Perspectives are views that help in providing focus to the tasks and techniques applied within an initiative or project. BABOK Guide V3 unveils a number of perspectives that may be adopted in carrying out business analysis work: Agile, Business Intelligence, Information Technology, Business Architecture and Business Process Management (BPM).

The BPM perspective unveils the unique characteristics of business analysis when practised within the context of developing or improving business processes. You may browse through our collection of posts on BPM to get started.

In order to improve existing processes, BAs should have a solid understanding of BPM. So, if you’re a business analyst involved in a BPM project, use these free courses to get up to speed on BPM concepts:

1. Business Process Management: What Every Business Process Analyst Should Know by Business Analyst Learnings. This course offers a solid foundation of business process analysis and contains details of the key principles and concepts of Business Process Management (BPM). It is presented in an easy-to-digest format as a 5-day email course that can be consumed while on the go. Sign up for the course by "Paying what you want" (or nothing at all) and you will also get a free download of:

Business Process Definition Template
Business Process Definition Guide/Infographic

2. Business Process Modelling and Analysis (2013) by Prof. Dr. Mathias Weske: The aim of this course is to provide insight into the concepts and language for describing and analyzing business processes.

3. Diploma in Business Process Management: This course is offered for free by ALISON and covers key modules on documenting business processes, business intelligence, knowledge management, system design and implementation, within the context of BPM. It takes approximately 20 hours to complete and covers such topics as “Logical Components of a Business Process”, “Reading Data Flow Diagrams”, “Management Decision Making” and many others.

4. Explore BPM with Bizagi, a popular software vendor in the BPM landscape. The course teaches how to model and automate business processes using Bizagi BPM Suite.

Do you know of other free BPM courses I can add to this list?

Explore The Business Process Analysis Template Collection

Picture Attribution: “Flowchart Diagram” by jscreationzs/Freedigitalphotos.net

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Optymyze CEO Discusses How To Use Data Analytics To Improve Your Business Processes

Data and analytics can provide invaluable insights into how your business is performing. Experts like Mark Stiffler say that leveraging data and analytics can uncover new growth opportunities, strengthen existing processes, and increase your overall efficiency. In this blog post, we'll discuss eleven tips you can use to leverage data and analytics to improve your business processes.

10 Quick Tips For Procedure Documentation

Most software development and process improvement projects involve introducing new ways of working as part of implementation. Creating a procedure document users can follow thus becomes a key activity for business analysts that needs to be completed so that system users can perform their duties using the new system or process on day one.

A List of Business Process Management Certifications

While there’s nothing like having some experience under your belt, Business Process Management (BPM) certifications can aid analysts in some key ways: they serve as concrete evidence of business process management knowledge; offer the opportunity to learn new concepts /best practices; and benefit from the experience of trainers/mentors.

A List Of Free Business Process Management Courses

If you’re a business analyst involved in a BPM project, use these free courses to get up to speed on BPM concepts:

Reorganizing The Business For Customer-Centric Processes

Processes should be designed with the customer in mind. Business Analysts involved in process improvement projects usually have to focus on the “moments of truth” by analyzing all the points in the process where there’s interaction with the customer. Designing processes with the customer in mind means focusing on the touch points with the customer. Guest Post By Daphne Lefran

Why Should Business Analysts Use BPMN?

To get an understanding of what Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) is, it is certainly helpful to look at it from the angle of what it is not.

Process Reference Models: Why You Should Use One

What Are Process Reference Models?

It’s easier to describe them by saying what they are not:

They are NOT a step-by-step set of instructions that dictate how your processes should work. They only serve as a guide for making process decisions and will need to be modified to suit the requirements of your business

5 BPI Diseases You Should Know About: Thoughts On Prevention And Cure

“We started the project 3 months ago but it never really went anywhere”
“We just don’t have the resource to do it”
“SMT couldn’t see the point in making the changes we suggested”

Sound familiar? Guest Post By Hannah Lincoln, ITAS

Business Process Reengineering Vs Business Process Optimisation

BPO and BPR are two separate approaches to achieving process improvement and they need to be understood within the context of improving business processes in order to identify which approach is best for your business.

Process Mapping: Key Success Factors You Should Know About

Our team recently completed a project that involved documenting As-is processes. The objective was to create a central repository of processes to guide process improvement discussions. Though businesses embark on process mapping exercises for different reasons, the benefits are worthwhile, if successfully completed. To achieve success with building your process repository, there are some key success factors you should be aware of:

15 Quick Tips For Modelling Business Processes

Business Process Modelling is a technique, one that comes with standards that are understandable to stakeholders if presented in the right form but this is not always the case. The problem with drawing process models is that they can quickly become unwieldy over time, hard to maintain and difficult to understand, thereby defeating their main purpose which is to convey meaning.

