1. © Jan vom Brocke, Theresa Schmiedel, Jan Recker, Peter Trkman, Willem Mertens, Stijn Viaene
TEN PRINCIPLES OF
GOOD BUSINESS PROCESS
MANAGEMENT

2. © Jan vom Brocke, Theresa Schmiedel, Jan Recker, Peter Trkman, Willem Mertens, Stijn Viaene
About This Work
 This work is based on academic research published as:
vom Brocke, J., Schmiedel, T., Recker, J., Trkman, P., Mertens, W., &
Viaene, S. (2014). Ten Principles of Good Business Process Management.
Business Process Management Journal (BPMJ), 2014.
 You can access the full study via:
http://my.uni.li/i3v/publikationen/00065700/03944267.PDF
 Please feel free to use any of the material in these slides with reference
to the original source.

3. © Jan vom Brocke, Theresa Schmiedel, Jan Recker, Peter Trkman, Willem Mertens, Stijn Viaene
Management Summary
▪ This work identifies ten principles which represent a set of capabilities
essential for mastering contemporary and future challenges in BPM.
▪ The findings allow practitioners to comprehensively scope their BPM
initiatives and provide a general guidance for BPM implementation.
▪ The principles may also serve to tackle contemporary issues in other
management areas.
Keywords: principles, business process management, BPM, research agenda

4. © Jan vom Brocke, Theresa Schmiedel, Jan Recker, Peter Trkman, Willem Mertens, Stijn Viaene
Main Results – Overview (1/2)
NO. Principle Description of positive manifestation (+)
and antonym (-)
1 Principle of Context-
Awareness
+ BPM should fit to the organizational context.
- It should not follow a cookbook approach.
2 Principle of Continuity + BPM should be a permanent practice.
- It should not be a one-off project.
3 Principle of
Enablement
+ BPM should develop capabilities.
- It should not be limited to firefighting.
4 Principle of Holism + BPM should be inclusive in scope.
- It should not have an isolated focus.
5 Principle of
Institutionalization
+ BPM should be embedded in the organizational
structure.
- It should not be an ad-hoc responsibility.

5. © Jan vom Brocke, Theresa Schmiedel, Jan Recker, Peter Trkman, Willem Mertens, Stijn Viaene
Main Results – Overview (1/2)
NO. Principle Description of positive manifestation (+)
and antonym (-)
6 Principle of
Involvement
+ BPM should integrate all stakeholder groups.
- It should not neglect employee participation.
7 Principle of Joint
Understanding
+ BPM should create shared meaning.
- It should not be the language of experts.
8 Principle of Purpose + BPM should contribute to strategic value creation.
- It should not be done for the sake of doing it.
9 Principal of Simplicity + BPM should be economical.
- It should not be over-engineered.
10 Principal of Technology
Appropriation
+ BPM should make opportune use of technology.
- It should not consider technology management as
an after-thought.

6. © Jan vom Brocke, Theresa Schmiedel, Jan Recker, Peter Trkman, Willem Mertens, Stijn Viaene
Main Results (1/10)
1. Principle of Context Awareness
◦ BPM requires consideration of the given organizational setting.
◦ Context Awareness assumes that there is no unique way of managing business
processes.
▪ Questions to guide BPM research
◦ Which typical context factors determine BPM approaches?
◦ Which BPM approaches are effective in specific context?
◦ How can context- suitable BPM approaches be determined?
▪ Questions to guide BPM practice
◦ In what context is our BPM initiative set up?
◦ What factors characterize the context of application?
◦ What requirements can we derive from this context for the BPM initiative?

7. © Jan vom Brocke, Theresa Schmiedel, Jan Recker, Peter Trkman, Willem Mertens, Stijn Viaene
Main Results (2/10)
2. Principle of Continuity
◦ Permanent practice that facilitates continuous gains in efficiency and
effectiveness.
◦ Avoiding BPM being a one-off change project, establish a process mindset.
▪ Questions to guide BPM research
◦ How do we sustain a BPM initiative?
◦ How do we establish continuous improvement and innovation of business in
the long run?
◦ What is the overall agenda connecting different BPM project?
▪ Questions to guide BPM practice
◦ How do we sustain a BPM initiative?
◦ How do we establish continuous improvement and innovation of business in
the long run?
◦ What is the overall agenda connecting different BPM project?

