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

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