Business Process Management Vendor ChecklistSelecting the right business process management and workflow automation vendors requires planning. Building a comprehensive request for information is necessary for developing a shortlist of qualified BPM vendors. Regardless of how one defines business process management (BPM), this is a puzzle that includes many pieces. As enterprises seek a comprehensive process support strategy involving such factors as BPM, workflow and collaboration, they are faced with alternatives ranging from simple to complex. Sorting the possibilities requires an understanding of the market as a whole, as well as definitions of the specific requirements and their relative weighting to the enterprise, to fulfill the enterprise BPM strategy. Selecting the Appropriate Subset of Requirements
Because BPM functionality is included in many applications — in such areas as process flow, workflow and collaborative support — selecting the appropriate subset of requirements criteria must be a higher priority than providing an exhaustive list of BPM requirements to vendors whose products may be outside the scope of the project. This is why it's important to understand each BPM vendor's overall process vision and its likelihood of achieving that vision, while evaluating products for the specific implementations at hand. Enterprises must do this without sacrificing future needs, such as evolution into a complete process suite. The Best Practice for BPM Implementations
No single BPM vendor meets every expectation for handling all process requirements — including collaborative, simplistic task and complex business-to-business (B2B) — within an enterprise. As a result, using a set of best-of-breed products, targeted to focused process requirements, is still the best practice for BPM implementations. Through 2005, 80 percent of large end-user organizations implementing applications to support BPM strategies will continue to have multiple products handling integration and task management. Care must be taken to avoid overextending a process tool (such as a BPM or workflow application) beyond its capabilities. Although it's possible, for example, to manage routing, review and approval of documents in an integrated document management (IDM) system to create efficiency and reduce handling costs, it's only practical to consider this process management to be part of the IDM application and not the hallmark of a larger BPM system. There is no room for "BPM light," except in focused deployments. Who owns the larger process (recruiting, for example) that extends beyond the boundaries of IDM and involves other system dependencies? This is where comprehensive BPM is needed and where a "pureplay BPM" can make a difference. Hence, selecting the appropriate BPM vendor and solution depends on scale, scope, functional requirements and specific use. | 