8. © Jan vom Brocke, Theresa Schmiedel, Jan Recker, Peter Trkman, Willem Mertens, Stijn Viaene
Main Results (3/10)
3. Principle of Enablement
◦ develop individual and organizational BPM capabilities
◦ Ad- hoc solutions bear the risk o firefighting instead of long term solutions.
▪ Questions to guide BPM research
◦ What specific organizational capabilities are required to realize BPM?
◦ How can these best be implemented?
▪ Questions to guide BPM practice
◦ What measures have we taken to develop capabilities in BPM?
◦ Do we know what capabilities are needed in different areas of the
organization?
◦ How do we establish the required dynamic capabilities for BPM?

9. © Jan vom Brocke, Theresa Schmiedel, Jan Recker, Peter Trkman, Willem Mertens, Stijn Viaene
Main Results (4/10)
4. Principle of Holism
◦ BPM should be run throughout the value chain.
◦ Holistic approach to comprise all important aspects across the entire company
▪ Questions to guide BPM research
◦ Which factors are necessary and which are sufficient for BPM success?
◦ What are measurement criteria for these factors?
▪ Questions to guide BPM practice
◦ To what other business or management areas does our initiative relate?
◦ Which of these areas need to be taken into account?
◦ What synergies can we leverage?

10. © Jan vom Brocke, Theresa Schmiedel, Jan Recker, Peter Trkman, Willem Mertens, Stijn Viaene
Main Results (5/10)
5. Principle of Institutionalization
◦ The principle calls for embedding BPM in the organizational structure.
◦ BPM roles and responsibilities ensure a more customer- centric, horizontal
integration of work.
▪ Questions to guide BPM research
◦ Which governance structures are most effective in BPM programs?
◦ What type of key performance indicators support BPM best?
▪ Questions to guide BPM practice
◦ Who takes ownership of BPM?
◦ Which organizational structure supports BPM?
◦ What are the incentives for our employees to engage in BPM?

11. © Jan vom Brocke, Theresa Schmiedel, Jan Recker, Peter Trkman, Willem Mertens, Stijn Viaene
Main Results (6/10)
6. Principle of Involvement
◦ All stakeholder groups who are affected by BPM should be involved.
◦ Responsiveness of people and their true commitment is critical to the success
of BPM.
◦ The (re-) design process is likely to be more important than the final design.
▪ Questions to guide BPM research
◦ Does active involvement in process model creation change the use of process
models?
◦ What is the return on investment of involving vs. informing key stakeholders?
▪ Questions to guide BPM practice
◦ Which stakeholders are affected by our BPM initiative?
◦ What are the specific preferences of these stakeholders?
◦ How can their perspectives be considered to increase support?

12. © Jan vom Brocke, Theresa Schmiedel, Jan Recker, Peter Trkman, Willem Mertens, Stijn Viaene
Main Results (7/10)
7. Principle of Joint Understanding
◦ Introduce and sustain a common language allowing different stakeholders to
view, frame and analyze organizational systems.
◦ Process models should be simple and intuitive to create shared meaning and
common understanding.
▪ Questions to guide BPM research
◦ Are process models a good mechanism to create joint understanding between
business and IT?
◦ Which elements of processes need to be understood?
▪ Questions to guide BPM practice
◦ What is a language all employees would understand?
◦ What are essential concepts relevant in different business areas?
◦ How can language gaps between different groups be bridged?

13. © Jan vom Brocke, Theresa Schmiedel, Jan Recker, Peter Trkman, Willem Mertens, Stijn Viaene
Main Results (8/10)
8. Principle of Purpose
◦ BPM as a management method to achieve organizational change and create
value.
◦ Create transparency about the business and the organizational system.
▪ Questions to guide BPM research
◦ What are configuration mechanisms to tailor BPM depending on purpose?
◦ For which purpose should BPM not be applied?
▪ Questions to guide BPM practice
◦ What do we want to achieve with BPM?
◦ What alternatives do we have?
◦ How can we measure the gains of BPM?

14. © Jan vom Brocke, Theresa Schmiedel, Jan Recker, Peter Trkman, Willem Mertens, Stijn Viaene
Main Results (9/10)
9. Principle of Simplicity
◦ The amount of resources invested into BPM should be economical.
◦ The simplest way of business processes help to achieve the BPM-related
goals.
▪ Questions to guide BPM research
◦ What are BPM failure factors?
◦ What is the tipping point for effort invested in BPM?
◦ Which BPM activities contribute most to value-creation?
▪ Questions to guide BPM practice
◦ What BPM activities should we focus on?
◦ How can we reduce effort in BPM?
◦ What could happen if we stop supporting certain BPM activities?

