BPM Blog

My mother used to chide me “Michael, self praise is no praise at all!”. When I congratulated myself on achieving something as a child; or if the truth be known, also as a adult. Well at the risk of invoking her comments from heaven, I will congratulate the team and myself on our first full [...]

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I recently was at a meeting where someone outlined how we sometimes get off track and react negatively to situations. The presenter was talking about was Dorothy Day and a book called Tools Matter; while not in the arsenal of most Project Managers, I liked the way the information was presented. How thoughts affect us [...]

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We have just added a great new resource to the BPM Blog, with over 250 topics and posts out there we thought it would be helpful for you to find topics of interest and not just use the search engine. Here is the link http://taskmap.com/wordpress/bpm-blog-sitemap/  The BPM Blog site Map will help you find topical [...]

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Last week’s blog had a number of interesting topics, from web publishing with Office 2010 to the use of SWOT analysis techniques in your BPM project. Hope you had a great weekend. Mike Cunningham Using the SWOT technique in your BPM project Posted in Change Management, Process Analysis, Project Management on Aug 12th, 2011 To [...]

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To use the SWOT technique in your BPM project use the following guidelines when building the matrix or table: Strengths: characteristics of the BPM project that give it an advantage over other potential projects competing for the same budget or staff resources. This might be a ROI analysis or support of important goals and objectives [...]

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Yesterday evening I was running a Goals Setting workshop and I included a SWOT Analysis into the training program. This worked so well for the workshop, I thought it would be a good idea to add into planning for BPM projects. Just a refresher and reminder what a SWOT analysis is: Here is the definition [...]

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This week’s blog sees Dan Anderton guest blogging for us on the SOX Compliance front again. His detailed articles will be a help to anyone looking for help with their SOX project. Have a great weekend. Mike Cunningham   The problems with setting goals Posted in Change Management, Process Discovery, Process Mapping, Project Management on [...]

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  After completing a recent setting goals class with men in a local prison, some important points came to light that we sometimes miss in our Process Improvement projects. These were: The importance of short term goals versus longer term ones Goals that support an overall objective should be tied together The interdependencies of goals [...]

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  Are we looking at it all wrong? Do you ever get the feeling that you are seeing something very different than the other guy? I don’t just mean the glass half full/empty outlook on life, but fundamentally are we looking at things the wrong way? I sometimes get that feeling when dealing with projects [...]

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Most Wednesday evenings, I facilitate classes in at the local prison. This week we are introducing a new 4 hour class on Setting Goals. Because we do this frequently at the beginning of every BPM project, it’s been interesting to simplify this process for those that may have never done any systematic goal setting. In [...]

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Interesting set of posts this week with a general theme of starting up new projects. Hope you are all enjoying your summer. Mike Cunningham   We cannot automate everything Posted in Change Management, Process Analysis on Jul 14th, 2011 In every BPM project, it seems we look continuously for those things that can be automated. [...]

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In every BPM project, it seems we look continuously for those things that can be automated. While this is important to reduce paper, improve quality and increase efficiency, there are times when it doesn’t work for everything. We don’t need reminding of this when dealing with a completely automated telephone system, navigating through voice commands [...]

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To ensure that your BPM project is going to be a resounding success, or at least reduce the risk of failure as much as possible, use this check list. Ensure the business goals and benefits are agreed by management. Engage executive sponsorship for the project and keep them involved. If a budget is needed, make [...]

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If you are starting your first BPM project, particularly if you are taking a leadership role, then getting organized may be your first challenge. As you will probably be using a file server or document management system for storing the files, (such as SharePoint shown below), here are some pointers to get started. Set up [...]

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Someone recently made me ponder the difference was between being undefeatable and undefeated. Few of us go through, I could say none of us, go through life undefeated. We lose a battle, mess something up, come second in a two team game. It happens. Observers smarter than me, and all historians and psychologists I know [...]

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A friend of mine has a business right now that has some challenges. He has most of the revenue stream tied up with one customer and their partners. Things are not going well, and changes have to be made due to quality and contractual problems with one of the key suppliers. These challenges often face [...]

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At some time in your project the time will come when you have to defend your position or decision on issues. The same thing happens in every project I am involved with, in fact if no one ever questions your decisions or position on issues, there may be something very wrong with the project. That’s [...]

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  Obama technology Czar leaves government for Harvard fellowship Posted in Project Management, Uncategorized on Jun 20th, 2011 Article first published as Obama IT Czar leaves D.C. for Harvard on Technorati. Will his successor follow his ambitious 25 point plan? After two and half years on the job, Vivek Kundra has resigned as Chief Information [...]

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First my apologies to any Vancouver ice hockey fans this morning. Although I would not call myself an ice hockey fan in any way, I do live near Boston and the Bruins won the Stanley Cup for the first time in 39 years last night.  The Boston Bruins celebrate their first Stanley Cup victory in [...]

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Harvard Computing Group Releases SOX Compliance Solution Linking Best Practices and SOX Process Maps After many months of development and testing, we are pleased to announce the release of our latest vertical solution for SOX compliance applications. Our partner SOX XPRESS, LLC, is a long time provider of SOX software and consulting. If you like [...]

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