Business process management –

selected examples and cases

Peter Trkman

Pforzheim (online)
January, 9 2023
Disclaimer
• This set of slides is intended for a guest lecture at
Pforzheim University
• The slides are not meant as a stand-alone study resource
but as a companion to the lectures (My lectures are namely
never perfect, but they are always original.)

Feel free to use the slides under the

CC BY-SA license

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Starting point
• You know a lot about BPM already*
• You can read & watch a lot more
• My teaching philosophy in such situations:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-teach-new-audiences-peter-trk
man/
• Use my examples, cases & research
• Feel free to interupt & ask at any time with questions (either orally
or in chat)

* I know this based on discussions with prof. Morelli & with your colleagues currently in
Ljubljana doing a double-degree program.

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Content
1. Brief personal and professional introduction
2. BPM in general – which are the main principles of BPM
3. BPM in practice – why it does (not) work (critical success
factors)
4. Case study – BPM in customer process management
5. The crises: opportunity and challenges for BPM
6. Further learning opportunities

4
About me
• 45 years old
• Published many scientific papers on business process/customer/supply
chain/government process management, business models and technology
adoption
• Participated in several research and consulting projects (mainly in the area
of business process & supply chain management) for organizations such as
Mobitel, DBS, Hypo, Chrysler, ZZZS, Post of Slovenia, National Research
Agency of Slovenia, Ljubljana Municipality etc.
• Taught various courses at FELU and WU Wien; Humboldt University, Berlin;
ATU, Kazakhstan; UFES, Vitoria, Brasil, IMT Dubai, IMT Ghaziabad,
GSOM, Saint Petersburg; KNU, South Korea; University of Sarajevo; QUT,
Brisbane, Universidad de los Andes, Colombia; and Sichuan University,
Chengdu.
• Published 42 papers in highly ranked (SCI/SSCI indexed) international
journals related to various aspects of digital transformation; I was cited over
8500 times
• Several awards for research
• Serve as panel member/reviewer/thesis reviewer, mentor etc. 5
My family
[slide deliberately blank]

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Lecturing to diverse audiences
Sometimes you lecture to Ph. D. students or professionals from industry. Sometimes to
primary school kids (this picture was taken during 'Researchers night' event at
University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Economics) Adapting to the audience is important. If
you present with passion, the audience will respond very well, regardless of their
background (or age). I thoroughly enjoyed the "How the yogurt comes to your fridge"
event last Friday.
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6320888989729505280

My motivation to learn more about various countries:

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/professor-your-lecture-racist-peter-trkman/

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My country: Slovenia
»On the sunny side of the Alps«

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 Let‘s go for a night walk

Source: https://landgeist.com/2021/11/26/how-safe-do-people-feel-to-walk-alone-at-night-in-europe/
„These numbers come from Numbeo.com and are the numbers as they were on the 15th of November
2021“ 9
My school of economics
and business (SEB LU)
• Member of University of Ljubljana
• Established in 1946

• The biggest member of University of Ljubljana with over 5.000 students

• EQUIS, AACSB and AMBA accredited
• Certificate for quality in internationalisation (CEQUINT) - Master program
in International Business
• Leading research institution in Slovenia and South-east Europe in the
fields of business and economics. Ranked by FT rankings
https://rankings.ft.com/rankings/2943/european-business-school-rankings-2022

• According to Eduniversal rankings our Supply Chain Program is 2nd in

Central & East Europe (behind WU, Vienna, Austria) while Business 10
Informatics is 1st in East Europe
SEB LU & BPM

Top universities in BPM research

Source: Lizano-Mora, H, Palos-Sánchez, P Aguayo-
Camacho, M: The Evolution of Business Process
Management: A Bibliometric Analysis, IEEE Access
March 2021

Contributions per university

on BPMS
Review of the state of the art of Business Processes
Management Systems research. Source: Martín-
Navarro, A., Sancho, M. P. L., & Medina-Garrido, J.
A. (2018). BPMS for management: a systematic
literature review. Revista española de
Documentación Científica, 41(3), 213.
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SEB LU – Pforzheim University double
degree

http://www.ef.uni-lj.si/content/static_english/izobrazevanje/podiplomsko/angl_programi/usmeritve_ANG_DDInfoMng.asp 12
http://www.ef.uni-lj.si/graduate/busifno
Double degree - Curriculum example

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How the thesis (defense) looks like?

You are welcome on Thursday morning at https://uni-lj-si.zoom.us/j/98911039389

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Contact

Email: peter.trkman@ef.uni-lj.si
Researchgate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Peter_Trkman2

Google Scholar:
https://scholar.google.si/citations?user=nT2RSqwAAAAJ&hl=en

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/peter-trkman/
(I am glad to connect but do add a brief note)

Zoom: https://uni-lj-si.zoom.us/j/681817290

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Part 2:
10 „commandments“ of BPM - intro

Main source: vom Brocke, J., Schmiedel, T., Recker, J., Trkman, P., Mertens, W., & Viaene, S. (2014). Ten principles of
good business process management. Business Process Management Journal, 20(4), 530-548.
Shorter summaries
https://www.bptrends.com/10-principles-of-good-bpm/
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https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/ten-principles-business-process-management-peter-trkman/
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/pedroberrocoso_10-principles-of-good-bpm-and-how-they-manifest-activity-7009110789278081024-KtIY /
Principles of BPM

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Principles of BPM (cont)

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Principles of BPM (cont.)

