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Blog: John MyersJanuary 1, 2008Analytics and PerformanceMERRY NEW YEAR ( ... in your best eddie murphy "trading places" voice... ) Here's a real quick one relating to BAM.Christina McKeon has a GREAT article that talks about how you can use analytics to increase performance, but it is not just the same old analytics. It is using the right data with the right people to make the decisions that truly impact the organization's performance. I particularly like the diagram from "page 3". It does a great job of encapsulating how it all works together. Technorati Tags: BAM, Business Activity Monitoring, Christina McKeon, Performance Management December 25, 2007BAM Trends for 2008Merry Holiday! Today's is the day for giving. Thanks to James Manyika, Roger Roberts and Kara Sprague for providing today's list of trends for 2008.
I'll take credit for crafting it for BAM... :) Technorati Tags: BAM, Business Activity Monitoring, James Manyika, Roger Roberts, Kara Sprague December 18, 2007Smart Enough....I don't usually pimp books, but this one seems interesting. It has all the requirements to catch my attention:
Smart (Enough) Systems by James Taylor and Neil Raden tackles the concept that with operational business intelligence ( ...read the forward looking actions and action plans from my definition of BAM... ) you need to automate the majority of the routine operational decisions to develop competitive advantage. Take a look when the book hits the stores and/or your favorite online bookseller. Technorati Tags: BAM, Business Activity Monitoring, James Taylor, Neil Raden, Operational Business Intelligence December 11, 2007Financial Performance ManagementMy brother has a theory that any sentence that starts with "You would think..." or "Shouldn't things be this way...." is usually a loaded statement and/or a utopian emoting prelude. In blogging, I have discovered that any sentence that starts with "I don't usually promote xxxx..." is a sign that a vendor based website/report/etc is coming. With that being stated.... I don't usually "pimp" a vendor based approach to anything. However, I also don't believe that you should reinvent the wheel. Deming borrowed from Shewhart. Six Sigma, no matter how much they claim otherwise, borrowed from Deming. And, on an on…. This framework from Cognos...err... IBM provides a good foundation for organizations that are more finance department based with their improvement goals. Again, don't blindly follow what they have to offer, but it gives a great start for an organization looking to start in this direction. NOTE - The Cognos FPM uses the same type of closed loop, iterative improvement process(es) that look like they come straight from Deming or Six Sigma.... :) Technorati Tags: BAM, Business Activity Monitoring, Cognos, W.E. Deming, Walter Shewhart, Six Sigma December 4, 2007Using a process... What a concept!As with many things in life, the mindset of many is related to instant gratification:
Raj Ramesh has an article on the use of process over ad-hoc methodology in association with business activity/process management. Remember, an exercise program has to be regular and well defined to be of benefit to the human body. In the same vein, a business activity/process program has to be a regular iterative process to achieve the long-term improvement goals set forth by its stakeholders. Yes, those same stakeholders who want those results sooner as opposed to later. :) Technorati Tags: BAM, Business Activity Monitoring, Project Management, Process-Based, Ad-hoc, Raj Ramesh November 30, 2007SIP Applications and Human LatencyI'm not a huge fan of SIP or IMS, but I found David Strom's podcast with Mark Damphousse to be very interesting. In a time where it is increasingly important to reduce to amount of latency between when a discprepant event happens and when it can be resolved; this use of SIP to initiate resolutions using telecommunications resources is particularly useful. Technorati Tags: Telecommunications, Telecom, BAM, Business Activity Monitoring, SIP, Reduced Latency, David Strom, Mark Damphousse November 27, 2007Using KPIs, but not thinking about it too muchI don't like "pimping" studies or premium content.... But ( ...and who didn't see this coming, raise your hand... ) I really like the results of this KPI study. David Hatch has done a good job of showing what "best in class" organizations do with KPIs vs those in other organizations. I was particular interested in Hatch's views how best in class organizations use their KPIs in an iterative approach (On going Review of KPIs), but don't over think the development of those KPIs (Adopt a Methodology of KPI definition).
