introduction of innovations into business processes. In the modern business environment, the technology of production activities determines the business processes that make up an innovative enterprise, which is the result of the combination and optimization of various business processes. Innovative elements are crucial to creating and maintaining a financially stable business policy. For the effective management of business processes in the organization, it is extremely important to create a management system that allows evaluating strategic goals and determining the effectiveness of all business processes in achieving these goals. A management tool is to create and use metrics that measure how well business processes are performing, covering all aspects of operations. Innovation is related to the concept of sustainable development, and it is appropriate for companies to constantly monitor and respond to changes and ensure an acceptable level of risk, so that companies can combine their existing resources and capabilities to use them as efficiently as possible. By improving business processes, companies can gain a competitive advantage and fully utilize their resources. Therefore, the issue of its strategic management is gaining more and more importance.

RESEARCH ON BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING OF REAL ESTATE ENTERPRISES

With the deepening of economic globalization, the global market has gradually changed from the situation dominated by sellers to the era dominated by buyers. This change makes the competitive environment in which enterprises are in become increasingly complex and the market competition becomes increasingly fierce. Due to the change of market environment, the field of management theory is also quietly changing, such as learning organization, virtual management, flexible organization and other new management models. Learning organizations strive to adapt to the changing market environment by constantly updating and improving their own skills; With the help of information technology, virtual management transfers part of the management functions inside the enterprise to the virtual space, realizes the cross-region, cross-time and space management, and improves the management efficiency. Flexible organization emphasizes that enterprises should be as adaptive as organisms, and constantly adjust their organizational structure with changes in the external environment to better adapt to market competition. These new management models provide new ideas and methods for enterprises to win the opportunity in the fierce market competition. In the early 1990s, the business process reengineering (BPR) theory proposed by American management scientists Michael Hammer and James Champy set off a process revolution in the world. The BPR project is a large and comprehensive issue. It involves the process setting and organizational structure of the enterprise, and is also linked to human resource management, IT system application and other links. It is a systematic project. This paper analyzes the background and significance of BPR appearing in the modern economic environment. The concept of BPR is introduced, and the three key principles of BPR (target process, customer research, and technical conditions) are analyzed. By studying the development process of enterprise BPR, the article discusses the BPR scheme of real estate enterprises according to the development status of China's real estate. The article is based on the "6 stages" (strategic conception stage, project initiation stage, analysis and diagnosis stage, process optimization design stage, process organization reengineering stage, and process evaluation and improvement stage) reengineering and optimization ideas. Starting from the business characteristics of the real estate market development department, cost management department, engineering management department, technical management department, and procurement management department, provide standardized and effective real estate enterprise business process management methods and practices to promote the successful implementation and operation of real estate projects.

ПРОБЛЕМЫ ИСПОЛЬЗОВАНИЯ СЛАБОСТРУКТУРИРОВАННЫХ И НЕСТРУКТУРИРОВАННЫХ ДАННЫХ В СИСТЕМАХ БИЗНЕС-АНАЛИТИКИ

At the current stage of development of management systems and information technologies, in the context of the widespread use of business process automation systems of companies and the standardization of basic analytics, unstructured and semistructured data are a valuable asset of the company. This is a resource that contains the potential to improve the efficiency of enterprise business process management. In particular, the analysis and interpretation of unstructured data can make it possible to increase the attractiveness of a company in a highly competitive personnel market and improve internal interaction through the use of not only standard reporting data, but also data obtained as a result of processing unstructured data when making management decisions. However, the effectiveness of using unstructured data directly depends on the ability to classify and systematize such data. These problems are analyzed by the author in the article on the example of working with poorly structured data of internal group voice conversations of a commercial enterprise.