15. © Jan vom Brocke, Theresa Schmiedel, Jan Recker, Peter Trkman, Willem Mertens, Stijn Viaene
Main Results (10/10)
10. Principle of Technology Appropriation
◦ BPM should make opportune use of technology, particularly IT.
◦ Introducing IT as an after-thought it can jeopardize the continuity, the growth
and the transformational capability of an whole enterprise.
▪ Questions to guide BPM research
◦ What are criteria to identify the appropriate BPM technology for a particular
purpose?
◦ What is the value of using a certain BPM technology vs. another?
▪ Questions to guide BPM practice
◦ Which technology is available to support a particular BPM purpose?
◦ How can we make sure the technology gets used in this specific context?
◦ How can we manage the organizational transformation that comes with the
use of a new technology?

16. © Jan vom Brocke, Theresa Schmiedel, Jan Recker, Peter Trkman, Willem Mertens, Stijn Viaene
Research Method (1/2)
▪ The study builds on expert opinions and focus groups
▪ 20 BPM experts, 10 from academia and 10 from practice
▪ Integration of a complete range of viewpoints:
◦ Researchers in the BPM domain from four universities worldwide and
from diverse positions: three full professors, one assistant professor,
two PhD post-graduates, and four PhD students
◦ Managers in the area of BPM who represented 8 global companies
from diverse industries: one from the automotive industry, two from
banking, two from construction, two from engineering, one from
healthcare, and two from logistics

17. © Jan vom Brocke, Theresa Schmiedel, Jan Recker, Peter Trkman, Willem Mertens, Stijn Viaene
Research Method (2/2)
▪ 8 steps to shape the viewpoint
◦ First focus group (academics and practitioners)
1. Shaping of joint BPM understanding
2. Identification of principles for good BPM
3. Clustering of the identified principles
◦ Second focus group (academics)
4. Identification of a linguistic reference model for the principles
5. Formulation of a principle for each cluster based on linguistic reference
model
6. Refinement of the identified principles
◦ Follow-up group reflections (practitioners)
7. Reflection of the ten principles
8. Further refinement of the wording

18. © Jan vom Brocke, Theresa Schmiedel, Jan Recker, Peter Trkman, Willem Mertens, Stijn Viaene
Acknowledgements
Thanks to all contributors:
Jan vom Brocke (University of Liechtenstein), Theresa Schmiedel (University
of Liechtenstein), Michael Bögle (Lufthansa Technik AG), Martin Bringmann
(ThyssenKrupp Presta AG), René Derungs (Ivoclar Vivadent AG), Ralf
Diekmann (Hilti AG), Brina Hribar (University of Ljubljana), Mirko
Kloppenburg (Lufthansa Technik AG), Joachim Kolb (Oerlikon Balzers AG),
Manuela Lucas (Landesbank Berlin AG), Florian Macheleidt (Landesbank
Berlin AG), Willem Mertens (Vlerick Business School), Isabelle Rapin (Hilti
AG), Roman Rauper (TEL Mechatronics AG), Jan Recker (Queensland
University of Technology), Bernd Schenk (University of Liechtenstein), Sanja
Tumbas (University of Liechtenstein), Peter Trkman (University of Ljubljana),
Stijn Viaene (Vlerick Business School), Sarah Zelt (SAP AG).
Become a contributor: http://www.bpm-principles.org

19. © Jan vom Brocke, Theresa Schmiedel, Jan Recker, Peter Trkman, Willem Mertens, Stijn Viaene
Contact
Feel free to contact the authors in case of any related matter
▪Prof. Dr. Jan vom Brocke, University of Liechtenstein, Institute of Information
Systems, jan.vom.brocke@uni.li, www.uni.li/jan.vom.brocke,
Twitter: @janvombrocke, Mail: jan.vom.brocke@uni.li
▪Dr.Theresa Schmiedel, University of Liechtenstein, Institute of Information Systems,
theresa.schmiedel@uni.li, www.uni.li/theresa.schmiedel
▪Prof. Jan Recker, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia, Science
and Engineering Faculty, j.recker@qut.edu.au, www.janrecker.com/
▪Dr. Peter Trkman, University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Economics,
peter.trkman@ef.uni-lj.si, http://uni-lj.academia.edu/PeterTrkman
▪Willem Mertens, Vlerick Business School, ICM Fellow at Intercollegiate Center for
Management Science, https://www.vlerick.com/en/research-and-
faculty/faculty/Willem-Mertens
▪Prof. Stijn Viaene, Vlerick Business School, Department Decision Sciences and
Information Management, http://www.vlerick.com/en/research-and-
faculty/faculty/Stijn-Viaene

20. © Jan vom Brocke, Theresa Schmiedel, Jan Recker, Peter Trkman, Willem Mertens, Stijn Viaene
Read more …
 You can access the full study via:
http://my.uni.li/i3v/publikationen/00065700/03944267.PDF