Thesis

DEPARTMENT OF MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTER SCIENCE

MASTER THESIS Business Process Management Investigation on creating a bridge between business and IT

STAVROULA FOTOU MSc Information Technology (Business) Registration Number: 091619695

Supervisor: JENNY COADY Second Reader: PHIL TRINDER

Investigation on creating a bridge between business and IT 2

Abstract

Business Process Management (BPM) is a topic with great interest nowadays, due to its significant impact to companies, to change quickly and become competitive. It appears to be the most common talk between business and technology-oriented professionals. On the one hand BPM researchers promise that BPM is the solution for a competitive enterprise. On the other hand SOA researchers claim that SOA is the answer on the demanding IT environment. Both claim that BPM and SOA is the perfect combination for an agile and flexible enterprise because they help on creating the bridge between business and IT people. This study is focused on the way the two approaches are implemented and how this alignment is created. The study is divided in 6 chapters. In the first chapter, an introduction of the Thesis and its objectives is presented. In the second chapter there is the literature review section. The literature review is conducted with the aim of uncovering BPM concepts and principles, SOA approach and problems that an enterprise may face on when implementing these two approaches. Following from that the methodology chapter gives the reader the knowledge of how the research has been done. The forth chapter presents the research analysis. Interviews have been conducted with experienced managers, consultants and programmers of a big multinational management consulting companies. In the fifth chapter the results of the interviews are analyzed and conclusions are extracted. In the last chapter a conclusion of the study is presented. Finally recommendations for a future research are suggested.

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