- Selection of the
right processes.
- Selection of the
right tools.
- Rigorous modeling
right from the start
(the devil is in the
details!).
|
Organizational involvment, deep users participation, incremental developments with users participation, precise goals and tight planning, trained IT peoples, management awareness of potential changes, support for changes requested by projects (open minded management to changes). |
Process tools that are well integrated into the overall application development lifecycle. Standards that will allow interoperabilityt at both design time & run-time in process design & process automation environments. Better understanding of the imprtance of a process orient approach to application development |
I would say the most critical success factor is implementation methodology. Too often in the commercial world workflow projects get mired down in detail, and have the potential to become as complex and rigid as the ERP systems they are trying to augment. Understanding exactly which components of a system add measurable value at relatively low risk/cost, how to structure those components to create a cohesive solution, and then understanding how to leverage audit log information to understand which additional components/extensions must be iteratively added to maximize the targeted efficiencies is the master art of workflow design. |
I can only guess...
- management support
- project management
- user participation/involvement
- mature technology
- selection of suitable
business process in
terms of character
|
- organizational
readiness
- business process
modeling
- good workflow software
- performance monitoring
|
Some of these have been well articulated in the open literature:
evolvable technology
management buy-in
end user input and flexibility
etc
|
They depend on the nature of the environment in which the system is to be used, and on the kind of problem to be solved.
If the problem is one that workflow can solve, and if management is willing to wait the usual start-up time that it takes whenever a new technology is adoopted, then the project will be succesful.
However, workflows are really useful in those settings where there is limited heterogeneity in the applications implementing the nodes.
If there is heterogeneity, then the issue is whether the development team has experience with using an EAI platform and whether such a platform is already in use in the organization. If this does not happen, then the project will become too long and too expensive, and the benefit of using a wfms will be very limited.
Also, time will be needed before results can be shown, and this means that maangement will get inpatient and will start being skeptical about the novel technology. |
Mangement buy-in, especially in cross-business area scenarios.
Participant involvement in the workflow projects. Experienced project management. |
- Process awareness
at an early stage
of the project. Workflow
should be seen as
the foundation technology
that allows construction
of flexible processes,
not a technology that
competes with monolithcal
applications or fills
in for missing flexibility.
- Willingness to
embrace (continuous)
change. A workflow
project never really
'ends'. To get full
benefit out of process
techonology, one has
to be willing to continuously
review existing processes.
- Precise knowledge
about what process
technology can do
in a particular environment.
|
Top management focus.
Customer centric view in the organisation.
Middle management commitment. |
This very much depends on the context - so a general answer is hard to give.
Understanding of process concepts on the one hand and of the application domain on the other hand is generally of great importance. End user involvement is usually important to achieve acceptance. |
A thorough understanding and analysis of the organization and its processes- Business case developed, understood, accepted by all stakeholder prior to start of project- Have have clear expectation, results identified and a project leader who has the backing and support of the whole organization and communication, communication, communication. -Process to follow could be :Identify, Analyse, Simplify, eleminate, then automate. |
High level sponsorhip - same as any other "new technology" |
Any time you introduce a technolgy that is related to an organization's work, it changes the way that an organization works. Therefor, as always, the biggest difficulty is getting the people to change the way that they work in order to match the more efficient work mode offered by teh technology. For example, the west coast (of the US) experienced a long and bitter strike by the dock workers because they did not want to allow the use of workflow to manage the operations. The installation of such workflow took the power of assigning individual tasks away from the dock itself, and allowed that task to be performed by someone in Arizona. The introduction of this technolgy changed the structure of the organization, and rearranged each person's responsibilities. The biggest barrier to success is (1) understanding the current work pattern, (2) understanding how that work coudl be performed after the introduction of technolog, and (3) getting everyone to change to that new way fo working. |
Effective communications with employees to let them know before hand how their jobs will be affected, what are the expectations from them, etc.
Training is also very important.
Finally, involving end-users in the automation efforts can reduce anxiety and also result in better processes. |
involvement of workers in early phases |
Cost-Benefit analysis, Organizational understanding and business buy-in to automation of a process, and the removal or moving of employees that will be displaced by the automation process. |
The critical success factors for process automation projects are 1) Defining the process that of which is to be automated. 2) Determining whether a vendor application is complimentary to existing architecture. 3) If a vendor system in applicable, convincing technology that somethimes purchasing vendor application does make sense, i.e. time to market, systems upgrades, etc. |
Good and complete representation of end user concepts following their conceptual model of the world. |