BNSF News

Tackling Today’s Demanding Challenges Using BPM

2007-11-15

Today’s business environment is faster and more challenging than ever. Success is rarely in the hands of just one person -- it almost always requires cooperation between many different people in many different roles. Clearly understanding the complex requirements, interactions and dependencies of our jobs is critical to our success. Even more critical is the ability to effectively communicate this understanding in order to build a shared vision among all the participants. While this fact is widely recognized, the challenge is how to meet these demands amid today’s fast-paced business climate.

Business Process Management (BPM) is recognized as a powerful tool to help solve this challenge. The BPM methodology relies heavily on modeling techniques. Modeling is a powerful communication tool and helps identify potential areas for improvement. The accompanying exhibits are a couple of examples of how BPM can be utilized to improve processes.

Exhibit A is a high-level Business Process Model for requesting a Corporate Travel Credit Card. The modeling technique relies on a few basic shapes, such as ovals, rectangles and diamonds to represent the beginning and end of a process, various activities and decision points. All of these shapes are connected by lines to link the sequence of events. In addition, the horizontal lines indicate responsibility for an action. Models like this are typically started on paper and then finalized using common tools such as Word, PowerPoint, or Visio.

Exhibit A:

Corporate Travel Credit Card

In addition to modeling existing processes, BPM provides BNSF employees with a methodology for continuous improvement. As you can see in Exhibit B, BPM is a useful process that encourages all stakeholders to continually reevaluate and improve their business processes.

Exhibit B:

Continuous Improvement Process

By utilizing the BPM methodology, BNSF employees can more effectively communicate and evaluate the complex requirements, interactions and dependencies that are critical to success. This technique allows all stakeholders to better understand their role in the overall process and encourages all participants to help identify ways to implement improvements. By improving communication and building a shared vision we are all better equipped to meet the demands of today’s challenging and fast-paced business climate.

If you would like to learn more about BPM and view some of the existing process models, go to the BPM repository and click on "Browse Process by Category".

BNSF Headquarters

For more information on the company and its transportation solutions, visit the BNSF Web site at www.bnsf.com