Strategies for building the best case-management architecture

Transcription

1 E-Guide Strategies for building the best case-management architecture This eguide continues ebizq s deep dive into approaches for constructing a sound case-management architecture. In this installment, ebizq contributor Christine Parizo explains: How to begin with the big-picture look that s critical for successful case-management initiatives How to approach the technology choices involved When to consider a case management framework based on business process management or other technologies Sponsored By:

2 E-Guide Strategies for building the best casemanagement architecture Table of Contents To construct a solid DCM architecture, start with a big-picture look Building on a BPM framework: Can it work for DCM? Resources from IBM Sponsored By: Page 2 of 10

3 To construct a solid DCM architecture, start with a big-picture look By Christine Parizo There s one simple foundational rule for building a sound dynamic case management (DCM) architecture, and it goes back to best-selling author Stephen R. Covey s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Begin with the end in mind. Having a clear vision of what you ultimately want the DCM architecture to do for your entire business not just one piece of it will help you get the most out of whatever you choose, whether it s a bare-bones framework that requires extensive customization or a solution that can easily be dropped in to your existing infrastructure and tweaked for your company s needs. First Steps To start with that big-picture view, consider a particular system s features, then get into the actual physical integration, advises Nathaniel Palmer, executive director of the Workflow Management Coalition, an industry group. Very often, you see architecture approached [in a way] where you're trying to put all the pieces together, he says. Instead, think about how the pieces should work together, not necessarily how they physically connect. Case management itself is about considering the larger picture. Ultimately, the case folder should be the system of record, says Palmer, who is also the chief BPM architect for SRA International. That means that it's not immediately using the database or document management system; it s using all of those things, but not focusing on one. Companies tend to get hung up on the idea that document management equals case management, and often, they ll expand the metadata described around a document folder to accommodate other items in the case. That's an obvious case-management fail, Palmer says. In viewing the larger picture, companies have to understand that the case folder contains documents and other items, as well the timestamps to meet evidentiary requirements. Sponsored By: Page 3 of 10

4 To illustrate the point, Palmer cites government work, which frequently requires agency employees to demonstrate the policy they used in making a particular decision. The traditional method for such documentation was writing a memo and adding a timestamp. Case management, however, automates some of the policy logic as part of a rule set. It creates accountability, and the rules would be programmed into the architecture. Such an approach can be accomplished in a multifaceted case management environment. According to Forrester Research s September 2011 report, Dynamic Case Management: Definitely Not Your Dad s Old-School Workflow System, a product offering that kind of case-management environment should include predefined templates. The Right Technology Choices To allow a DCM system to best meet your company s demands, choose technology that allows for long-term flexibility. Processes change, and one central idea behind DCM is being able to account for unexpected events. As Forrester notes, DCM leverages dynamic capabilities for unpredictable service-management scenarios, investigative scenarios that unfold over time, and incident management in response to unpredictable events, such as disaster relief. You really want to look for technology that has the ability to model goals and has the ability to model a case concept, says industry analyst Neil Ward-Dutton, founder and research director of MWD Advisors. Within that case will be steps and tasks that may be predesigned to some degree and rules about certain constraints that may need to be set aside for example, To complete this case, you must always carry out this task. DCM typically provides an environment that allows for faults, such as unpredictability in situations, according to the Forrester report. Some vendors blend an approach of referencing a central product description through a database pointer, while others allow the copying of process fragments during installation. In any case, some believe that the ability to handle case fragments dynamically must be front-and-center with technology chosen. All changes to processes and their resources must be possible without needing programming projects, advises software architect and Sponsored By: Page 4 of 10

5 entrepreneur Max J. Pucher, a contributor to Mastering the Unpredictable: How Adaptive Case Management Will Revolutionize the Way That Knowledge Workers Get Things Done (Meghan-Kiffer Press, 2010). According to Ward-Dutton, however, a platform that can do everything may not be a viable option. To really implement a successful DCM architecture, if you're in an organization which has any kind of heritage in IT, it's going to be something you'll have to pull together from scratch, he says. The company and its architects need to understand how things such as content, document management, output management, business rules, analytics and business intelligence technologies for performance management all fit together. Flexibility can only be achieved with a layered, object-oriented architecture, according to Forrester. That includes the ability to associate the objects mentioned by Ward-Dutton with a case, as well as including an independent security model, an integrated data model for structured processes, a strong event framework to assist the knowledge worker with decision- making and the ability for cases to create child cases. Communication Counts As in any other large-scale software implementation, communication between IT and the rest of the business must be open and comprehensive. If you are going to try to improve the way that work gets done in the organization, and that covers the DCM area as well, you'll need to choose the participants for leadership and sit them down and I mean that literally, Ward-Dutton advises. They need to sit down together. In fact, that kind of collaboration is central to effective case management, he says: It [requires] co-located teams and subject-matter experts, the business side, project sponsors, IT architects and developers. They need to work together in a very iterative, collaborative way. He acknowledges that such cooperation isn t necessarily an architectural requirement but it s still a critical factor for DCM success. Sponsored By: Page 5 of 10

