The ABPMP on Education and Professional Standards in BPM

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By Genet Cramlet

"Along with [the] business process management revolution, new organizational structures and roles are emerging and a new genre of professionals is emerging to support these practices. Yet, business schools don't teach us how to manage by process." - Brett Champlin, President of the Association for Business Process Management Professionals (ABPMP)

Founded in early 2003 by three BPM practitioners – Brett Champlin of Allstate Insurance Company, Chris Jensen of McDonald's Corporation, and Richard Lovell of Motorola Corporation – the Association for Business Process Management Professionals (ABPMP) is a non-profit, all-volunteer, vendor- and methodology-independent community of BPM practitioners. Its mission is the furtherance of business process management concepts and practices. In a world where most other BPM proponents are selling a product or service, Champlin emphasized that the ABPMP stands out as a neutral body dedicated to objective best practices, a common and accessible body of knowledge, and advancement of BPM as a professional, expert discipline.

Champlin and his associates, who began as coworkers and continue as friends, founded the ABPMP in order to fill a perceived need. Champlin had been closely involved "in a number of professional associations over the years," and agreed with his cofounders that while a few professional organizations alluded to BPM ideas from an industrial-engineering or a Six-Sigma standpoint, none was truly focused on the "broader, more strategic" work done by business process management professionals.

Champlin laughingly recalled their first lesson in managing a professional organization. Although 45 people attended the reception preceding their first meeting, all but 16 attendees disappeared before the actual meeting. The strategic error of serving drinks before the meeting wasn't fatal, however; eight of those unflagging 16 became officers of the fledgling ABPMP.

ABPMP Goals for Developing BPM Courses and Certification

According to Champlin, the current situation in BPM is a bit of a "Wild West," in which "anybody who can say ‘BPM' with a straight face" can claim to be a practitioner. One of the goals of the ABPMP is to refine the discipline, in part by developing model BPM curricula and a professional certification program. The hope is that these will not only help BPM professionals or aspirants to learn best practices and skills, but they'll also serve as a benchmark for potential employers and clients.

Heading the education committee of the ABPMP is Mark Treat, a senior consultant with Science Applications International Corp. The education committee, which includes respected academics as well as leaders in the corporate world of BPM, is developing a model curriculum for colleges and universities. A model curriculum or evaluation standards for training programs are also on the agenda, but Champlin wouldn't venture a release date, since, as he pointed out, all officers of ABPMP are volunteers and tend to have their hands full already.

Another project in progress is a body of knowledge. While this is currently being compiled by a committee, the ABPMP is also considering turning the document into a wiki so that all members can contribute their experience and expertise. Once the body of knowledge is well-established, the organization intends to collect "solid feedback from the community." Next, said Champlin, "We'll start building criteria by which we will endorse – or not – training vendors and academic programs." For example, the ABPMP will use these criteria to evaluate academic programs based on their coverage of the topics in the ABPMP model curriculum.

Once the body of knowledge, the endorsement criteria, and other standards for evaluating training are in place, the next step will be a standard for evaluating practitioners. The education committee is considering several different models for a professional certification program, which is likely to include examinations as well as consideration of academic credentials and professional experience. Other requirements may include "sign[ing] our code of ethics and good practice, probably belonging to our association, committing to continuing education – the standard sort of things you would expect to see in a professional certification, as opposed to just a certificate of education."

What about getting some BPM education right now? The ABPMP offers a one-day tutorial called "BPM 101: An Introduction to Business Process Management and BPM Systems," which covers the basics and is intended to clarify the purpose of business process management and provide a foundation from which to begin assessing the value of BPM as it relates to your business. (Look for the tutorial attached to BPM conferences, or as a presentation by a local ABPMP chapter.) In addition, the ABPMP website's education page includes links to various academic and training programs with offerings in BPM subjects.

Career Advice for Professionals

Champlin also offered the following advice for people looking to enter the BPM profession, both for students still in college and for professionals in other vocations such as IT or management:

• Very few academic programs teach 21st-century business models. If you're a student, diversify your coursework across disciplines, including industrial engineering, marketing and business. Look for academic programs that are moving toward a curriculum that emphasizes flexibility and change management.
• If you're fresh out of college, highlight your lack of experience to your advantage. In a discipline as new and progressive as BPM, sometimes it's easier to train a new recruit than to untrain someone with ingrained perceptions that may not match what your prospective employer needs.
• Adapt to a service-, customer- and process-oriented conception of business.
• Learn to examine and build your business from the outside in – from the customer perspective.
• No single methodology will solve every problem. Constantly look for ways to expand your repertoire of tools.
• If you're in IT, learn about the underlying technologies that have allowed BPM to blossom. Focus on well-formed database structures. Beat the stereotypes: learn about ways to make your IT department flexible, responsive, and completely aligned with the purpose of the business.

If you're interested in joining the ABPMP, but there isn't an active or forming chapter in your area, be sure to email "chapters (at) abpmp.org" to express your interest in joining a virtual chapter.

Useful Links

Association for Business Process Management Professionals
http://abpmp.org

ABPMP education page
http://abpmp.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=1

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