Business Process Management and ERP

This assignment explores the similarities and differences between Business Process Management (BPMS) and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), highlighting how they can be advantageous when combined. It delves into the three main pillars of BPM: people, processes, and technology, using Wesfarmers Ltd. as a case study to illustrate their implementation and impact on business efficiency. The assignment emphasizes that BPMS is more flexible and adaptable than ERP, making it suitable for organizations like Wesfarmers that require dynamic process management.

Running head: BUSINESS PROCESS MANAGEMENT
BUSINESS PROCESS MANAGEMENT
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Authors Note:

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BUSINESS PROCESS MANAGEMENT
Table of Contents
Similarities and Dissimilarities of ERP and BPMS:........................................................................2
Ways in which ERP+BPM can be Advantageous Combination to Businesses:.............................2
The Three Main Pillars Of Business Process Management:..........................................................3
People:.........................................................................................................................................3
Processes:.....................................................................................................................................3
Technology:.................................................................................................................................4
References:......................................................................................................................................5

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Part A:
Similarities and Dissimilarities of ERP and BPMS:
Business Process Management System (BPMS) is a practice whereas Enterprise Resource
Planning (ERP) is technology that is practiced to support the management system. In
Wesfarmers, an Australian multinational corporation wants to adopt advanced software that will
aid the IT and software department to design customized application to provide tracking flow of
the products and services, providing better execution in the process with detailed and proper
feedback to the clients. BPMS focuses on improving the business processes to make the
organization more effective. ERP is the software system consisting of integrated applications to
store and analyze data. In Wesfarmers Ltd., BPM can be easily achieved with or without the
technology but having an ERP technology can enhance the firm’s ability to practice BPM (Jeston
& Nelis 2014).
Most of the ERPs software generally comes with inbound process functions that can be
customized, adapted and configure according to the business operations, whereas BPMS is more
flexible with the changing processes and monitors the business processes with continuous
improvement of designing, process modeling, monitoring and executing the changing processes
(Van Der Aalst, 2013). Therefore in organization like Wesfarmers Ltd., BPMS is more
preferable to ERP as it has more dynamic with various process version mapped according to the
system user. Moreover, implementing all the ERP module can be rather expensive for
Wesfarmers Ltd. so BPMS can help in managing the processes or application that is beyond the
span of ERP system.

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Ways in which ERP+BPM can be Advantageous Combination to Businesses:
 In Wesfarmers Ltd., all the gaps in information are filled, which is caused due to the data
spread through disparate systems, thus helps in enhancing the efficiency of the processes.
 Enabling and Innovating new processes to help in integrating ERP with the designed
system to process recent or current information like the unstructured data.
 The combination of both ERP and BPM can easily add functionality and cost effectively
to the existing system of Wesfarmers Ltd. Thus, extending functionality through systems
like as WMS and CRM.
The Three Main Pillars of Business Process Management:
BPM software system is improving and helping the business of Wesfarmers Ltd. since
long time. Modern BPM leads to digital transformation and keep the trends of mobile, social and
cloud-focused businesses. The main pillars are as follows:
People:
They are important as they need to buy the business software and process for their
system. Customer satisfaction and maintaining employee and customer relation is the secret for
business success of Wesfarmers Ltd. (Chang, 2016). The BPM software helps in creating a
people focused work- environment by eliminating red-tape procedures and tedious operation.
Processes:
The BPM process is a set of transactions or activities completed on consistent basis that
demand variety of data types. A process incorporates workflows, which can be automated and
potentially involves both the external and internal users (Hammer, 2015). It identifies the
opportunities for automation and enacts the required data engines and necessary scripts.

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Technology:
BPM has always focused on people and processes and has evolved the digital
transformation enabler just by putting technology into the equation. Data is incorporated into
user dashboard by aligning processes functionality and accelerating app delivery (Jeston & Nelis
2014). BPM is all about connecting process, people and technologies. In Wesfarmers Ltd., BPM
system allows the system software to facilitate deep analysis into patterns and trends.

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References:
Chang, J. F. (2016). Business process management systems: strategy and implementation. CRC
Press.
Hammer, M. (2015). What is business process management?. In Handbook on Business Process
Management 1 (pp. 3-16). Springer Berlin Heidelberg.
Jeston, J., &Nelis, J. (2014). Business process management. Routledge.
Van Der Aalst, W. M. (2013). Business process management: a comprehensive survey. ISRN
Software Engineering, 2013