Microsoft UK Public Sector - Information Governance - BPM: Improving the engine room of public service delivery

Ways of managing multiple processes have been around for several years, but recent advances in Business Process Management (BPM) technology are rekindling interest in applying these systems to the complex workflows typically found in the public sector. Paul Curran talks to a BPM guru.

As a management discipline, the purpose of Business Process Management (BPM) is to establish strategies which improve operational processes and therefore improve performance and efficiency. Under the BPM spotlight, technology can be better deployed to match the needs of users and their activities.

Modern solutions like Microsoft BizTalk offer today’s public service organisations a visual dashboard to manage and adjust their resources, both technical and human – all in real time.

Before launching into a BPM deployment, though, public sector department managers should get buy-in from their staff: BPM will, inevitably, mean rethinking activities that staff have performed for years.

Widely publicised promises for the delivery of public services serve to increase citizens’ expectations for the quality of those services, according to Butler Group BPM Practice Director, Mike Thompson.

“Despite the fact that many public sector organisations are now delivering new systems, challenging government delivery targets mean that, more than ever before, they must ensure they have the necessary ‘plumbing’ in place and staff with the right level of training to use them,” he says.

“Whilst we have all come to expect joined-up, seamless services, you have to realise that the coordination of public service delivery has hitherto often been manually driven, relying on lots of paper and often cumbersome, inefficient processes,” says Thompson. “That’s why I believe BPM tools now have a crucial role to play in supporting the communication of information and the delivery of services across government organisations.”

“The primary challenge for any organisation in making BPM work effectively lies in the initial mapping of its processes and activities. I believe these are no more or less complicated within a public sector organisation than in a large profit-making company. You have to know what a process is – its definable start and end, even though that end stage may not be a single outcome.

“Take the justice system, for example – its three main tiers in the UK encompass the police service (with IT systems at a national and force level), the court system, and the prison service. Closer examination, however, reveals that many other agencies are also involved - the probation service, social services, and so forth.

In such instances, Thompson believes the requirement for creating a joined-up, cohesive system needs to be focused on three key areas:

• Providing a means to pass information between relevant parties within any case scenario
• Creating formal lines of communication between the interested parties
• Applying structures for each case type to ensure that shortcuts are not taken and that interested parties are not bypassed.

“At one level – particularly where it concerns data – this might be seen as an integration issue. However, integration simply creates an infrastructure - it doesn’t provide the control mechanism that is the real requirement. Not only is BPM an effective control mechanism, it is the only control mechanism that answers all of the issues.”

What’s more, Thompson says case management can be typified into distinct types. If a child is involved, for example, then the process must be defined to ensure that the relevant sector of Social Services is brought into the picture.

It is invidious and too simplistic to single out an individual case and assert that BPM might have averted a tragedy. However, in so many cases where the media is critical of public services, the recurring themes are lack of communication channels between interested parties and lack of control, constraints and guidance practices - all of which can be solved by good implementation of BPM.

“I’m not suggesting that this type of solution is facile, nor that these are facile problems, but if we break down any of these issues within the public sector - just as within most private organisations - it’s really all about aligning visibility with carefully codified constraints and formal practices – whilst being sensitive to the simple fact that humans are involved too.

At the same time, many public sector IT managers believe they are confronted by more problems than their counterparts in the commercial world, where a sound business case for a complete overhaul of the network infrastructure will generally be greeted by a rubber stamp if it promises a quick return on investment.

Thompson takes the view that, correctly implemented, BPM offers a cost-effective way to re-use legacy systems. “BPM allows commercial companies and public service organisations alike to overcome financial constraints and effectively extend the life of their existing IT assets by pulling them together better and using them in more intuitive, process-based ways. Rather than being tied to what an application did in the past, BPM allows you to describe what you want it to do in the future.”

Understanding how people use technology requires a significant cultural change within the IT department, according to Thompson. “IT specialists must remember that technology is not the master, but the servant. BPM provides a common language, which helps explain to IT people what an organisation requires of them. This in turn helps make systems that are currently in place less restrictive and therefore work better.”

Another common problem facing public sector IT managers is the sheer number of systems installed in their organisation and the fact that vital data required daily by departmental staff is often buried in a multitude of stand-alone systems. Although these were undoubtedly developed for the best of reasons, their inability to communicate with one another can lock up vital data.

It doesn’t take much to work out that integrating these existing systems is likely to enable data to be transferred more efficiently, thereby delivering improved services to citizens and paving the way for ongoing improvements. Following closely behind on the wish list of many public sector IT managers is the desire to prevent errors in data due to multiple manual entry and the requirement for better management information for reporting purposes.

Thompson believes the inadequate dataflow in many organisations stems from insufficient understanding of processes, coupled with the duplication of tasks and activities. “The processes that need to be carried out within a typical public sector department are often not that well structured,” he claims. “BPM would allow them to create that structure. In my experience, the moment organisations adopt the BPM route and start uncovering their processes, they begin finding ways of improving those processes almost immediately.

”These improvements will be appreciated because staff can be freed from mundane tasks and allowed to utilise their skills more effectively: In no sector is this more important than in public services,” he says. “Policemen and nurses, for example, should be dealing with cases, not filling in forms. BPM will enable them to move towards that goal more and more.”

One difficult question remains. In the absence of a corporate blank cheque, how are they to achieve these objectives and demonstrate immediate benefits both to civil servants and citizens? The answer lies in implementing an adaptable and scalable BPM solution – one that will enable an organisation to link up its existing modular systems, and build its own dataflows using versatile tools. Microsoft BizTalk is designed to make this possible.

“BPM is now clearly enabling enlightened public sector organisations to reuse existing processes to increase efficiencies, reduce costs, shorten development time and improve responsiveness. The evidence of those who have already deployed BPM suggests that closely linking business process to the right technology solutions can yield substantial operational benefits,” Thompson concludes.

• Find out more about Microsoft BizTalk
• Butler Group

Paul Curran is a writer, journalist and commentator on business and technology. A regular contributor to IT, business and financial trade publications, he has worked with major international corporations communicating IT strategies for over 25 years.