ОПТИМІЗАЦІЙНО-ІНФОРМАЦІЙНА МОДЕЛЬ УПРАВЛІННЯ БІЗНЕС-ПРОЦЕСАМИ ПІДПРИЄМСТВА

The purpose of the study is to develop an optimization-information model of enterprise business process management under conditions of risk. The success of any enterprise in conditions of risk is directly determined not only by potential, but also directly depends on the optimization and control of business processes at the enterprise. Based on the study of the theory and analysis of business practice, it was established that today there are problems that are directly related to the features, economic-mathematical modeling and optimization of business processes at enterprises in conditions of risk. It is noted that the process of optimizing business processes at the enterprise is aimed at increasing the potential of the enterprise, as well as at increasing profits. Profit as the value of the final result of business – the specific amount by which revenues exceed the costs associated with them (that is, exceed the amount of costs incurred in the process of economic activity). According to the results of the conducted research, a new optimization-information model of enterprise business process management is presented. With the help of this model, the conditions for the implementation of an effective technological process are established, taking into account the criterion of quality of sustainable development and risks. Here, the technological process should be understood as a set or system of certain operations on the use of raw materials and materials, technology and the manufacture of finished products. Taking into account the quality functional and restrictions on risks, a new optimization-information model and a new approach have also been developed to assess the optimal amount (volume) of information, the reliability coefficient and the optimal profit, while implementing an effective technological process. It is advisable to carry out further research in the direction of evaluating the effectiveness of business processes and technological development of enterprises.

Barriers to implementation of business process governance mechanisms

Abstract One of the main challenges in implementing process-oriented management is establishing a governance mechanism in the organisation. It creates a coherent framework for the execution, management and perception of business processes, which is the foundation of consistent Business Process Management (BPM). Process governance (PG) refers to an organisation’s ability to manage its relationships with all process stakeholders and support the value chain for its customers. Its implementation involves establishing process regulation mechanisms and stakeholder-oriented criteria to support prioritisation, cascading, and change management within BPM initiatives. A review of the domain literature reveals that while process governance has been discussed from several but separated perspectives (strategy, business roles, performance, and maturity), only a few studies identify and synthesise the barriers to its implementation in organisations. The paper mainly aims to identify and classify the key barriers to the implementation of process governance. The author’s approach refers to the six core elements of Business Process Management capability and process governance frameworks. Research results confirm that most process governance barriers polarise around the competence gaps of the process stakeholders and the immaturity of the process-oriented culture of companies. Another significant group of constraints to process governance arises from the existing organisation’s structure. They are mainly related to the proper division of responsibilities and a weak position or the lack of BPM centres of excellence. The research contributes to the literature on management by identifying potential barriers to business process governance that constrain BPM initiatives. The identified PG challenges can provide a basis for developing a theoretical framework for Business Process Management and models for BPM success factors.

Метод формирования регулярной обратной информационно-технологической связи в автоматизированных системах управления бизнес-процессами предприятия

Given the multifaceted nature of the concept of business process, we will limit ourselves to defining business process as a set of interrelated activities or works aimed at creating a certain product or service for customers. From the perspective of the BPM concept, business processes are valuable resources of an enterprise and their management is part of the system of organizational activities, i.e. the organizational system of automated enterprise business process management. Research Objective. Automation, then, is also a business process whose objectives are: the development (acquisition), implementation and operation of software and hardware designed to implement new business process capabilities (which simply were not in the manual loop), optimize and increase the speed of the existing business process, improve working conditions, reduce labor requirements, etc. There is a new direction – computer integration of information. Materials and methods. It is suggested that monitoring deviations from business process requirements be used to organise regular information-technology feedback in the of automated business process management systems of an enterprise. Results. Automation of a business process endows a business process with a new feature – the abi-lity to obtain operational data on all prescribed activities and to integrate all interacting objects of the business process in the implementation of the prescribed set of target functions. In some cases, business process automation is performed to streamline IT-related activities inside the organization. This includes the management of internal resources of the organization – financial, material, human resources, etc. Conclusion. Due to the presence of a sufficiently large number of “legacy systems”, the constantly increasing dynamics of changes in the external environment and the business proces-ses themselves, the task of ensuring the correctness of systems functioning in the absence of the current information model and the current documentation of the automated system seems relevant.

