Business Process Management (BPM) is the discipline of understanding, designing, improving and governing the processes through which work is performed.
A business process describes how workflows across people, roles, systems, data and decisions to produce an outcome. BPM makes that work visible so it can be understood, improved, measured and governed.
In traditional management, BPM is often associated with process mapping, workflow design, efficiency improvement, automation and control. These remain important. Poorly understood processes create waste, duplication, delays, compliance risk and customer frustration.
In the Adapt, Survive and Flourish framework, BPM plays a deeper role. It helps connect organisational intention to operational reality. It shows how capabilities are enacted, how value is created, where work crosses boundaries, and where the organisation’s promises are either fulfilled or broken.
BPM sits naturally alongside the Business Capability Model (BCM) and the Common Data Model (CDM). The BCM describes what the organisation does. The CDM describes what the organisation needs to know and manage. BPM describes how work actually flows.
Together, these provide a foundation for the organisational Knowledge Base.
Why BPM Matters
Business processes are where strategy becomes action. They are also where many organisational problems become visible.
A process can reveal:
- duplicated work
- unclear accountability
- poor hand-offs
- data quality issues
- hidden rework
- compliance exposure
- customer effort
- operational bottlenecks
- misalignment between departments
A process map is therefore not just a diagram. Used well, it is a learning artefact. It helps people see how their work connects to the work of others.
BPM, Workflow and Capability
A useful distinction is:
Capability describes what the organisation must be able to do.
Process describes how work is organised to deliver an outcome.
Workflow describes the sequence of tasks, roles, decisions and hand-offs through which that work moves.
For example, a loan origination process may involve many capabilities: customer onboarding, identity verification, credit assessment, document management, approval, settlement and reporting. Each capability contributes to the process, but the process shows how the workflows over time.
BPM and Activity Based Costing
BPM also provides an important foundation for Activity Based Costing (ABC).
If a process shows how work is performed, ABC helps identify the cost of performing that work. Activities contain Task Types that specify the resources required to undertake that activity. When the actual Tasks are executed, the resources used are captured. By undertaking BPM, problems like delays and poor hand-offs, which all carry cost, are surfaced.
This means BPM can help organisations understand not only whether work is being done, but also what it costs, where effort is being consumed, and where improvement would create real value.
BPM in an Adaptive Organisation
In an adaptive organisation, BPM is not only about standardisation and control. It is also about learning.
Processes should be stable enough to support reliable work, yet visible enough to be questioned and improved. When a process fails, the answer is not simply to blame people or add another control. The organisation must ask what the process is teaching.
Good BPM helps people see:
- where the work really happens
- where assumptions fail
- where decisions are hidden
- where systems force workarounds
- where customer promises are at risk
- where learning needs to occur
This makes BPM an important part of adaptive capacity. It provides the structured view of work needed for improvement, stewardship and organisational learning.
Related Concepts
- Business Capability Model
- Common Data Model
- Knowledge Base
- Workflow
- Value Stream
- Activity Based Costing
- Gemba
- Business Process Mapping
- Organisational Learning