Designing A BPM Strategy? Here’s What You Should Know

For organisations just delving into BPM and new BPM teams, one of the first steps is usually to design a strategy of how business processes will be managed. This strategy provides a road map for launching and implementing business process improvement projects.

Prioritising Business Processes: How To Select Processes For Improvement

No matter which approach you adopt, process selection should be guided by this basic principle: Only about 20% of organisational processes have the potential to deliver unique competitive advantage (Pareto’s Principle). If you can identify these processes, half the battle is won.

20 Principles Of Business Process Improvement

Companies undertake process improvement efforts for numerous reasons. If a company is vying to attract investors for example, it must have its ducks in a row. Process information flying around in memos and emails can easily lead to chaos and a general lack of understanding of how things are supposed to work. To work effectively, employees should have a complete view of the effects of their actions and inactions on process outcomes.

When Processes Become Problematic: 3 Ways to Correct Bottlenecks

Processes where input have to be received from preceding steps are extremely prone to bottlenecks. Bottlenecks can cost the company time, money and valuable customers. Customers will switch to faster competitors if they do not get their products on time. If tasks sit for days in a person's inbox waiting for attention or engineers are constantly waiting to receive product specifications, improvement efforts and projects will suffer.

Business Processes & Procedures - Can You Spot The Difference?

One common area of confusion when mapping business processes is the difference between a process and a procedure. The 2 words, process and procedure, are often used together in different contexts. Though similar, they differ in the level of information they convey.

10 Benefits of Business Process Management

BPM is a combination of practices centred on driving organizational value through a process-improvement culture. It can be as simple as defining unclear processes, continually looking for areas of improvement and making changes, or as complex as a complete business process re-engineering venture. Whatever your approach is, there are certainly many benefits to be had.

7 Reasons Why BPM Projects Fail

Processes should continue to be monitored, measured, updated and improved long after they've been automated. Business Process Management is not a one-off initiative but a mindset that should be nurtured within the organization. Knowing what can go wrong on your BPM journey will help you manage any accompanying risks and opportunities.

10 Process Components You Should Define

Defining (and documenting) a process is one of the first steps to understanding how it works. Process improvement starts first with understanding how the process works, so whether you’re interviewing process participants or observing a process, here are 10 process components that will help you arrive at a high-level description of the process.

6 Warning Signs Your Processes Are Not So Cool

This article discusses 6 warning signs your processes may be in need of attention. Look out for these signs and work towards eliminating them.

Implementing BPMS: Selecting the First Process

BPMS projects are often under immense pressure to deliver quick business value and benefits. One of the key questions organizations implementing BPMS often ask is, “Which process do we implement first?”. The answer to this question is extremely important since the first process can set the pace for the entire BPM Project.

Lean Principles & Business Process Improvement

Peter F. Drucker once stated:

There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all.

If you understand lean principles and are able to examine the business from the customer’s perspective, you start to understand what adds value, what doesn’t add value and can discuss along these lines with stakeholders on how improvements can be made.

Tips For Business Process Improvement

I once came across a trainer who equated process specialists to purple squirrels because of how hard they are to come by. Process specialists have the ability to interview stakeholders effectively, analyze feedback and have a deep understanding of at least one improvement methodology. Another course I attended recently on strategic business process improvement struck a cord so I’ve compiled some fundamental nuggets analysts should be aware of in improving business processes.

Key Lessons From Value-Driven BPM

Key BPM Lessons from Value-Driven Business Process Management: The Value-Switch for Lasting Competitive Advantage by Peter Franz & Mathias Kirchmer.

What is the Difference between BPM and ERP?

The difference between Business Process Management (BPM) and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) can be quite fuzzy. I’ll start with my understanding: BPM is a practice while ERP is one of the many technologies that can support that practice. With that being said, BPM can be achieved with or without technology though having a Business Process Management System (BPMS) and/or an ERP can enhance your ability to do BPM.

5 Must-Know Tips for BPM Excellence

One day at work, I was invited to present a 1-hour introduction to BPM practice to a bunch of staff from another department. On one hand, I was excited at the opportunity to discuss a topic I was passionate about. On the other hand, I felt some agitation. How was I to deliver timeless BPM pointers that would add value in just an hour? If I had time to say only 5 things about BPM, what would they be?

The Top 3 Benefits of BPM and More

According to Gartner Inc, Companies who implement BPM can expect cost savings of at least, 20% in the first year. BPM is not just another IT buzzword or a passing fad. Why should any company embark on a BPM Project? What are the top benefits they can expect to gain apart from the much-touted cost savings?

I am a Business Process Analyst…What Exactly Do I Do?

My sister once asked me, "What exactly do you do at work?"

I tried to explain it as simply as possible and I actually thought she'd understood until she asked me again about a month later. She has stopped asking me now and I'm hoping that's because she finally understood it and not because she had simply given up.

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A List Of Free Business Process Management Courses

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