Super‐process interoperability optimization architecture in healthcare ultra‐large‐scale systems: A graph‐based multi‐objective approach

SummaryThe healthcare industry is more challenging and the super‐process interoperability should be planned in order to architecture an informational technology structure of the required data for progression of care. Large‐scale enterprises could be provided cross‐organization super‐processes operations. Therefore, each enterprise's business process management system (BPMS) may be executed cross‐organizational BPM as a kind of the process model. This study proposed a Super‐process Interoperable Optimized Architecture based on BPMS as a paradigm to satisfy the consistency of cross‐organization operations in healthcare industry. For developing the healthcare ultra‐large‐scale process management system (H‐ULS‐PMS), the paper provided interoperability optimization with intelligent recommender system in estimation component of BPMS that has been altered to H‐ULS‐PMS. This system could be recommended the appropriate concept of crossed healthcare process according to the hospitals' requirements. A graph‐based multi‐objective optimization method has been applied to control distributed resources across the hospitals. The community cloud is used as proposed architecture infrastructure for largely scaled interoperability. A practical case in hospital as a research project of a hospital in Dusseldorf‐Wersten of Germany has been studied to show the better interoperability and resource management of the proposed super‐process interoperability architecture.

The Orchestration of Corporate Performance Management and Business Process Management and Its Effect on Perceived Organizational Performance

Various management approaches have been proposed to maintain good organizational performance on a continuous basis, with corporate performance management (CPM) and business process management (BPM) being two major groups. While the conceptual connection between CPM and BPM might see obvious, their actual empirical connection with performance remains poorly understood. In this article, we address this gap and develop a theoretical model that explicates the causal paths from CPM via BPM toward organizational performance in terms of a set of hypotheses. Based on a survey, we find that the effect of CPM on organizational performance is largely mediated by CPM-BPM orchestration and process performance. With this study, we respond to recent calls for novel studies in this area and highlight the impact of well-orchestrated CPM and BPM initiatives on organizational performance.

ІНТЕЛЕКТУАЛІЗАЦІЯ УПРАВЛІННЯ ХОЛІСТИЧНИМ РОЗВИТКОМ БІЗНЕС-ПРОЦЕСІВ ПІДПРИЄМСТВА

The article defines the intellectualization of enterprise business process management based on the components of holistic approach. The study explores the issues of managing holistic development of complex socioeconomic systems and presents the principles of criteria formalization in holistic management of company business processes. The basic factors and conditions enhancing the company holistic development management efficiency are investigated along with providing insights to the key external and internal drivers in application of the concept of holistic development of business processes. A conclusion about the need to employ the holistic development paradigm as the most promising one is substantiated. The article presents a model of a holistic approach to managing company business processes. The authors offer their original interpretation of the holistic approach as an integrated concept focused on the company potential, in particular its economic capacity, reflecting different stages of company market relationships and utilization of resources. An emphasis is put that the holistic approach toolkit has been applied only to those sectors of the national economy that are characterized by high innovation activity on the one hand and a high degree of consumer interaction, on the other. The study also suggests implications for further research which are associated with identification of methodological components of holistic approach in business process management and their adaptation to modern realia of Ukraine’s economy, as well as the elaboration of practical guidelines to implement the holistic approach in building the company marketing mix. The background for the development of small and medium-sized enterprises has been analyzed together with identifying its future trends in the context of economy stabilization. Regression analysis was carried out for small, medium and large enterprises. It is argued that small and medium-sized businesses need specific organizational forms and adequate financial support to operate effectively, it is also important to find optimal patterns of cooperation between SMEs and other sectors of the economy, in particular, with large corporations and the government. In this context, the option of implementation of international best practices should be considered.

