BPM vs BPMS vs BPMN: sorting out the confusion of terms
Acronyms in business process management are often used incorrectly. Let's clarify what each of them actually means.
In conversations about process management the acronyms BPM, BPMS and BPMN come up often. They look similar but denote fundamentally different things. In this short piece we sort out what is what.
BPM — Business Process Management
BPM is a management discipline. It is the set of approaches, principles and practices for managing an organization’s business processes. BPM includes:
- Identifying and describing processes
- Analysis and optimization
- Automation where it makes sense
- Monitoring execution
- Continuous improvement
BPM as a discipline exists independently of any particular tool or notation. You can practice BPM using Excel and a whiteboard with markers.
BPMS — Business Process Management Suite
BPMS is a class of software that supports BPM practice. A typical BPMS includes:
- A graphical editor for process models
- A process engine to execute the models
- A user-task portal
- Monitoring and analytics tools
- Integration adapters for external systems
Examples of BPMS: Camunda, Bizagi, IBM BPM, Pega, Bonitasoft.
BPMN — Business Process Model and Notation
BPMN is a graphical notation standard for describing business processes. It is an OMG standard, adopted by ISO as ISO/IEC 19510:2013.
BPMN is just one of the possible ways to draw processes. Alternatives are EPC, IDEF0, UML Activity Diagrams and flowcharts.
How they relate
| Level | What it is |
|---|---|
| Discipline | BPM |
| Software | BPMS |
| Notation | BPMN, EPC, IDEF0, … |
A single BPM project may use one or several BPMS and one or several notations for different purposes.
Common mistakes
“We are implementing BPM” — usually what is meant is “we are implementing a BPMS”. Real BPM is not an implementation project but an ongoing practice.
“Show me your BPMN” — often what is meant is “show me your process model”. The model may be in EPC or IDEF0, not BPMN.
“BPMS is hard” — a confusion of levels. What can be hard is BPM as a discipline (a matter of culture and competence). A BPMS is just a tool.
Related terms
Besides the main three, a few others come up in everyday use:
- BPI (Business Process Improvement) — improving processes, akin to Kaizen
- BPR (Business Process Reengineering) — radical reengineering after Hammer
- DPA (Digital Process Automation) — a modern replacement for BPMS, with a low-code emphasis
- iBPMS (intelligent BPMS) — a BPMS with AI/ML capabilities
- CMMN (Case Management Model and Notation) — a standard for adaptive processes
- DMN (Decision Model and Notation) — a standard for business rules
Conclusion
A clear understanding of the differences between BPM, BPMS and BPMN is basic literacy for anyone who works with processes. Using these terms as synonyms betrays a lack of grounding in the discipline.