| Summary: | Business process management (BPM) is a philosophical approach to organisation-wide
management in which the focus is on the processes through which it operates, and in particular
the streamlining and optimising of these processes, for which software solutions
may be used. CTexT is an intrapreneurial software organisation that has been experiencing
problems with software development due to a lack of formal processes relating to customer
support, versioning, configuration, quality, risk and project management.
The objective of the study is to determine whether the implementation of an electronic
BPM system can effectively solve CTexT's development problems and thereby improve its
overall software development capacity. More specifically, the focus is on i) the effect of
the resulting standardisation on creativity and innovation, and ii) implementation matters,
such as the type of processes that can be subjected to an electronic system, and how
CTexT can overcome the time and cost constraints of such a system.
The study investigates these questions by means of a literature investigation in combination
with interviews with knowledgeable respondents from other innovative and software
organisations. Interviews with six employees from CTexT determine the relevance of
these findings and highlight critical areas for process improvement.
Since BPM systems improve organisational efficiencies and are generally employed in larger
corporate contexts marked by transactional and repetitive activities where they enforce
administrative rules, the conclusion is drawn that a BPM system will not be suitable for an
intrapreneurial organisation, and that it is likely to cause more disruption to the creative
environment than improve its operations. It is further shown that although a BPM system
is theoretically applicable to software development, it generally does not seem to be applied
practically in the industry, and the suitability of this process as manageable through a
BPM system is seriously questioned.
Instead, the research points to improvement through the application of software development
methodologies and a holistic approach towards BPM. The investigation at CTexT confirms that its development problems relate to flawed methodologies and that remedies
should therefore focus on improving its methodologies and controlling certain aspects of
the software development life cycle by means of suitable software tools. === Thesis (M.B.A.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007
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