Business intelligence and organizational performance

PurposeOrganizations introduce business intelligence (BI) to increase their performance, but often, this initiative is not aligned with the business process management (BPM) initiative, which also aims to improve organizational performance. Although some findings from the literature indicate that BI implementation has a positive impact on organizational performance, the impact seems to be indirect. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to enhance the understanding of how BI maturity is translated into organizational performance. Alignment of BI and BPM initiatives seems one possible way for creating business value with BI, particularly because BI enables process performance measurement and management, which allows the BI initiative to become more business focused.Design/methodology/approachA questionnaire was prepared and used to collect data in Croatian and Slovenian organizations with more than 50 employees. A BI–BPM alignment measurement instrument was developed for the purpose of this study using the recommended process of scale development and validation. A total of 185 responses were analyzed by the structural equation modeling technique.FindingsOur results provide evidence that the effect of BI on organizational performance is fully mediated by alignment of BI and BPM initiatives, and therefore, BI business value can be generated through the use of common terminology and methodologies, as well as a strong communication between BI and BPM experts, managers and teams in order to coordinate the two initiatives.Originality/valueThis study has responded to the call for better understanding of how the impact of BI on organization performance is realized. It confirmed that BI and BPM initiatives should be aligned in order to give BI a business value.

Is BPM truly a critical success factor for ERP adoption? An examination within the public sector

Abstract The main aim of this study is to examine whether Business Process Management (BPM) is a critical success factor for Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) in the public sector. We considered this question justified in the light of previous research, which unanimously claims that reengineering of business processes and / or BPM significantly supports successful ERP implementations. In order to examine the criticality of the BPM factor, we apply multiple case study methodology and interviewed participants of implementation projects in three public sector institutions. As part of the assessment whether BPM is truly a critical factor, we also assessed the level of commitment of the surveyed organizations in BPM initiatives and measured the adoption success of the system perceived by system users. As a result of the research, we have obtained the basis to challenge the widely accepted statement concerning the critical role of BPM in ERP adoption in the public sector.

A Conceptual Model for the Use of Social Software in Business Process Management and Knowledge Management

Companies are required to have good management, systems and performance in order to survive in today’s competitive business. BPM (Business Process Management) and KM (Knowledge Management) implementation can help organizations improve their capabilities through the use of individual knowledge resources and better organizational collective knowledge. In unstructured and constantly changing processes, traditional BPM often encounters problems because of the deviation between the model process and the reality of its implementation, as well as failure to improve ideas and innovation to the end user of the BPM process. This problem can be solved by encouraging various stakeholders to participate actively to BPM implementation. Using social software on BPM initiatives can actively involve all relevant stakeholders and assist in the knowledge management process. This research follows several steps i.e. reviewing the literature, formulation problems, analyzing results from the literature and finally proposing a conceptual model. The results of this paper are the conceptual model for using social software that will affect Business Process Management and Knowledge Management. This conceptual model is expected to open opportunities for further research in the field of social software, BPM and KM.

Enterprise Business Process Management in the Public Sector: The Case of the Department of Human Services (DHS) Australia

Business process management (BPM) in the public sector is proliferating globally, but has its contextual challenges. Ad hoc process improvement initiatives across governmental departments are not uncommon. However, as for all organisations, BPM efforts that are coordinated across the organisation will reap better outcomes than those conducted in isolation. BPM education plays a vital role in supporting such organisation-wide BPM efforts. This teaching case is focused on the sustainable development and progression of enterprise business process management (E-BPM) capabilities at the Federal Department of Human Services: a large Australian federal government agency. The detailed case narrative vividly describes the case organisation, their prior and present BPM practices and how they have attempted BPM at an enterprise level, capturing pros and cons of the journey. A series of student activities pertaining to E-BPM practices is provided with model answers (covering key aspects of BPM governance, strategic alignment, culture, people, IT, methods, etc.). This case provides invaluable insights into E-BPM efforts in general and BPM within the public sector. It can be useful to BPM educators as a rich training resource and to BPM practitioners seeking guidance for their E-BPM efforts.