Description of principles:
We will explain the text written at:

https://www.bptrends.com/10-principles-of-good-bpm/ and

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/ten-principles-business-proce
ss-management-peter-trkman

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Part 3: Critical success factors
of BPM – the benefits
You know it well:
BPM is beneficial for companies
https://www.google.com/search?q=bpm+benefits

In consulting studies….
but how is it in practice?

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Side-note: case study on SOA
Process modelling in itself does not guarantee (m)any immediate benefits. Trenco’s
CIO commented on this, saying: “the process models gave us an overview of our
business but weren’t useful for IT support”.

The case indicated the importance of the aligned improvement of technology, processes,
and business capabilities. For Trenco, the technological capabilities (IT side) were
developing quicker than BPM, leading to the initial Hype of Expectations and consequent
tumble into the Trough of Disillusionment.

The case brings another vital message: Make friends in the field if your interest who
will tell you the truth about what is going on in their company. Don't trust
presentations (especially not at vendor-organised events). Everything works in PPT.
Rather: take the presenter out for a beer after the event.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/hype-digital-transformation-business-analytics-peter-
trkman/

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So….it’s not all rosy

Research shows that between 60-80%

of business process management programs is unsuccessful

Why?

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 Optimized Level

Leveraged
(Integrated)

Managed
(Linked)

Defined
X You are here

Ad Hoc

Picture by my friend & colleague Kevin McCormack, DRK Research Institute

& Nortwood University, USA

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CSF – theoretical background
CSF definition: Critical success factors can be defined as a limited
number of areas, in which results if they are satisfactory, will
ensure successful performance (Rockart, 1961)
 
Using the: contingency, dynamic capabilities and
task technology fit theories.
The main premise is that firstly the fit between the business
environment and business processes is needed (as claimed by the
contingency theory). Then proper organization and continuous
improvement efforts are needed to assure sustained benefits from
BPM (as stipulated by the dynamic capabilities theory). Also, the
proper fit between the tasks in the business processes and information
technology/systems must exist (as found by task-technology fit
theory).

Google for more if you are interested in academic work. Ignore this slide otherwise.
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Critical success factors of BPM
• Strategic alignment
• Level of IT investment
• Performance measurement
• Level of employee’s
specialization

• Organizational changes
• Appointment of process
owners
• Implementation of proposed
changes (quick-win strategy),
• Use of a continuous
improvement system

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 Critical success factors of BPM (2)
• Fit between IT and
business processes
• Standardization of
processes
• IS support
• Training and empowerment
of employees

Based on: Trkman, P (2010) The Critical Success Factors of Business Process Management. International Journal of
Information Management 30: 125-134.
Note: we will discuss the factors based on https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/critical-success-factors-business-process-
management-peter-trkman/
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Case study

Understanding
customer‘s processes

Note: everything until now was about single company.

But: do you understand the processes of your customer?
Optimizing customer‘s processes

Of business buyers strongly

89%
agree or agree they expect
comapnies to understand their
business needs and
expectations

Salesforce Research: State of the Connected Customer

https://a.sfdcstatic.com/content/dam/www/ocms/assets/pdf/service-cloud/state-of-connected-customer.pdf
28
Optimizing customer‘s processes
• One of the leading providers of „ultra-performance liquid
chromatography, high performance liquid chromatography,
mass spectrometry, thermal analysis and rheology
instrumentation and consumables“

• Moving into services as well (maintenance, repair, training)

Source: Trkman, P., Mertens, W., Viaene, S., & Gemmel, P. (2015). From business process management to
customer process management Business Process Management Journal, 21(2), 250-262.
See: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/put-yourself-your-customers-processes-peter-trkman

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Case study- motivation
A popular saying in marketing is that

“People don’t want to buy

a quarter-inch drill.
They want a quarter-inch hole!”
(attributed to  Theodore Levitt).

„In fact, the customer might want to hang a picture

of which the hole is only one requirement. In turn,
this activity can be part of many different customer
processes (e.g. building a house or decorating the room).“

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The question

Which customers are the most important?

Which individual
orders are the most
important?

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Another problem – response time

SUPPLIER
„The end users were typically very dissatisfied, stating “your
equipment is crap, it breaks down every two weeks”.
But when we checked our logs, we couldn’t find
more than one call over the last year.“
Global Services Manager EMEA

END CUSTOMER
You finally understand what we do.
You are the first supplier to come and talk to us.
Scientific engineer of a large customer company (project document).

32
Why?
The one working with an apparatus and experiencing a
problem almost never came directly to us.
There was always a step taken internally first, or even four steps in
bigger organisations… so what we thought was: if you have to log
it internally anyway, why not immediately log it on our website as
well? If you show them on the process map that their problem
starts before our ‘clock’ starts, then that extra log doesn’t seem
such a big effort.

