BPM Examination Topic Outline Draft

ABPMP Business Process Management Exam Outline

Introduction: This is an example of the way ICCP builds its exams. A team of experts develops an outline of topics and groups them into 4-6 major categories. Each topic then is expanded to at least two more levels of detail, the final one being just bullet lists of the kinds of things that would fit in this sub-topic. The outline is often revised several times.

They then determine the target number of questions per section, per topic and sub-topic, and the appropriate level for the questions (D1-6 see below). Test items are in the form of a stem and four possible answers. There should be one best answer and three distracters. One of the distracters will be clearly wrong, but the others should be potentially right answers that someone who is not well prepared and knowledgeable about the topic would be as likely to choose as the actual best answer.

This example uses the outline for the Data Warehousing Exam. This is followed by a first cut strawman topic outline for a core BPM exam.

At the end is a bibliography. In developing the questions, authors frequently refer to one or more texts to validate the answers and the distracters. These are documented in the test bank for future reference.

The exams are first given in a "beta" mode to collect initial statistics - typically within a set of known experienced practitioners. Then there is a review session when the test items are reviewed one at a time to see the data which is psychometrically correlated the test performance. Often questions are dropped (found duplicates, incorrect or inappropriate, etc.). Frequently either the item stem or the answer and distracters are revised in this session. The beta takers' scores are adjusted to the new data and the test is released for general distribution.

This example makes a rash assumption that, following the ICCP model for certification, we will develop a "core" exam which covers the full range and scope of BPM and perhaps some of its reference disciplines. Then there will be a series of specialty examinations that test a deeper level of experience in specific sub-disciplines, e.g., Process Modeling & Design, Process Analysis, Process Management.

Examination Outline

How To Read The Topic Outlines In the examination outline, a consistent set of syntax conventions has been used:  Outline elements with numeric level leaders imply inclusivity. Concepts not within the numbered structure will not be tested.  Outline elements with a “•” bullet leader are examples to clarify the content of a numbered element, and are not necessarily inclusive.  Numbers in parentheses after an element name indicate the number of questions in the exam, which will be presented on the subject indicated by the element name and all subordinate elements. These allocations are guidelines established by the ICCP Test Management Council, and are followed as closely as possible in selecting questions for the exam. There are 100 multiple-choice questions on each exam version and this outline reflects this total.  The characters “D#” after an element name indicate the target “depth” of questions to be posed on the subject indicated by the element name and all subordinate elements. The depths of knowledge are defined as follows: D1 Recognition Knowing what a concept is called

D2 Differentiation Knowing the external differences between a concept and a neighboring concept D3 Description Knowing the external characteristics of a concept D4 Usage Knowing how to use instances of the concept and why D5 Structure Knowing the internal structure of the concept — its components and the relationships among these components D6 Construction Knowing how to put together instances of the concept tailored to specific purposes

References There is a selected bibliography at the end of the outline, which together thoroughly cover the subject areas in the exam. The reference selections given are not exhaustive, but representative.

Exam Topic Outline

First Level Outline Example: Data Warehousing Exam

1.0 Data Warehousing Function (19) Section 1 Total

2.0 Data Warehouse Infrastructure Creation / Maintenance (21) Section 1 Total

3.0 Data Warehousing Analysis and Design (27) Section 3 Total

4.0 Data Acquisition and Cleansing (10) Section 4 Total

5.0 Data Warehouse Implementation & Operation (23) Section 5 Total

Second Level Outline Example: Data Warehousing Exam

1.0 Data Warehousing Function (19) Section 1 Total 1.1 Planning (8) D4 1.2 Organization (3) D3 1.3 Roles and Responsibilities (8) D3

2.0 Data Warehouse Infrastructure Creation / Maintenance (21) Section 1 Total 2.1 Data Warehouse Architectures (5) D4 2.2 Data Warehouse Database Architectures Types (6) D4 2.3 Tools and Technology Types (10) D3

3.0 Data Warehousing Analysis and Design (27) Section 3 Total 3.1 Requirements Analysis (9) D5 3.2 Data Warehouse Model Types and Components (9) D5 3.3 Data Modeling for the Data Warehouse (9) D5

4.0 Data Acquisition and Cleansing (10) Section 4 Total 4.1 Source Data Acquisition (5) D5 4.2 Source Data Cleansing (5) D3

5.0 Data Warehouse Implementation & Operation (23) Section 5 Total 5.1 Development (13) D3 5.2 Deployment (5) D3 © ABPMP, 2004 Page 2 ABPMP Business Process Management Exam Outline