6 Building on a BPM framework: Can it work for DCM? By Christine Parizo In a constantly changing world, dynamic case management (DCM) is becoming a viable solution for more and more companies looking to streamline processes and increase efficiency. Because software plays such a large role in such efforts, experts say that it s critical to choose the right technology for your company, especially in terms of a framework that could potentially make or break a DCM implementation. But it s also important to recognize that some of today s vendors are wrapping their business process management (BPM) framework in DCM bows, which may or may not work for a particular industry or company. Perusing Products Descended from BPM Companies should examine BPM packages for DCM applications with their eyes wide open. There is nothing that precludes a product [with a BPM] heritage [from providing DCM], says industry analyst Neil Ward-Dutton, founder and research director of MWD Advisors. However, BPM doesn t necessarily provide support for many functions necessary for true DCM. The individual process fragments or tasks can easily be defined in BPM, but you need support for a lot of other things that BPM doesn t really describe, Ward-Dutton says. Software architect and entrepreneur Max J. Pucher agrees that software must go beyond BPM to really carry out the business s goals. The principle architecture of DCM must be provided by the platform, as otherwise it becomes a complex development project, says Pucher, who is also a contributor to Mastering the Unpredictable: How Adaptive Case Management Will Revolutionize the Way That Knowledge Workers Get Things Done (Meghan-Kiffer Press, 2010). To step beyond simple BPM, it is necessary to define a business architecture with strategy, value streams and capabilities. In addition, what you have to watch out for is that you're not just going for a tool that is very focused on [BPM], structured process modeling and execution, because then you will find that any support for [DCM] might actually be quite limited, advises Ward-Dutton. A Sponsored By: Page 6 of 10

7 BPM tool may give architects and developers the ability to define some unstructured, dynamic processes. However, cases tend to be more flexible than standard BPM architecture allows, and the software used to move these cases through to completion needs to have that kind of flexibility. Using BPM for DCM Despite some flexibility, BPM software is really isn t designed for DCM, experts say. Among the problems with using a BPM architecture in DCM is its linear nature, which requires typically requires completing one step in a process before moving to the next. In fact, BPM products traditionally use a single-process description to drive an item to completion, and all routes must be mapped out beforehand, according to Dynamic Case Management: Definitely Not Your Dad s Old-School Workflow System, a September 2011 report from Forrester Research. If you've got an investigatory case management system being used in law enforcement, with no foreseeable end of life, it's just being driven by a series of events, says Nathaniel Palmer, executive director of the Workflow Management Coalition, an industry group. The first event is crime, and the subsequent events are the investigation, and eventually [you reach the] conclusion of that investigation. If you can't preprogram when it's going to conclude, then that doesn't really work with a BPM system. Sometimes, starting with a BPM architecture doesn t make sense for a company, period. The principle architecture of ACM/DCM must be provided by the platform, as otherwise it becomes a complex development project, Pucher says. The different types of input into cases can also be problematic for DCM architectures built on BPM platforms. DCM requires the ability to collect different processes and tasks under one case, and architecturally, these are different kinds of input. It s something to watch out for if you re looking at something with a BPM heritage, says Ward-Dutton. With all that said, it s possible to build a DCM architecture from a BPM product, as DCM is a natural extension of BPM just not a good parallel component. DCM is a more advanced form of BPM that provides technology empowerment, says Pucher. It is goal-oriented and Sponsored By: Page 7 of 10

8 goal-verifying and links processes explicitly with outcomes, targets and objectives. It is mobile and employs social technology. While it is possible to employ a BPM system and [DCM] side by side, that makes no sense in the long-term. Not every case needs to be architected with a preprogrammed conclusion, and in that respect, a BPM-based framework for a DCM implementation could work very well for some companies. You can have processes that don't need to be fully defined in advance, that allow for the management of directional changes that allow for long-lived processes, says Palmer, who is also the chief BPM strategist for SRA International. One of the advantages of a very structured process management and design of a solution around something like [BPM] and one of those engines and platforms that are becoming increasingly popular is that there's a lot of methodology and practice in the industry, says Ward-Dutton. Because of BPM s successful use with Six Sigma, Lean and similar methodologies, the architecture can help companies take a high-level problem and break it into a process design. But essentially, you need to be able to preprogram when the case will conclude, or it won t work with a BPM-based system, Palmer says. The CRM Component Because of case management s service-resolution aspect, executives may make the leap to customer relationship management (CRM) software instead of DCM. Not coincidentally, a lot of CRM [vendors are] positioning themselves as case management solutions, Palmer notes. But DCM goes beyond what CRM can do, so companies should exercise due diligence when evaluating CRM products to plug the DCM group. One thing to keep in mind is that many DCM vendors already have experience building BPM or enterprise content management (ECM) products. According the Forrester report, these vendors may have enhanced their BPM or ECM products that provide a bit of runtime adaptability. Depending on the intended use, this may be sufficient. Bottom line, experts say: Look carefully at your company s processes and its intended use of the DCM suite. If you re fairly certain that you don t need the flexibility that true DCM products offer, then a BPM-based architecture may sufficiently address your requirements. Sponsored By: Page 8 of 10

9 As with any successful software implementation, considering the big picture, assessing needs and knowing what to expect are keys to success. About the Author: ebizq contributor Christine Parizo is a freelance writer specializing in business and technology. She's based in West Springfield, Mass. Contact her at christine@christineparizo.com. Sponsored By: Page 9 of 10

10 Resources from IBM InfoTrends White Paper: Unlocking the Power of Content AIIM White Paper: Content Analytics research tools for unstructured content and rich media Webinar: Take a Byte Out of Crime with Content Analytics! About IBM At IBM, we strive to lead in the creation, development and manufacture of the industry's most advanced information technologies, including computer systems, software, networking systems, storage devices and microelectronics. We translate these advanced technologies into value for our customers through our professional solutions and services businesses worldwide. Sponsored By: Page 10 of 10