AI reshapes BPM, process mining & digital transformation support sustainability – PEX Research & Reports News

PEX Network’s weekly news bulletin rounds up the latest research, reports and publications in operational excellence (OPEX), digital transformation, artificial intelligence (AI) and automation, business process management (BPM), process mining and process intelligence and more.

This week includes:

• 3 ways AI is creating next generation BPM
• Process mining aids sustainable logistics
• Digital transformation supports climate mitigation and adaptation
• Business process modeling metrics deliver RPA bot model metrics
• Business process ramp-up management as a BPM cross-cutting capability

3 ways AI is creating next generation BPM

A new Information Systems and e-Business Management editorial outlined three “drifts of BPM” that are grounded in AI-enabled conditions and creating demand for new or reinterpreted BPM capabilities. These are transaction to conversation, automation to autonomization and simplification to sophistication, according to the authors.

• Transaction to conversation: “Generative AI, and with it an increased ability for natural language-based interactions, is now facilitating an additional conversational view on business processes complementing the existing and established transactional view.” Next generation BPM is characterized by a drift form transactional to conversational logic, where both humans and machines engage in a conversation including process and contextual information.
• Automation to autonomization: There is a drift from automation to autonomization logic, where machines will take over an increasing part of process governance. “Automated processes are conducted faster, instantly, and cost-effectively, at least in terms of their variable costs,” the researchers wrote.
• Simplification to sophistication: “Next generation BPM is characterized by a drift from a simplification to a sophistication logic, where processes will be characterized by advanced process facilitation and experiences.” Even the use of generative AI and related large language models (LLMs) is often driven by targeting process simplification and acceleration.

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Ekaterina 'Katie' Curry, Millennial Specialty Insurance, and Donald Kuk, formerly of BNY Mellon, discuss using automation and BPM

Process mining aids sustainable logistics

Researchers from the RWTH Aachen University are exploring ways process mining techniques can generate more sustainable business processes. “Companies are faced with the urgent need to make their processes more sustainable,” wrote PhD candidate Nina Graves. Process mining techniques, known for their capability to provide valuable insights and support process improvement, are gaining increasing attention to support the transformation towards more sustainable processes, Graves added.

“We are currently working on the extension of process mining techniques to support the perks of production and logistics processes,” said Graves. This extension allows for a more explicit consideration of quantities and their impact on the execution of events. “We are excited to dive deeper into this area of quantity-related process mining, as it offers many new possibilities for combining ‘disconnected’ sub-processes and detecting quantity dependencies across multiple process executions.”

Digital transformation supports climate mitigation and adaptation

Digital transformation can support climate mitigation/adaptation and help meet United Nations-mandated Sustainable Development Goals. However, the opportunities presented by digital innovations for sustainable development also face challenges and looming threats, with the Asia-Pacific region confronted with several barriers to the largescale adoption of digital solutions. That’s according to the Asia-Pacific Digital Transformation Report 2024, which explores how digital innovations enable more sustainability measures across infrastructure, governance, industry and trade ecosystems, among others.

The report showcases practices and examples of digital applications in addressing climate change. These involve the use of AI, the internet of things (IoT), big data and digital twins. The report also explores key drivers of digital transformation for climate change and outlines three future scenarios. It concludes with the key findings of the report and proposes policy actions aligned with the five actors of the Digital Transformation Index Framework.

Nao Anthony, Commonwealth Bank, and Tariq Munir, PepsiCo, discuss the complexities and challenges of digital transformation

Business process modeling metrics deliver RPA bot model metrics

Software programming and business process modeling metrics can be used to measure and compare the complexity of robotic process automation (RPA) bot models. That’s according to a new research paper from the Hasso Plattner Institute at the University of Potsdam, Germany. RPA thrives on graphical models, enabling business users to create automation workflows without programming knowledge, the authors wrote. “However, due to the created flows often not being optimized and the fine-grained nature of the RPA instructions, these models quickly become complex and extensive, complicating their maintenance and comprehensibility.”

By drawing on inspiration from the related fields of software programming and business process modeling, the authors set out complexity metrics for RPA bot models. “These allow to objectively measure and compare the complexity of such workflows, and can thus, for example, provide an indication of where to start refactoring models in the bot repository,” according to the authors.

Business process ramp-up management as a BPM cross-cutting capability

A new research paper proposed business process ramp-up management (BPRUM) as a cross-cutting capability area for contemporary and future BPM. BPRUM comprises the skills and practical tools needed for the integrated implementation and scaling of novel business processes across all core elements, according to the authors.

“BPM as a holistic management discipline offers mature methods and end-to-end management activities,” they wrote. “However, it is subject to the tension between stability and change. While change through the improvement of existing business processes is well understood, the implementation and scaling of novel business processes have been neglected in BPM research.”

The study illustrates how BPRUM adds to modern BPM, presenting 40 action-oriented sub-capabilities that provide hands-on knowledge and practical guidance for effective BPRUM. “Thereby, it serves as a foundation for further theorizing on process ramp-up and for structuring discussions among BPM practitioners.”

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