In the past, process management almost always assured good governance because all the possible paths were thought out and planned ahead of time.  With the advent of agile BPM and adaptive case management, not all combinations of outcomes can be planned.  This calls for processes to be equipped with boundaries that make sure governance can be assured.  This puts a new premium on business rules used as constraints to keep processes from going "out of bounds."

Staying In Bounds

The challenge with goal-driven processes leveraging process instances or cases is that, from a governance perspective, they can stray off into dangerous territory.  This is where constraints or boundaries are necessary in order to find a perfect balance.  Business rules play a different role in process management in such a case.  In traditional process management, rules provide strict control over the directions that a process can go.  In 'the New BPM', rules now provide bumper guards for processes to stay in bounds, while pursuing the dynamic goals and the dynamic paths that can be created.

Dealing With Real-Time Change Over Time

With the acceleration of the speed-of-change afforded by 'the New BPM', the importance of constraint-based rules accelerates, so that "trip indicators" are employed to highlight reasons to leverage reactive changes.  Wise organizations plan scenarios that might require changing out-of-bounds conditions to meet emerging conditions.  Quite often wide-ranging analysis that leverages big data and simulation is used for this kind of planning.  Rules and triggers for changing scenarios can be inventoried and structured for future actions — a kind of "war games" for process outcomes.

Net; Net

Dynamic, adaptable, and agile processes are beneficial for chasing the best balance of business outcomes, but there are new dangers to avoid with these new and powerful processes.  'The New BPM' will require new methods and techniques as well as technologies.  Look to leading organizations and thought leaders to help you in your journey with these powerful processes.

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