Business process interoperability (BPI) is a property referring to the ability of diverse

business process A business process, business method or business function is a collection of related, structured activities or tasks by people or equipment in which a specific sequence produces a service or product (serves a particular business goal) for a parti ...

es to work together, to so called "inter-operate". It is a state that exists when a

can meet a specific objective automatically utilizing essential human labor only. Typically, BPI is present when a process conforms to

standards Standard may refer to: Symbols * Colours, standards and guidons, kinds of military signs * Standard (emblem), a type of a large symbol or emblem used for identification Norms, conventions or requirements * Standard (metrology), an object t ...

that enable it to achieve its objective regardless of ownership, location, make, version or design of the

computer system A computer is a machine that can be programmed to carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations ( computation) automatically. Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic sets of operations known as programs. These prog ...

s used.

Overview

The main attraction of BPI is that a business process can start and finish at any point worldwide regardless of the types of hardware and software required to automate it. Because of its capacity to offload human "mind" labor, BPI is considered by many as the final stage in the evolution of business computing. BPI's twin criteria of ''specific objective'' and ''essential human labor'' are both subjective. The objectives of BPI vary, but tend to fall into the following categories: * Enable end-to-end straight-through processing ("STP") by interconnecting data and procedures trapped in

information silo An information silo, or a group of such silos, is an insular management system in which one information system or subsystem is incapable of reciprocal operation with others that are, or should be, related. Thus information is not adequately shared ...

s * Let systems and products work with other systems or products without special effort on the part of the customer * Increase

productivity Productivity is the efficiency of production of goods or services expressed by some measure. Measurements of productivity are often expressed as a ratio of an aggregate output to a single input or an aggregate input used in a production proce ...

by automating human labor * Eliminate redundant

es and data replications * Minimize errors inherent in manual processes * Introduce mainstream enterprise

software-as-a-service Software as a service (SaaS ) is a software licensing and delivery model in which software is licensed on a subscription basis and is centrally hosted. SaaS is also known as "on-demand software" and Web-based/Web-hosted software. SaaS is cons ...

* Give top managers a practical means of overseeing processes used to run

business operations Business operations is the ''harvesting'' of value from assets owned by a business. Assets can be either '' physical'' or '' intangible''. An example of value derived from a physical asset, like a building, is rent. An example of value derived fr ...

* Encourage development of innovative Internet-based business processes * Place emphasis on business processes rather than on the systems required to operate them * Strengthen

security" \n\n\nsecurity.txt is a proposed standard for websites' security information that is meant to allow security researchers to easily report security vulnerabilities. The standard prescribes a text file called \"security.txt\" in the well known locat ...

by eliminating gaps among proprietary software systems * Improve

privacy Privacy (, ) is the ability of an individual or group to seclude themselves or information about themselves, and thereby express themselves selectively. The domain of privacy partially overlaps with security, which can include the concepts of a ...

by giving users complete control over their data * Enable realtime enterprise

scenario In the performing arts, a scenario (, ; ; ) is a synoptical collage of an event or series of actions and events. In the ''commedia dell'arte'', it was an outline of entrances, exits, and action describing the plot of a play, and was literally p ...

s and forecasts Business process

interoperability Interoperability is a characteristic of a product or system to work with other products or systems. While the term was initially defined for information technology or systems engineering services to allow for information exchange, a broader def ...

is limited to enterprise software systems in which functions are designed to work together, such as a payroll module and a general ledger module that are part of the same program suite, and in controlled software environments that use EDI. Interoperability is also present between incompatible systems where

middleware Middleware is a type of computer software that provides services to software applications beyond those available from the operating system. It can be described as "software glue". Middleware makes it easier for software developers to implement c ...

has been applied. In each of these cases, however, the processes seldom meet the test of BPI because they are constrained by

s and the systems' inability to freely communicate among each other.

History

The term "Business process interoperability" (BPI) was coined in the late 1990s, mostly in connection with the

value chain A value chain is a progression of activities that a firm operating in a specific industry performs in order to deliver a valuable product (i.e., good and/or service) to the end customer. The concept comes through business management and was firs ...

electronic commerce E-commerce (electronic commerce) is the activity of electronically buying or selling of products on online services or over the Internet. E-commerce draws on technologies such as mobile commerce, electronic funds transfer, supply chain manag ...

