The history and methods of describing business processes
From the 1917 Gantt charts to BPMN 2.0 and process mining — over a hundred years of evolution in the tools for modeling organizational activity.
Where to start
Four main sections help you dive into the subject: from the timeline of how the discipline emerged to a comparative analysis of methodologies.
Featured publications
Full analytical deep dives we recommend you look at first.
BPMN 2.0: from notation to executable processes
A full guide to BPMN 2.0: the difference between modeling levels, token semantics, gateway and event types, and how to choose the right level of detail.
August Scheer and the ARIS architecture: how one notation became a standard of German engineering
The story of the EPC notation and the ARIS platform, which won 8,000 enterprise customers worldwide and became synonymous with BPM in German-speaking countries.
Why IDEF0 still lives on in the public sector and defense industry
Strict ICOM semantics, a minimalist notation and half a century of proven use — the secret to the longevity of a 1981 methodology in the most conservative industries.
Latest updates
New articles and expansions of existing material.
Value Stream Mapping in the service sector: from Toyota to banking processes
How a method born on Toyota's assembly lines found use in banks, insurance companies and healthcare institutions.
Reengineering or continuous improvement: where does the truth lie?
A comparison of BPR (Hammer/Champy) and Kaizen (Toyota): when radical change is needed, and when the philosophy of small steps is better.
Process Mining: how BPM went from manual labor to data science
Technologies for automatically extracting process models from the event logs of enterprise systems — Celonis, ProM, Disco — and their effect on the analyst's profession.
Camunda 8 vs Bizagi vs Pega: comparing three BPM-market leaders
A detailed comparative review of three leading BPM platforms: architecture, licensing models, target scenarios and real implementation cases.
The legacy of reengineering: what remains relevant 30 years on
The ideas of radical process reengineering reshaped 1990s corporate management. We examine what stood the test of time and what was revised.
Agile and BPM: competitors or allies?
For a long time Agile and BPM were seen as incompatible. By the 2020s it was clear they solve different problems and can work together fruitfully.