It mirrors my own thoughts on how BAM implementations and projects should use their KPIs in association with their improvement efforts. KPIs flow from the business and the associated business processes. They aren't over-engineered based on the opinions of a steering committee or industry association. Technorati Tags: BAM, Business Activity Monitoring, David Hatch, KPI, Best in Class November 20, 2007Planning to Fail? Failing to Plan...If there is a lesson to be learned from life, history, etc, it is the following: Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it Joel Spolsky's article on project management is a great common sense look at a few easy to avoid issues. Everyone knows there and everyone repeats these mistakes. For BAM implementations, it is important to follow these rules. Often times, a BAM implementation will be met with skepticism and doubt. By using these tried and true lessons learned, initial BAM efforts can focus more on the substance than by simple mistakes. Technorati Tags: BAM, Business Activity Monitoring, Project Management, Joel Spolsky, Lessons Learned November 13, 2007Platypus of Modeling LanguagesI love the concept of the platypus. Many people like to joke that the platypus was designed by a committee. I like the fact that so many really smart people couldn't figure out the platypus for so many years. Bruce Silver takes a look at the Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN) from the OMG. With the proper mapping/modeling of processes to BAM initiatives, I like how Silver explains what he likes and dislikes about BPMN. It provides a strong guide to those looking to build off an industry standard. NOTE - My favorite quote is: Some of BPMN’s problems, such as the lack of a standard XML storage and interchange format or a specification for minimal compliance, are so basic they make you wonder how it has succeeded in becoming the one important standard in BPM. Sounds a lot like a committee standard.... :) Technorati Tags: BAM, Business Activity Monitoring, Business Process Modeling Notation, BPMN, Bruce Silver November 6, 2007Changing Role of Internal AuditorsWith the changing nature of business, internal control and audit teams will continue to evolve. This evolution will have both internal and external drivers. Sarah Johnson has an excellent look at how pulling back to "material misstatement" levels and changing expectations will impact the roles of teams implementing internal controls. The key to this will be how those teams utilize "risk assessment" strategies to focus their efforts to satisfy Sarbox and internal stakeholders. For telecom, this will focus on revenues, costs and areas of "public exposure" ( ...see the recent NSA issues re-surface... ). Technorati Tags: BAM, Business Activity Monitoring, Risk Management, Sarbanes Oxley, Internal Control, Internal Audit, Sarah Johnson September 18, 2007Real-time vs Right-time BAMI found a good introduction to BAM by Venugopal Jufuru. He provides a good overview of BAM for those who may not know much about it. The overview also takes a good look at how different verticals can be impacted by effective BAM. However, I disagree with the focus on "real-time" and zero-latency enterprise. Perhaps it is my definition of BAM, but the concept of real-time is more a marketing hype concept than it is a business driver. We would all like to have a "real-time" enterprise. However, the following racing axiom covers exactly why we don't always go "real-time": Speed is money. How fast do you want to go? Often times it is difficult to make the business case for "real-time". However, I firmly believe in "right-time" where the speed of the BAM implementation follows the quantitatively proven needs of the organization. For example, in telecommunications, real-time billing is a great idea, but I don't see many established telecos pulling out their entire billing platform to enable real-time responses. The cost ( not to mention risk... ) is just too great. Technorati Tags: BAM, Business Activity Monitoring, Venugopal Jufuru, right-time, real-time September 11, 2007SaaS and RiskBack in May, I wrote an article about the SaaS software model and how telecoms could leverage their business intelligence organizations to understand the risks associated with that implementation model. This month John Edwards details how the CFO looks at those SaaS models in terms of risk management. Edwards' analysis links well with a risked based approached to the monitoring and management of internal controls that can be addressed with BAM. In particular, the issue of the integration and communication between internally-based applications and SaaS applications shows where internal controls can, and probably should, be implemented. Technorati Tags: BAM, Business Activity Monitoring, John Edwards, internal controls June 13, 2007Targeting BAM and Performance EffortsIn one of those articles that only an auditor or a risk management professional could love, Sarah Johnson talks about how the Sarbanes-Oxley rules are being adjusted. With the new emphasis on a risk based approach, BAM and performance management efforts can have a sharpened focus. While this might seem like a reduction of BAM efforts for some, it is actually a great opportunity for BAM implementers. With the focus on areas that "only" impact material misstatements, BAM implementers can have high profile and high value targets rather than a wide variety of regulatory mandated targets. Technorati Tags: Business Activity Monitoring, BAM May 16, 2007Internal