.Derek Leebaert (1999) ''The Future of the Electronic Marketplace''. p. 297. Leebaert acknowledged that : ''Achieving a robust electronic marketplace will require new concepts that promote "business process interoperability."'' BPI has been utilized in promotional materials by various companies, and appears as a subject of research at organizations concerned with computer science ontologies. Despite the attention it has received, business process interoperability has not been applied outside of limited information system environments. A possible reason is that BPI requires universal conformance to standards so that a business process can start and finish at any point worldwide. The standards themselves are fairly straightforward—organizations use a finite set of shared processes to manage most of their operations. Bringing enterprises together to create and adopt the standards is another matter entirely. The world of management systems is, after all, characterized by

s. Moving away from silos requires organizations to deal with cultural issues such as ownership and sharing of processes and data, competitive forces and security, not to mention the effect of automation on their work forces. While the timetable or adoption of BPI cannot be predicted, it remains a subject of interest in organizations and

think tank A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governmental ...

s alike.

Testing for BPI

To test for BPI, an organization analyzes a business process to determine if it can meet its ''specific objective'' utilizing ''essential human labor'' only. The ''specific objective'' must be clearly defined from start to finish. Start and finish are highly subjective, however. In one organization, a process may start when a customer orders a product and finish when the product is delivered to the customer. In another organization, the same process may be preceded with product manufacture and distribution, and may be followed by management of after-sale warranty and repairs. ''Essential human labor'' includes: *Tasks that must be performed by people because no practical means of automation is available. Examples include fighting a fire, driving a bus and preparing a meal. *Tasks that, in the opinion of management, are more effectively performed by people. Examples include answering a telephone call with a human voice and offering investment advice in person. *Tasks where the cost of automation is greater than the cost of human labor. To qualify for BPI, every process task must be taken into account from start to finish, including the labor that falls between the cracks created by incompatible software applications, such as gathering data from one system and re-inputting it in another, and preparing reports that include data from disparate systems. The process must flow uninterrupted regardless of the underlying computerized systems used. If non-essential human labor exists at any point, the process fails the test of BPI.

Achieving BPI

To assure that

es can meet their specific objectives automatically utilizing essential human labor only, BPI takes a “service-oriented architecture“ ( SOA) approach, which focuses on the processes rather than on the technologies required to automate them. A widely used SOA is an effective way to address the problems caused by any

disparate system In information technology, a disparate system or a disparate data system is a computer data processing system that was designed to operate as a fundamentally distinct data processing system without exchanging data or interacting with other compute ...

that is the heart of each

. SOA makes practical sense because organizations cannot be expected to replace or modify their current enterprise software to achieve BPI, regardless of the benefits involved. Many workers' jobs are built around the applications they use, and most organizations have sizable investments in their current information infrastructures which are so complex that even the smallest modification can be very costly, time-consuming and disruptive. Even if software makers were to unite and conform their products to a single set of standards, the problem would not be solved. Besides software from well-known manufacturers, organizations use a great many legacy software systems, custom applications, manual procedures and paper forms. Without SOA, streamlining such a huge number of disparate internal processes so that they interoperate across the entire global enterprise spectrum is simply out of the question. To create an SOA for widespread use, BPI relies on a centralized database

repository Repository may refer to: Archives and online databases * Content repository, a database with an associated set of data management tools, allowing application-independent access to the content * Disciplinary repository (or subject repository), a ...

containing shared data and procedures common to applications in every industry and geographical area. In essence, the repository serves as a top application layer, enabling organizations to export their data to its distributed database and obtain the programs they need by simply logging on via a portal. To assure

and commercial neutrality, the repository conforms to standards promulgated by the community of BPI stakeholders. Organizations and

interest group Advocacy groups, also known as interest groups, special interest groups, lobbying groups or pressure groups use various forms of advocacy in order to influence public opinion and ultimately policy. They play an important role in the developm ...

s that wish to achieve business process interoperability begin by establishing one or more BPI initiatives.

References

External links

Center for E-Commerce Infrastructure Development
Business software Enterprise modelling Interoperability Business process