Enterprise Process Orchestration

Contents Foreword by Rob Koplowitz (Former Principal Analyst at Forrester and Cofounder of Analysis.tech)  xi Preface  xiii Why Automation  xvi Avoid the Value Trap of Local Automations  xviii Focus on Processes  xix The Methodology Behind This Book  xx How to Read This Book  xxiv Who Should Read This Book  xxv About the Authors  xxvii Introduction  1 Process Orchestration in the Context of Automation  1 Process Automation = Process Orchestration + Task Automation  2 Challenges Process Orchestration Solves  4 Taming Process Complexity  5 Process Orchestration Engines and Executable Process Models  6 The Benefits of Process Orchestration  7 Better Customer Experience  8 Operational Efficiency  10 Risk Mitigation and Compliance  11 Faster Time to Value and Greater Business Agility  12 Enabling Artificial Intelligence  14 Avoiding Technical Debt and Accidental Complexity  15 Understanding Process Types That Can Be Orchestrated  16 Tailor-Made Digital Processes  16 Diversity of Business Processes  18 A Useful Categorization of Use Cases  19 Tailoring Your Process Automation Approach  20 Avoiding the Danger Zone Around Vendor Rationalization and Tool Harmonization  22 Typical Business Processes to Be Orchestrated  23 Financial Services  23 Insurance  25 Telecommunications  26 Public Sector  26 Retail  27 Other Industries  28 Technical Use Cases of Process Orchestration  28 Takeaways  29 Chapter 1: Vision  31 Strategic Alignment: Bridging Vision, Strategy, and Stakeholders  32 Scoping Your Transformation Journey  33 Defining Your Vision  34 Aligning Your Stakeholders  35 Building a Business Architecture to Realize Digitalization and Automation Benefits  38 The Business Architecture in a Nutshell  38 Customer Journeys and Value Streams  41 Strategic End-to-End Processes  42 Business Capabilities  44 The Role of Executable Processes  48 Avoid Lengthy Discussions About Process Hierarchies  50 Advantages of This Business Architecture  52 Making Informed Decisions About Where to Invest  53 Strategically Improving Your End-to-End Processes  54 Defining Clear Ownership  55 Composing Processes Out of Business Capabilities  55 Enabling Organizational Redesign  56 Establishing a Process-First Mindset  58 Building Your Transformation Roadmap and Implementing Change  59 Adoption Governance (aka Who Owns the Business Architecture?)  60 Understanding Process Orchestration Work Streams  62 Building and Prioritizing Business Cases  65 Amplifying Organic Bottom-Up Initiatives  69 Getting Started on Your Adoption Journey  72 Following a Wave Pattern on Your Journey  72 Enterprise Adoption Phases  73 Questions to Assess Your Maturity  75 Takeaways  77 Chapter 2: People  79 How Software Is Being Built Today  80 Focused Components That Implement Capabilities  80 Agile and DevOps  81 Product Thinking  82 Process Ownership  83 Team Topologies  84 Diversity of Roles  84 A Healthy Level of Centralization  86 Centralized Teams to Facilitate Process Orchestration  88 The Business Process Optimization Group (POG)  89 The Adoption Acceleration Team (AAT)  90 The Relationship Between the POG and AAT  92 Delivery Models  92 Federated Solution Delivery with the AAT as an Enabler  93 Fully Decentralized Delivery  95 Fully Centralized Delivery  96 Roles  99 AAT Leader  99 Enterprise Architect  100 Rainmaker  101 Business Analyst  102 Solution or IT Architect  102 Software Developer  103 Low-Code Developer  104 Operations Engineer  105 Product Owner  105 Zooming in on the Adoption Acceleration Team  106 The Scope of Your AAT  106 What About Communities of Practice (CoPs)  107 What Should Your AAT Look Like  108 The Business Case for the AAT  110 Building Your AAT  113 AAT Tasks  114 Governance  121 AAT Anti-Patterns  123 Real-Life Examples  125 Defining Your Target Operating Model  126 Key Dimensions to Define Your Operating Model  127 Sketching Your Journey  130 Questions to Assess Your Maturity  134 Takeaways  135 Chapter 3: Technology  137 Implementing Your Business Architecture  137 Implementing Business Capabilities  138 Technical Capabilities, Platforms, and Enabling Technologies  140 Business Orchestration and Automation Technology  142 Composable vs. Monolithic Platforms  144 Components Required for Process Orchestration  145 Operationalizing AI for Autonomous Orchestration with Guardrails  157 Providing a Process Orchestration Capability to Your Organization  160 Enterprise vs. Solution Scope  160 Platform Thinking  162 Modern Process Orchestration Platforms Don’t Become a Bottleneck  165 Why Does This Work Now if SOA Failed a Decade Ago  165 Chargeback Models  168 Operating a Process Orchestration Platform  169 Running the Platform  169 Isolation Needs and Multitenancy  170 Staging Environments  172 Sizing and Scaling  173 Resilience and High Availability  173 Selecting the Right Process Orchestration Technology  174 Types of Processes: Standard vs. Tailor-Made  174 Scope: Task Automation and Simple Integrations vs. Processes  176 Process Complexity: Simple vs. Complex  177 Scale: Small vs. Big   179 Project Setup: Ad Hoc vs. Strategic  179 Contrasting Process Orchestration with Adjacent Technologies  180 Robotic Process Automation (RPA)  180 Data Flow Engines and Data Streaming 181 Event-Driven Architecture (EDA) and Event Streaming  182 BPM Suites and Low-Code Application Platforms  182 Microservice Orchestrators  183 Tips on Evaluating Tools  183 Questions to Assess Your Maturity  186 Takeaways  187 Chapter 4: Delivery  189 Solution Creation Approach  189 Discover  190 Model  192 Develop  193 Run  194 Monitor  194 Being Agile Throughout the Solution Creation Lifecycle  195 Setting the Stage for Success: Your Early Projects  195 De-Risking Your Start with Process Tracking  197 Typical Delivery Teams and Roles  199 Solution Design  201 Greenfield Solution Architecture for Pro-Code Use Cases  202 The Software Development Lifecycle and Model Roundtrips  203 Simplified Solution Architecture for Low-Code Use Cases  205 Typical Questions Around the Development Lifecycle  206 Accelerating Solution Building  209 Questions to Assess Your Maturity  211 Takeaways  212 Chapter 5: Measurement  215 Why Metrics Matter  216 Value Drivers of Enterprise Process Orchestration  218 Understanding Metrics  221 Measurements, Metrics, Goals, KPIs, and SLAs  221 What Makes a Good KPI  223 Example Metrics and KPIs  225 Operationalizing Your Metric-Driven Approach  228 Metrics Are Not an Afterthought  228 Mapping Metrics and KPIs to Value Drivers  229 Mapping Value Flow Through Business Architecture Layers  231 Modeling for Measurement  233 Setting Up Continuous Measurements and Communication  235 Can’t We Just Delegate This to Our Existing Data Warehouse Folks  239 Questions to Assess Your Maturity  240 Takeaways  241 Closing Thoughts  243 List of Abbreviations  247 References  249