5.3 Ongoing Support and Maintenance (5) D3

Third & Fourth Level Outline Example: Data Warehousing Exam

1.0. Data Warehousing Function (19) Section 1 Total 1.1. Planning (8) D4 1.1.1. Organizational Business Drivers Business reasons Benefits Sponsors 1.1.1.2. Data Warehousing Plans Strategic data warehousing plan / justification Incremental development process plan Organizational structure plan and budgets Warehousing metadata management plan Readiness assessments Relationship management plan (vendor, customer, employee) Data integration plan Data quality management plan Data acquisition and cleansing plans Warehousing standards plan Project plans and deliverables Implementation, testing plans Deployment plans Deployment readiness assessments Operations and management plans 1.1.3. Policies / Standards / Processes / Procedures / Guidelines Internal to data warehousing organization Warehousing customer data / metadata access guidelines

.2.1 Organization (3) D3 1.2.1.1 Types of Project Team / Staff Skills Required Project management Warehouse organization management Information / data architecture Data modeling and metamodeling Database administration Business analysis Applications development Middleware System administration Metadata administration Decision support tools Security Networking Configuration management Web master Statistical analysis Business knowledge 1.2.2. Project Team / Staff Training Orientation for new project team members, employees, business users Continuing education for required skills, retraining 1.2.3. Communication Marketing data warehousing services and benefits Customer education / training © ABPMP, 2004 Page 3 ABPMP Business Process Management Exam Outline

Publishing newsletters and web site news

.3.1 Roles and Responsibilities (8) D3 1.3.1. Project Project scope and objectives Planning, development approach Hardware and software installation Business requirements analysis Data analysis, modeling, mapping (source and target) Data cleansing Programming for extract, transform, load (ETL) Metadata creation End user training development and presentation End user reporting (Presentation Layer) 1.3.2. Ongoing Maintenance and Support Administration Enhancement and extension of the data warehouse, mart, or operational data store Data refreshing, update and replication Data source synchronization Disaster recovery Managing data growth Monitoring database and end user query performance Data access controls and security administration Metadata administration Data usage monitoring, including governors and web reports Training 1.3.3.1 Handling Change Change management Configuration management Communications planning 1.3.4. Data Stewardship Business data steward Physical data trustee Data creator / originator of business rules Data quality / accountability Metadata creation Data usage

2.0. Data Warehouse Infrastructure Creation / Maintenance (21) Section 1 Total 2.1. Data Warehouse Architectures (5) D4 2.1. Business, Data & Metadata Enterprise Data Enterprise Business Process Data Sourcing Data Distribution Warehouse Data Change Authorization Metadata Architecture 2.2. Technical Environment Hardware (server) Desktop Network Warehouse software tools

2.2. Data Warehouse Informational Database Architectures Types (i.e. describes use of these databases) (6) D4 2.2.1. Centralized Enterprise Federated © ABPMP, 2004 Page 4 ABPMP Business Process Management Exam Outline

Functional Operational Data Store 2.2.2.Data Mart Imbedded Dependent Independent 2.2.3.Distributed E-Enterprise (e.g. application based such as Customer Relationship Management or CRM) Enterprise Information Portals Corporate Information Factory 2.2.4.“Virtual” or “Point-to-Point” Operational databases accessed with tools

2.3. Tools and Technology Types (10) D3 2.1. Data Staging Extract, transform, load (ETL) Data movement and manipulation Data cleansing Data storage 2.3.2. Database Relational Multi-dimensional: OLAP, MOLAP, ROLAP Hybrid: OLAP - HOLAP 2.3.3. Application Messaging Middleware Network 2.3.4. Metadata & Descriptive Information Data dictionaries Data directories CASE tool encyclopedias Metadata repository 2.3.5. End User (Business Intelligence) Information Access / Analysis Tools Query Data analysis Data mining, statistical analysis, data discovery, forecasting Text mining DOLAP Geographical Information Systems (GIS) Executive Information Systems (EIS) or Executive Dashboard

3.0. Data Warehousing Analysis and Design (27) Section 3 Total .1.3 Requirements Analysis (9) D5 3.1.1.Fact Finding Techniques Interviewing Surveys, questionnaires JAD Sessions Source system analysis Source data inventory analysis Determination of official data source 3.1.2.Requirements Definition Evaluation of current environment and documentation Evaluation and role of enterprise models and metadata Evaluation of source application data models and metadata Data and business questions analysis Determination of hardware and software Network considerations Technical process flows © ABPMP, 2004 Page 5 ABPMP Business Process Management Exam Outline

End user reporting and access Security Implementation and deployment Management and on-going support