Controls vs Self Control(s)In a recent survey, it was reported that 75% of US and international firms were planning on spending more in relational to internal controls. For US-based firms, this may be attributed to Sarbanes-Oxley constraints and the overall risk management market. For international firms, this probably is a direct result of either Enron type bad press or the appeal of easing the process of being acquired by a US-based firm. Looking at the information in the survey, one might come to the realization that using a consulting firm (heck.. they sponsored the survey) is the best way to go with this additional investment in internal controls. However, I would ask if these investments were in relatively new and undocumented areas or well documented and previously SOX compliant/audited areas? If they are new internal controls, I firmly believe that "another set of eyes" is a good way to go (ie bring on some consultants). But, if these are well documented areas, I would recommend taking that professional services investment and replacing it with standardized processes and applications like BAM. Technorati Tags: Business Activity Monitoring, BAM, Internal Controls, Consultants April 13, 2007Lead Lifevests ???I like the concept of maturity models. They provide great roadmaps for businesses to evaluate where they are and where they can be going. However, I do not alway like how people use them.... Paul Harmon has some quality observations regarding process maturity models like the Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) and Business Process Maturity Model (BPMM). The observation that I liked the best was how these two maturity models focused not on fixing the operational issues, but on correcting how management dealt with the operational issues. It reminded me of how you can make ISO-9000 compliant lifevests made of out lead. Yep. We made them right, but we didn't make the right thing.... BAM and BPM efforts that use maturity models should not focus fixing either the operation or management. They should both be included in the improvement. Technorati Tags: Paul Harmon, CMMI, BPMM, BAM, BPM February 26, 2007Where there's smoke... There's BAMAs I spend more time spreading the word about business activity monitoring (BAM) in the public domain, I am exposed to more and more of the firms in and near the BAM space. It is similar to the old adage "where there's smoke..." If you talk about an area of business, people will bring their solutions to your attention. Last week at the Las Vegas TDWI Conference, I was exposed the operational business intelligence solutions from Syndera. Their solutions for financial trading markets are interesting. They have many the aspects that I consider important for a BAM implementation (note syndera doesn't consider itself a bam solution):
In particular, I found the graphical interface (GUI) well laid out and presented. I was impressed with Syndera's ability to show process flow, metrics and details in one screen without too much information overload. With Syndera and other smaller firms starting to make a bigger play into the operational business intelligence landscape that includes BAM and business process management (BPM), the market will become an interesting place in the near future. Will one to three major players dominate? Or will more agile firms be the leaders? Time will tell. Technorati Tags: Syndera, Operational Business Intelligence, Business Activity Monitoring February 20, 2007BAM sparking debateYesterday, I presented at this year's Las Vegas TDWI Conference on the topic of business activity monitoring (BAM). I spoke on the same topic in August 2006 at the San Diego TDWI conference. However, at my most recent presentation, there crowd was significantly larger than it was in San Diego. This could be attributable to a larger group of attendees or my more imagiative title between the two conferences. However based on the lively debate in regards to my content, I would say the in the world of BAM is starting to rise in significance in the business intelligence and data warehousing (BI/DW) world. From architecture to implementation, people are starting to ask questions and offer opinions. From that debate will come improvements and growth. Technorati Tags: Business Activity Monitoring, TDWI January 30, 2007Introduction to Business Activity MonitoringIn the world of “operational business intelligence”, there are three main areas in my opinion.
Business Activity Monitoring (BAM) and Business Process Management (BPM) are different than Corporate Performance Management (CPM) or Business Performance Management (BPM) otherwise known as the practice of “balanced scorecards”. Balanced scorecards look at how a particular metric, or series of metrics, relates to itself and three (3) other strategic components. BPM and BAM look at, or into, a particular process with the goal of monitoring or improving the process within itself, but not necessarily how it relates to the overall strategy of the company. Here’s a breakdown of they relate:
Each of these can be independent of each other, but they can also build upon each other very easily since they use many of the same data sources and presentation methodologies. In the future, I see business process management (BPM) and BAM to start to merge as concepts since they are so closely related at this point in time. Technorati Tags: Business Performance Management, Business Process Management, Business Activity Monitoring |
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