Organisational Issues in Modelling Business Processes: An Activity-Based Inventory and Directions for Research

This project aims to create a structured inventory of concerns related to business process modelling that may face organisations embarking on business process management (BPM) projects. Key issues are identified for each BPM activity stage, overarching patterns are noted, and suggestions are made for the future research agenda. Modelling is at the core of BPM, a practice which in recent years has developed maturity and become linked with managerial concerns such as innovation and knowledge management. Although it is well known that modelling business processes can be challenging for organisations, an inventory of known issues, which could be of use to organisations to plan and manage BPM projects, is missing. This study aimed to develop such an inventory. The scoping review method was adopted. The review protocol consisted of a search for related literature using keywords, complemented by forward and backward searches through citations and references. Analysis of these papers revealed 77 concerns. These concerns where then organised according to four key BPM activities (analysis, modelling, enactment, and management). Further analysis resulted in a collection of 18 sub-activities, which summarise and reveal which overall concerns are characteristic of BPM modelling. The nature of the evidence base for each concern is also broken down. We suggest that this study contributes to build a high-level understanding of process modelling issues faced by organisations when delving into process modelling practices. Furthermore, we suggest that understanding of how to address these issues can be increased through research into seven high level questions.