3.2. Data Warehouse Model Types and Components (9) D5 3.2.1. Logical Data Model Entity type Relationship type Attributes and their roles Definitions Key Cardinality Optionality Metadata type Rules: Business / data integrity Normalization 3.2.2.Dimensional Warehouse Model Facts Dimensions and hierarchies Conformed dimensions Degenerate dimensions 3.2.3.Target Warehouse Database Model & Design Column Rows Types of indexes Views Denormalization

3.3. Data Modeling for the Data Warehouse (9) D5 3.3.1. Types and Roles of Data Atomic data Quantitative data Qualitative data Clickstream data Reference data Aggregated data Granular data 3.3.2. Roles of Warehouse Models Contextual / conceptual Subject area Logical data Dimensional (e.g. Star or Snowflake Schema, OLAP, MOLAP, ROLAP) Metamodels / meta-metamodels Target warehouse database model (physical) 3.3.3. Modeling the Target Data Warehouse Translating business and data requirements to logical data models Modeling data requirements for target (TO-BE) data structures for data warehouse / mart, e.g. relational and dimensional Modeling external data Metadata Modeling (metamodeling) Staging area modeling (e.g. persistent or transient) Time-variance modeling Distribution and security modeling Access and navigation modeling Determination of database size, growth and optimization

4.0. Data Acquisition and Cleansing (10) Section 4 Total © ABPMP, 2004 Page 6 ABPMP Business Process Management Exam Outline

4.1.3 Source Data Acquisition (5) D5 4.1.1.1 Identifying Source Data  Determination if true source of data  Source data assessment for accuracy 4.1.2.1 Moving Data from Source-to-Target Warehouse Source to target data mapping Extraction program design specifications Data transformation program design specifications Load program design specifications Data staging design specifications Metadata considerations

4.2.3Source Data Cleansing (5) D3 4.2.1.3Data Cleansing Concepts Data integrity rules Auditing data Filtering data Correcting data 4.2.2. Data Quality Improvement Data quality concepts Data quality metrics Current state assessment Quality goals identification Gap analysis Improvement actions and plans Data quality metrics

5.0. Data Warehouse Implementation & Operation (23) Section 5 Total 5.1. Development (13) D3 5.1.1. Programming ETL programs Data staging area processing (e.g. cleanse, combine, de-dupe) Data staging area program automation (e.g. timing, scheduling, logging, recovery) Data access programs Metadata collection programs End user applications Standard report generation Prototyping Database recovery and reorganization programs Documentation 5.1.2. Target Databases Creation Data and metadata population, replication, recovery 5.1.3. Testing and Review Testing (i.e. unit, system, user acceptance) Data validation of staging area Quality assurance checking

5.1.4. End User Training Warehouse classroom course, seminars Tutorials 5.1.5. Support Documentation End User training materials / manuals User guides / manuals Metadata Help screens

Warehouse reference manuals Web site 5.2. Deployment (5) D3

5.2.1. Phased Rollout Approach Hardware / software installation Release logistics (alpha, pilot, production iterations) Help desk support IT process for productionizing 5.2.2. End User Readiness Scheduled warehouse classes Security privileges assignments 5.3.3Ongoing Support and Maintenance (5) D3

5.3.1.3 Operation User support and education Warehouse sustainment process Change Management (e.g. planned source system changes) Development, test and production versions 5.3.2. Assessment Enhancements Extensions

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BPM CORE Exam Topic Outline - Strawman First Level Outline 1.0 Business Process Management Function (20) Section 1 Total 2.0 BPMS Infrastructure (20) Section 2 Total 3.0 Process Modeling and Design (20) Section 3 Total 4.0 Process Analysis and Assessment (20) Section 4 Total 5.0 Process Management Implementation & Operation (20) Section 5 Total

Second Level Outline 1.0 Business Process Management Function (20) Section 1 Total 1.1 Planning (10) D5 1.2 Organization (10) D3 1.3 Roles and Responsibilities (10) D4 1.4 Process Portfolio Management (10) D5

2.0 BPMS Infrastructure (20) Section 2 Total 2.1 Business Process Architectures (10) D4 2.2 BPMS Architectures (10) D4 2.3 Tools and Technology Types (10) D3

3.0 Process Modeling and Design (20) Section 3 Total 3.1 Current State Modeling (10) D5 3.2 Process Simulation and Analysis (10) D5 3.3 Future State Process Design (10) D5 3.4 BPMN (10) D5

4.0 Process Analysis and Assessment (20) Section 4 Total 4.1 Simulation (10) D5 4.2 Statistical Process Control (10) D4 4.3 Maturity Assessment (10) D3 4.4 Strategic Alignment (10) D4 4.5 Process Performance Analysis (10) D5

5.0 Process Management Implementation & Operation (20) Section 5 Total 5.1 Business Operations (10) D3 5.2 BPMS Operations ((10) D3 5.3 Change Management (10) D3

Third & Fourth Level Outline

Selected BPM Bibliography:

BUSINESS PROCESS MANAGEMENT BPMInstitute White Paper, “State of Business Process Management”, BPMInstitute – research services by Beagle Research Group, April 2004.

