Summary: Implementing a business performance management system is a major undertaking, and the selection process must look at several vendors and their capabilities, how well each system integrates with your own, and must be overseen by a panel made up of representatives from each department.

How to Pick the Right BPM System for Your Company

Business performance management (BPM) is more than just a piece of software, it represents a whole new approach to management. The BPM system you implement will ultimately make major changes in your enterprise, and will give you deeper insights into how successful each and every process within your organization may be. Great care must be taken when selecting a BPM system, as well as selecting the integrator who installs it.

What Do you Need From It?
Before even looking at business process management systems, it's important to analyze what you want to get out of it. There are several different components to BPM, and different vendors may have strengths in different areas. You may decide you want to use BPM as a tool for continuous improvement, or more as a tool for forecasting, or for gaining insight into operational processes. Map out these needs ahead of time before you start the acquisition phase. Be very specific in your list of requirements and expectations, and take time to list specific needs, challenges, and problems that you want to solve.

The Selection Process
BPM is not an over-the-counter tool, and acquiring it will take some thought. The cost is usually significant. Good acquisition protocol demands an RFP to be issued to give you time to review the capabilities of different vendors and how they would fit in with your enterprise.

Once you have a short list of potential vendors, feedback will become an important part of the selection process. BPM is an inter-departmental process and selection of the system will require multiple department heads to buy into the concept. Therefore, it is recommended that evaluation is done by a panel consisting of representatives from every area within the company that will be affected by the BPM system.

Every vendor of course, has pre-made marketing brochures and sales pitches, but during the selection process remember that BPM is a highly individualized system. Since you have already identified what specific needs you have for BPM, share this information with each vendor and find out specifically how they can address each of those needs.

The Best Features
The features you require from your business performance management system will vary depending on your own internal needs, but a few basics that are almost universally desirable include an easy interface, which allows managers to access and analyze data on an as-needed, ad hoc basis. Regular reports should also be generated, which can be drilled-down easily; and managers should be able to perform what-if analyses without the need for assistance from the IT department.

Scalability is also an important factor, as your BPM system may need to serve multiple divisions spread across a wide area. As the system gains utility, it will become more popular, and more users will seek to access it.