Factors Affecting Perceived Satisfaction with a BPM Tool: A Student Perspective

This pedagogical study is an innovative collaboration with a vendor to analyze factors affecting students' perceived satisfaction with the vendor’s Business Process Management (BPM) tool. Although BPM tools potentially enhance organizations’ productivity, dissatisfied users will diminish such outcomes. Users were thirty students in eight teams who participated in an assignment that required a description of their experience with the BPM tool. Preliminary analysis of students' comments using grounded theory result in eight propositions regarding factors. User knowledge and the quality of the documentation affect perceived ease of use and the skills in report generation. Specifically, dissatisfied students remarked on difficulties with process modeling and simulation report generation. Feedback to the vendor may result in future modifications to the BPM tool. Improved perceived satisfaction with the modified tool will potentially lead to higher productivity in organizations that employ graduating students. Implications for educational research include suggestions for teaching future BPM courses.