Welcome back to this series on The Technical Case for Case Management.  In previous posts I covered an Introduction to Case Management, Ad-Hoc Activities, Real-Time Events, Enterprise Content Management, and Collaboration.  The goal of each of these posts is to explore what technical features are required to truly have a comprehensive Case Management solution.

In this post, I’ll be exploring Reporting and Analysis in the context of Case Management.

Coming from a BPM perspective, let’s first see how well typical BPM reporting and analysis capabilities can satisfy Case Management requirements.

BPM reporting and analysis tools often make the assumption that the goal in analysis is to reduce processing times and increase efficiency.  BPMS platforms provide tools like bottleneck analysis, simulation, and Business Activity Monitoring (BAM), which all drive to this typical goal in analyzing process and activity performance, removing inefficiencies, and streamlining processes.

Case Management goals though are not as predefined as BPM.  The goals in Case Management are often not directly related to process efficiency or activity performance.  Case Management often drives towards specific business goals that may or may not entail process efficiency.  For example, Case Management goals might be:  ”Increase revenue per client”; “Increase customer satisfaction”; “Reduce risk”, etc.. More »

Tags: , Appian, Appian Cloud, BPM, Case Management, psHealth, Reporting

Only a few posts left on the topic of “The Technical Case for Case Management”.  If you are catching up – refer to my previous posts (Part1, Part2, Part3, Part4).  During this series I’m exploring thoughts around exactly what is Case Management and what technical features are really required to have a complete Case Management solution.

In this post, I’ll be exploring the role of Collaboration and Enterprise 2.0 in the context of Case Management.  I’ve been looking forward to discussing this topic.  Collaboration and Social Media are hot topics right now and I believe many organizations are still trying to understand how to apply consumer style collaboration (Twitter, Facebook, etc..) in the context of their organization. More »

Tags: , Appian, BPM, Case Management, Collaboration

In the previous three blog posts around the Technical Case for Case Management (Introduction, Ad-Hoc Activities, Real-Time Events and Business Intelligence) I’ve been posting my thoughts on what technical features are truly required to have a complete case management solution.

For today, I’ll be raising the requirement for native Enterprise Content Management (ECM) when building a Case Management solution.

Arguably, the relationship between Enterprise Content Management (ECM) and Case Management has been much like the relationship between Workflow and Business Process Management.  Workflow is a foundational element to BPM, but workflow alone does not make a BPM system.  Workflow is the simplistic routing of tasks from one person to another.  Any BPM platform can provide this basic level of functionality, but without a workflow component, the system could not be considered a BPM platform at all. More »

Tags: , Ad-Hoc, Appian, BPM, BPMN, Case Management, Enterprise Content Management

We’re proud to say that our CEO Matthew Calkins has been named one of only seven finalists in the 2010 American Business Awards in the category of “Executive of the Year – Computer Software (Up to 2,500 Employees).” The ABA’s (known as “the Stevies”) are the nation’s premier business awards program. More than 2,700 entries from organizations of all sizes and in virtually every industry were submitted for consideration. More »

Tags: , Appian, BPM, Business Process Management

If you’re just catching up on this discussion on the technical case for case management, please catch up on my earlier two posts (Part 1 – Introduction, Part 2 – Ad-Hoc Activities).

In this section I will be introducing the technical feature and use of Real-Time Events and Business Intelligence in Case Management solutions.

As I discussed in the previous two posts, Case Management solutions adopt many BPM concepts, such as processes and BPMN ad-hoc activities, but their behavior can be seen as different from the normal sequential process flow.  Case Management is really first about the results or data and not about the steps on how the result or data is achieved.  The catch phrase for Case Management might be “The End Justifies the Means”. More »

Tags: , Appian, BPM, BPMN, Case Management

In my previous post, I introduced the topic on the technical case for case management.  As case management gets more and more buzz in the BPM community, I believe it is important to define what everyone is talking about in technical terms.  Specifically, what are the exact features that can ensure a customer has all the tools necessary to build an effective Case Management solution.

The first and foremost feature in a Case Management solution is “Ad-Hoc”.

Ad-Hoc simply implies the invokation of an activity or action at an unspecified time or sequence.  During the design time of the solution, the designer would have no idea if and when an ad-hoc activity may or may not execute.
More »

Tags: , Ad-Hoc, Appian, BPM, BPMN, Case Management

We’re pleased to announced an exclusive event we are hosting with premier research firm Ovum on Tuesday, May 25. “BPM: A Platform for Managed Change” is a complementary dinner and discussion on the business value of BPM that is open to senior IT and business executives. It will be held at the swanky Bam-Bou (part of The Ivy Group) in Central London. More »

Tags: , Appian, BPM, Business Process Management, Change Management

There’s been a lot of discussion from the larger BPM community recently around Case Management.  Analysts and vendors have been releasing a bevy of definitions and analysis trying to define exactly what “Case Management” is.  Some analysts, like Bruce Silver, have been tracking this aspect of process for some time though.   Unlike BPM, that has some relatively well defined technical standards and is rooted in process improvement methodologies, Case Management is in it’s infancy in regards to standards and methodologies.  More »

Tags: , Appian, BPM, Case Management