Identifying do’s and don’ts using the integrated business process management framework

PurposeThe authors observe that actionable guidelines are missing from many reference works on business process management (BPM). Also, success factors are mostly not contextualized in the different phases and concerns of a BPM initiative. The purpose of this paper is to address this research gap.Design/methodology/approachThe research design builds on a literature survey for building an integrated framework for BPM that is referred to as integrated BPM. It integrates lifecycle phases, capability areas and governance aspects. Then, the authors consolidate insights from expert interviews.FindingsAs a result, the authors provide a list of various activities that are associated with the different elements of BPM. Furthermore, the authors describe pitfalls for each of the elements that have been avoided in order to make the BPM initiative a success.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings emphasize the potential to study BPM success and its factors on a more fine-granular activity level.Practical implicationsThe list of activities and the list of pitfalls are directly applicable for practitioners.Originality/valueThe research on the integrated BPM framework consolidates insights from prior research and extends it with an expert perspective on pitfalls.

Development of methods of improvement of business process management

The object of research is the methods of improving the management of business processes of enterprises. The integration and transformation processes occurring in the Ukrainian economy, high competition, pressure of crisis factors, high unpredictability of changes in the external environment require from Ukrainian enterprises the constant search for new more effective management methods. New management methods should be aimed at strengthening the competitive advantages of the enterprise in the market and stable activity of the enterprise in a strategic perspective. So, one of the most problematic places is the task of reorienting enterprises to a high-tech model of improving and developing business processes. Improving the methods of managing business processes of an enterprise within the framework of the implementation of a development strategy allows finding ways to optimize its activities (economic efficiency), taking into account the specifics of management for the future. The analysis makes it possible to develop and systematize the criteria for assessing the effectiveness of the management of business processes of an enterprise based on the proposed algorithm in accordance with the goals of business processes and customer requirements. The work has developed a methodology for assessing and improving the effectiveness of managing business processes of an enterprise, allows for an assessment of business processes of an enterprise in accordance with the achieved level (performance of business processes) and improving the efficiency of business processes of an enterprise relative to industry and world level (benchmarking business processes). In the course of research, the benchmarking technology is improved, which allows increasing the efficiency of the enterprise’s business processes by including the stage of assessing the effectiveness of the measures developed in the benchmarking process. Due to this, a toolkit is proposed for determining the level of performance of business process management and their ranking based on the use of the Harrington verbal-numerical scale. The Harrington scale allows to determine the levels of performance of business processes, taking into account the obtained results, which fall into numerical intervals. The paper suggests using the method of analyzing hierarchies in order to obtain the most reliable value of the indicator of the effectiveness of the enterprise business process management system.

Propositions on the interaction of organizational culture with other factors in the context of BPM adoption

PurposeThe paper investigates differences in the success of business process management (BPM) initiatives and their connection with organizational culture. The purpose of this paper is to identify propositions on characteristics of BPM initiative that are favorable for its success according to dominant organizational culture. Therefore, the authors’ aim was to identify connections of organizational commitment to BPM and dimensions of business process orientation (BPO) with dominant organizational culture.Design/methodology/approachAs a research design, the authors used a questionnaire to collect data on the BPM adoption practices of organizations in Austria, Croatia and Slovenia with more than 50 employees. BPM adoption was measured with BPO and organizational culture with Competing Values Framework (CVF). Non-parametric tests have been applied for the analysis. On this survey data, the authors conducted statistical tests to identify those factors that discriminate successful from unsuccessful BPM initiatives.FindingsThe study revealed empirical insights about characteristics of successful BPM initiatives in different organizational cultures. There are several statistically significant differences with respect to the success of BPM adoption. The chance of success appears to be higher: when the BPM initiative is rolled out in the entire organization if the organization has Clan, Market or Hierarchy culture; when the BPM is run on a continuous basis in Hierarchy culture and repeatedly in Adhocracy culture; when a top-down approach is used in organizations with Market or Hierarchy dominant culture; when the BPM initiative has a strategic role and formal responsibilities are defined in Clan and Hierarchy cultures.Originality/valueThe authors’ empirical findings provide the basis for the formulation of detailed propositions on the interaction of various factors and their impact on BPM adoption in connection to organizational culture. In this way, the authors’ contribution is situated in the inductive research cycle and informs theory building for BPM adoption.

