Traditionally, a fine line has divided process from project in the enterprise. The Project (or Portfolio) Management Office (PMO) is responsible for oversight of projects—however that is defined within that organization—while business process governance is often distributed throughout the organization, perhaps with some input from a business process improvement team. The business process improvement group is usually organized around a set of principles, often Six Sigma or Operational Excellence, while the PMO is operated according to its own guidelines, such as a project life cycle or systems development life cycle (I'll refer to these, collectively, as SDLC). Finally, the PMO is generally responsible for efforts that cost money, while the business process improvement folks have a clear mandate to identify savings.
At BP Logix, we feel that process and project have been separated for too long. The SDLC after all, is itself a process, requiring planning, oversight, and documentation, and subject to review, audit, and regulatory examination, just like any other process. Furthermore, the SDLC is one of the most important processes in the enterprise, often involving tremendous expenditures of money and resources. Other enterprise processes have benefited from leveraging BPM solutions: could the SDLC benefit as well?
In upcoming posts, I will talk about the challenges and benefits of using BPM software, and specifically, BP Logix Process Director, to automate the SDLC even as it makes the work of the PMO easier and more transparent. In the meantime, if this topic interests you, be sure to participate in our webinar on Tuesday, February 8, at 1pm. View our BPM events page for more information, or just drop a note to info@bplogix.com. The webinar will feature well-known BPM expert and Forrester analyst Clay Richardson.
What do you think about BPM in the PMO? Are they doomed to forever be separate? How will one or the other have to change for them to come together? Leave your comments beow.