Curtice, Robert M. "Fundamentals of Process Management: Best Practices in Optimizing Cross- Functional Business Processes", White Paper Performance Improvement Associates, October 2003.

Davenport, Thomas. Mission Critical: Realizing the Promise of Enterprise Systems. Harvard Business School Press. 2000. pp. 299-311.

Davenport, Thomas and James Short. "The New Industrial Engineering: Information Technology and Business Process Redesign," Sloan Management Review, Summer 1990. [A classic article: Can be found in the Wolfgram Library - HD28.I5 Location M Serials]

Fingar, Peter; and Joseph Bellini. The Real-Time Enterprise, Meghan-Kiffer Press, 2004

Grover, Varun; and William Kettinger. Business Process Change: Reengineering Concepts, Methods and Technologies. Idea Group Publishing. 1995.

Harmon, Paul, “Business Process Change: A Manager's Guide to Improving, Redesigning, and Automating Processes”, Morgan Kaufmann Publishing, December 2002.

Ould, Martyn. “Business Process Management: A Rigorous Approach”, The British Computer Society, December 2004.

Smith, Howard and Peter Fingar. “Business Process Management (BPM): The Third Wave”, Meghan-Kiffer Press; 1st edition, January 2003.

Smith, Howard and Peter Fingar. "A Chasm Must Be Crossed", Intelligent Enterprise, June 17, 2003. (URL: http://www.intelligententerprise.com/030617/610feat2_1.shtml)

Spanyi, Andrew, “Business Process Management (BPM) is a Team Sport: Play it to Win!”, Meghan Kiffer Press, June 2003.

BUSINESS PROCESS MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS Linthicum, David. Next Generation Application Integration: From Simple Information to Web Services, Addison-Wesley Information Technology Series, 2004.

Aalst, Will Van Der (Editor), Jorg Desel (Editor), Andreas Oberweis(Editor), Business Process Management: Tools, Techniques, and Empirical Studies, Springer Verlag, May 2000

Becker, S.; Rosemann, M.; Schutte, R. "Business-to-Business Process Integration: Functions and Methods", Proceedings of the 5th European Conference on Information Systems (DCIS '97), vol II. Ed. R. Galliers et al. Cork 1997, pp. 816-827.

Coleman, K., C. Johnson, J. Ettwein, D. Pigman, and D. Pulak. Reengineering MIS: Aligning Information Technology with Business Operations, Idea Group Publishing, 1996.

Fui-Hoon Nah, Fiona; Janet Lee-Shang Lau; Jinghua Kuang. "Critical Factors for Successful Implementation of Enterprise Systems", Business Process Management Journal, Vol 7, Issue 3, 2001, pp. 285-296.

Hollingsworth, Dave."From Workflow to e-Process Automation", in Workflow Handbook 2001, Editor Layna Fischer.

Kahn, Rashid. Business Process Management: A Practical Guide, Meghan-Kiffer Press, 2004

Kirchmer, Mathias. Business Process Oriented Implementation of Standard Software, 2nd Edition, Springer, 1999.

Morgan, Tony. “Business Rules and Information Systems: Aligning IT with Business Goals”, Addison Wesley Publishing Company, March, 2002.

Scheer, A.W; Ferri Abolhassan, Wolfram Jost, Mathias Kirchmer (Editors). “Business Process Automation”, Springer-Verlag, 2004.

Scheer, A.W; Ferri Abolhassan, Wolfram Jost, Mathias Kirchmer (Editors). “Business Process Change Management”, Springer-Verlag, 2003.

PROCESS MODELING Sharp, Alec and Patrick McDermott. Workflow Modeling: Tools for Process Improvement and Application Development, Artech House, Inc., 2001.

Kawalek, p. and P. Kueng. "Process Models" http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/ipg/Docs/pkpk97.html

Laguna, Manuel and Johan Marklund. “Business Process Modeling, Simulation, and Design”, Pearson Prentice Hall Publishing, 2005.

White, Stephen A. "Introduction to BPMN", IBM White Paper, 2004.

PROCESS ANALYSIS

PROCESS DESIGN Laguna, Manuel and Johan Marklund. “Business Process Modeling, Simulation, and Design”, Pearson Prentice Hall Publishing, 2005. .

PROCESS PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT