Elements of a business process management system: theory and practice

Abstract

PurposeTo construct, test and illustrate a sophisticated and theory‐based architecture for analyzing business process management systems (BPMS) used for business process change.Design/methodology/approachExploration of business process modeling‐based BPMS via a meta‐survey of academic and business literatures. Two main dimensions are used based upon semiotics and a block‐based BPMS pyramid architecture. Each block is a core technology required for the functioning of the BPMS and include: the subject being modeled; the software formalism; the IT infrastructure; the modeling language and notation; and the underlying technical infrastructure.FindingsTheoretically explains and empirically illustrates each core technology in the proposed architecture then does the same for the architecture, its arrangement as a whole and its interrelationships. Recognizes the lack of a theoretical basis for business process modeling constructs and the dangers that this generates. Explains why automatic BPMS require formal construct transmission from subject modeled to modeling hardware and software.Research limitations/implicationsThe architecture's core technologies span numerous disciplines so each set of literatures introduces the component concepts and their bases but is not exhaustive.Originality/valueThis paper proposes a considerably more sophisticated framework for BPMS analysis than is currently available; it is theoretically and not just empirically based; it uses a novel method of theoretical justification concerned with the transmission of modeled properties and characteristics between several technological media; and it illustrates the innovative analytical use of this architecture and the practical use of BPMS with three different case vignettes.