What do we know about business process management training? Current status of related research and a way forward

PurposeThere is wide acknowledgment that training people from all levels of an organization in process management activities and “process thinking” is a major contributor to the success or failure, and sustainability of business process management (BPM). BPM training is provided in almost all BPM initiatives and involves the investment of valuable financial, human, information and other resources. However, little research has focused on this area. As a result, there is a lack of guidance for organizations in conducting value adding BPM training. The purpose of this paper is to consolidate the current published knowledge on BPM training in the form of a descriptive literature review to paint a picture of the existing work, identify gaps and propose a program of work for the future.Design/methodology/approachA structured descriptive literature review was conducted to understand the current status of literature on training in the domain of BPM. Of an initial search of 90 publications, 64 publications, published between 1994 and 2015, were filtered and reviewed based on their relevance to answer the research question: What has BPM literature mentioned of training people for BPM? This study proposes a research agenda based on this. A grounded theory coding approach was employed, where NVivo 10 was used as a tool to support the analysis.FindingsA total of 234 codes (representing emerging themes) were inductively identified from the data. These codes were further analyzed, resulting in eight core themes pertaining to training in the BPM context.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper presents a vivid descriptive overview of the current status of research in BPM training identifying gaps in the literature and presents a research agenda which supports a call for action.Originality/valueThe paper is the first known of its kind to compile the status of literature focused on BPM training and recommend a research agenda based on such.

BPM and ECM: Similarities, differences, conceptual, and technological limits

Abstract Enterprise information architectures still do not deliver all the value that comes from integrating structured and unstructured information. Enterprise Content Management and Business Process Management were developed as autonomous disciplines. Thus, Enterprise Content Management still occurs without formally considering the business processes that generate and manipulate content, while Business Process Management initiatives arise without a documented treatment of materials produced by the processes. The non-integrated approach to these disciplines collaborates to reduce the potential benefits expected in Organizational Change Management programs. In such context, the article discusses the interrelation between Business Process Management and Enterprise Content Management, approaching from a historical view of these disciplines, their conceptual limits, technological support, and dialogues that would benefit both initiatives. The paper contributes to clarify a question still vague in the field of Information Management, which is how to integrate Business Process Management and Enterprise Content Management treating structured and unstructured information in a unified manner. It discusses how to approach this issue in a broad scope of IM by combining the concepts of Enterprise Content Management and Business Process Management. Based on a literature review, the paper analyzes and synthesizes experiences in Enterprise Content Management and Business Process Management acquired in the context of a project carried out in a Power Sector Company. The article reveals problems in separating approaches to Enterprise Content Management and Business Process Management. It shows the importance of an effort for integration and presents three instruments that promote the linkage of the two initiatives, approximating process offices and analysts’ information.

Getting it right! Critical Success Factors of BPM in the Public Sector: A Systematic Literature Review

The continuously evolving and dynamic social, economic, political environments and public pressures demand governments to deliver effective and efficient public services. In the quest for meeting these demands, governments respond by designing extensive reforms and performance objectives to improve the efficiency and responsiveness of their agencies. Many governments have adopted Business Process Management (BPM) as a strategy to achieve these reforms. However, the successful implementation of BPM initiatives has been a challenging task for agencies responsible for these initiatives, with many projects not reaching completion or not achieving the intended outcomes. This paper reports the results of a systematic literature review on critical success factors (CSFs) related to BPM projects in the public sector. We analysed 31 papers in this review covering both the developed and developing country contexts, sourced from refereed and peer reviewed journals. A quasi-deductive approach was applied for the qualitative data analysis using NVivo 10 software. This resulted in the synthesis and identification of 14 critical success factors of BPM in the public sector, each defined and described in detail with specific attention to the sub-factors mentioned within the literature. Any differences between developed and developing country contexts were sought for, and the observations critically analysed. We propose a series of research questions, designed to support the progression of BPM in the public sector of developed as well as developing countries.