Business Process Preservation (BPP) helps businesses save their important work steps (processes) digitally. This way, the processes can still be accessed and used far into the future. BPP figures out which steps are worth saving and how to do it in the most cost-effective way. They also create tools to capture these steps clearly, including the
computer program
A computer program is a sequence or set of instructions in a programming language for a computer to Execution (computing), execute. It is one component of software, which also includes software documentation, documentation and other intangibl ...
s and equipment needed.
Motivation
Business Process Preservation (BPP) becomes necessary for various reasons across different industries. In heavily regulated fields like
pharmaceuticals
Medication (also called medicament, medicine, pharmaceutical drug, medicinal product, medicinal drug or simply drug) is a drug used to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent disease. Drug therapy ( pharmacotherapy) is an important part of the ...
and
aircraft manufacturing
An aerospace manufacturer is a company or individual involved in the various aspects of Aircraft design process, designing, building, testing, selling, and maintaining aircraft, aircraft parts, missiles, rockets, or spacecraft. Aerospace is a hi ...
, BPP ensures clear documentation of processes for audits, replication, or
troubleshooting
Troubleshooting is a form of problem solving, often applied to repair failed products or processes on a machine or a system. It is a logical, systematic search for the source of a problem in order to solve it, and make the product or process ope ...
. Long-standing companies utilize BPP to manage their services through changes in technology. Organizations that rely on external services for
risk management
Risk management is the identification, evaluation, and prioritization of risks, followed by the minimization, monitoring, and control of the impact or probability of those risks occurring. Risks can come from various sources (i.e, Threat (sec ...
leverage BPP to guarantee all necessary information is included in their agreements. When businesses undergo major staff changes, BPP helps retain the knowledge needed to operate or restart production processes.
Benefits
Academics benefit from BPP by accessing software and process information to validate research data and scientific claims. Additionally, BPP facilitates credit attribution in academia by providing details about research processes. BPP allows all businesses to analyze their processes for continuous improvement. Finally, museums and libraries use BPP to document the creation and preservation of their digital collections for future verification of authenticity and quality.
Approach
The approach used by the EU co-funded
TIMBUS project
breaks business process preservation down into three functions:
# Planning: performs risk analysis and determines the requirements for preserving the relevant business processes.
# Preservation: preserves the business processes.
# Redeployment: reactivates and reruns the business processes.
References
External links
* Orit Edelstein, Michael Factor, Ross King, Thomas Risse, Eliot Salant and Philip Taylor
Evolving Domains, Problems and Solutions for Long Term Digital Preservation iPres 2011, Singapore, 1–4 November 2011
* Rudolf Mayer, Andreas Rauber, Martin Alexander Neumann, John Thomson, and Goncalo Antune
Preserving Scientific Processes from Design to Publications Theory and Practice of Digital Libraries (TPDL) 2012, www.tpdl2012.org/, 23–27 September 2012, Paphos, Cyprus
* Angela Dappert
Metadata for Preserving Computing Environments POCOS Symposium on Gaming Environments & Virtual Worlds, 26 January 2012, Cardiff, Wales, UK
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Business process management