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WAITING FOR CRITICAL INFORMATION BEFORE MAKING DECISIONS? Many applications for corporate planning and process management, such as enterprise resource planning (ERP) and business process management (BPM) systems, attempt to integrate business processes across an organization. This integration is often based on creating a business process model of company-wide process activities, resources, and constraints.
 Business Process Optimization
Many of these systems use this business process model to support automated business process optimization that provides a recommended plan. The optimized planning approach evaluates alternative activity schedules, resource allocations, and planning variables to develop the most efficient plan maximizes business benefits achievable with available resources. AN "OPTIMAL" PLAN DEPENDS ON "OPTIMAL" CONDITIONS An optimized plan is not the best plan if it is not robust in the face of uncertainty and change.  | Optimization planning results in a fully specified plan with resources committed throughout the plan's duration. So a small change in the business process model means the entire plan must be re-evaluated, which could result in large changes in the revised schedule. | | | Changes in the business model will often occur before an "optimal" plan can be carried out. Optimized planning is a very resource-intensive process, so additional changes could occur even before the revised plan is ready. | A STATIC SET OF ACTIVITIES DEFINES A STATIC BUSINESS MODEL The process optimization approach evaluates a limited range of alternatives, but it usually assumes a static set of activities for each process as represented in the current business process model. Such a static model cannot meet the needs of a dynamic business. | | In the real world, process activities, requirements and resources are not static. As goals change, the business processes themselves may need to be fundamentally changed. | | | A company may have multiple potential variations in its business process model. A static model forces a manager to incorporate each potential change into the business model one at a time for evaluation. | WHY OPTIMIZE IN THEORY WHEN YOU CAN ADAPT TO CHANGES IN REAL-TIME? Business Process Optimization
Dynamic Business Process Management (DBPM) software is a powerful technology that allows organizations to automate, control, and improve critical human and system-based business processes. DBPM systems are designed to work with changes in goals and real world uncertainties by permitting dynamic changes in planned activities, adjustments in schedules and changes in resource allocations. Adaptive Planning - Integrating the Best Aspects of Multiple Approaches
An alternative view to optimal planning emphasizes adaptation. Modern control theory is based on adaptation. For example, the driver of a car does not plan about steering the car to stay on the roadway. Instead, steering behavior is continuously adapted to meet the needs of the situation. However, pure adaptation is not fully effective either - unless the driver has a plan in the form of an intended route to his destination, he may well become lost. Partial Order, Least Commitment Planning ASI's DBPM solution use "partial order, least commitment planning", which is a method that blends planning and adaptation to produce robust behaviors. | | Activities are only partially planned, leaving many details to be determined by adaptation during the actual execution. However, the extent of planning is sufficient to ensure that the resulting behavior is feasible and can nominally be performed. | | | Partial-order, least commitment planning allows an extended business enterprise to adapt flexibly to the changes in day to day operations while still achieving coordination and feasibility. | | | Partial order, least commitment planners also provide for graded levels of commitment to a set of activities. This allows the planner to maintain multiple alternative means to achieve multiple simultaneous goals, and increase or decrease its level of commitment to each of the alternatives as the situation unfolds. | | | Partial order, least commitment planning is much faster than optimization planning, which enables the DBPM solution to provide real-time feedback and adaptation to cope with dynamic business situations. | DBPM Patent
DBPM is based on our PreAct® Software and breakthrough Associate System technology. Patent Number: US 6,892,192 B1 - 2005. |
