Should a BPM be a Subset of ECM?

When we evaluate most of the Content Management implementations it involves some kind of a Business Process Management requirement. So the big question is why then the vendor positioned their BPM solution as a subset of ECM?

In my opinion BPMS should not be a subset of an ECM.reason beign the ECM systems offer wide range of functionality such as Content (Document) indexing, Content Storage, Content Retrieval, Content Publishing (as part of Web Content Management), Content Personalization, Version Control, Check-in / Check-out, Annotation, Workflow, etc.and most of the ECM product in the market provides a workflow which overlap with BPM systems as they address one element of BPM, providing for the definition and flow of operations performed by people. Workflow systems:

• Are designed for groupware and human collaboration applications.
• Do not integrate operations to be performed by software systems.
• Typically are based on client-server architectures (rather than Web-based thin client architectures)
• Limit operations to those performed inside the enterprise.
• Do not allow business rules to be aggregated with business operations

A BPM is an aggregation of operations performed by people and software systems containing the information used in the process, along with the applicable business rules.
Basically if the requirements more document centric, you can use your ECM products. However, if your requirements are more process or integration centric, I do not think that the current crop of ECM products will satisfy your needs.

Most ECM products actually have good workflow capabilities. If ECM products are used for such business process requirements, there is only limited functionality that they can achieve. Quite a few of these vendors are building BPM capabilities but I think it would be quite sometime before they can claim to be providing full fledged BPM capabilities. Emergence of product such as ULTIMUS is giving a boost to the current BPM trend.

Integrating Business Process Management Technology with ERP

Many companies today are already familiar with Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) technology. Used to pull together disparate interfaces into a single platform, ERP technology has helped many businesses develop a clear picture of their business processes. However, due to the need to drive efficiency and automation further, Business Process Management (BPM) software was designed to take ERP to the next level.

Experts in the ERP industry agree that BPM technology complements the programs run by ERP software. Once a company’s various information systems are unified around a core server, BPM supplies the necessary features to analyze, map out, monitor, optimize and even automate the key decisions of an enterprise based upon comprehensive in house data flow. Clearly, the use of BPM technology is critical to ensuring a company’s success in maintaining its competitive edge in the marketplace.

But while BPM software is able to stand alone, many companies that already use ERP systems find that the ability of BPM software to adapt to their existing systems is one of its most valuable features. Due to its compatibility, BPM technology has been welcomed by both ERP vendors as well as purchasers throughout the corporate world. A good BPM consultant may be necessary to assist with BPM-ERP integration, making the process even simpler.


Furthermore, many companies are convinced that implementing a BPM program is the right thing to do. This is because, so far, BPM is unique in it ability to span an entire business – not leaving out a single department – and implement automation based upon this comprehensive knowledge. With ERP technology, workers are at times required to access up four or five different interface screens in order to carry out a single business process transaction. Yet without discarding the entire system and beginning again from scratch, BPM software enables business leaders to implement highly efficient workflow standards without a system overhaul.