Global Services Manager EMEA

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The digital solution

Easy digital solution:

when a customer is experiencing a problem with one of
Chromaterm’s products, the customer is asked to log the problem
on Chromaterm’s website immediately

New role: “customer process owners”:

These would not only realize the most evident needs of
the customer, but really optimise the provided service to
the processes of the customer.

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User adoption &
resistance always the key
It is ridiculous that I need to go through a call exchange system
and be left waiting for transfers to another country before I can
report a service problem. We spend up to a quarter of a million
with Chromaterm and the aforementioned practice is not
acceptable.

I would like to be able to directly contact a helpline for

trouble shooting issues by phone rather than having to go
through the reception desk then wait while a call is logged.
Customer satisfaction survey, 01/2011

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Similar case - Hilti
See:
https://www.slideshare.net/bmi-lab/hilti-holes-instead-of-ha
mmers-business-model-innovation-explained
and
https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=52550

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/ten-principles-business-process-management-peter-trkman/ 36
BPM & Covid-19

What now?
You know it all:
COVID-19 was an unprecented crisis
Different than 2nd world war.

Note: unless otherwise noted, the following slides are based on our paper Roglinger, Plattfaut, Borghoff,
Kerpedzhiev, Rosemann, vom Brocke , Trkman, van der Aalst, vanLooy, Santoro, DelRio, Rinderle-Ma,
Beverungen: Exogenous Shocks and Business Process Management: Challenges and Opportunities,
Business & Information Systems Engineering 64, (2022), 669–687
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12599-021-00740-w and
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/business-process-management-shocks-peter-trkman/ 37
Sidenote
No, the Chinese character to crisis
is not a combination of danger & opportunity!

the jī syllable of wēijī most definitely does not signify

“opportunity.”
https://workplacepsychology.net/2014/08/

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BPM in shocks – the core message

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 Affected business processes

Source: https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/global/Documents/Tax/dttl-tax-key-bps-
impact-areas-client-considerations.pdf 40
 Sidenote: BPM in general

Source: http://digital-bpm.com/bpm-capability-framework/ (and many others). I will not explain in

detail but you need it to understand it for the next slide
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Core elements

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Challenges &
opportunities for each pillar

43
BPM in COVID-19 times

Processes are/will be more digital &

transparent than ever.
Great opportunities for process mining.

But broader challenges than that e.g.:

How to maintain employees (process participants) commitment
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/power-human-digital-world-peter-trkman
How to change human processes to reduce CO2 emissions
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0268401221001365

See also: https://www.ey.com/en_gl/advanced-manufacturing/how-to-navigate-supply-chain-disruption-

with-digital-process-mining-and-digital-twins 44
Further learning points

Picture source: https://www.br.de/nachrichten/bayern/weitere-bayerische-schule-nach-corona-fall-

geschlossen,SAUDo56
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The leading text-book in the field

https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-662-56509-4
46
The main opportunity at SEB LU

http://www.ef.uni-lj.si/content/static_english/predmet/predmet.asp?l=123&li=2422&predmet_id=196604 47
Closely related SEB LU courses

48
Enhance you
knowledge on business models

https://www.ariscommunity.com/users/wj/2009-06-29-why-focus-b-business-process-management ; see also

DaSilva, C. M., & Trkman, P. (2014). Business model: What it is and what it is not. Long Range Planning, 47(6),
379-389.
Budler, M., Župič, I., & Trkman, P. (2021). The development of business model research: A bibliometric review. 49
Journal of Business Research, 135, 480-495.
Enhance you
knowledge on digital transformation

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/digital-transformation-does-matter-peter-trkman/
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Enhance you
knowledge on customer experience

Recommended
reading

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Enhance you knowledge on supply
chain management

Trkman, P., Budler, M., & Groznik,

A. (2015). A business model
approach to supply chain
management. Supply Chain
Management: An International
Journal, 20(6), 587-602.
52
Enhance your knowledge on changing
human processes to reduce CO2 emissions

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0268401221001365
53
And some reading for
rainy winter days in Pforzheim
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/summary-my-linkedin-posts-peter-trkman/

Some general posts:

• My perspective on social media, (lack of) happiness and self-help
books.
• And some guidelines on how to raise kids
• Explaining the hidden value proposition of shopping offline
• Importance of getting out of your comfort zone and mingle
with diverse audiences

54
International stories
• My motivation for going abroad:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/professor-your-lecture-racist-peter-trkman
• Colombia:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/teaching-universidad-de-los-andes-peter-trkman
• China:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/teaching-china-peter-trkman and
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/what-i-learned-while-learning-chinese-peter-trkman/
• South Korea:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/e-business-models-korea-peter-trkman
• India:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/visiting-indian-business-school-general-experience-peter-trkman and
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/autonomous-vehicles-virtual-tourism-technology-adoption-peter-trkman/
• Peru: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/visit-universidad-del-pacifico-peter-trkman/

And my most shocking

experience on cultural
differences:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/cultural-differences-what-i
-learned-literary-festival-peter-trkman/

55
Thank you
for your attention

Peter Trkman
peter.trkman@ef.uni-lj.si
https://www.linkedin.com/in/peter-trkman/

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