BUSINESS PROCESS MANAGEMENT PROGRESSION AND MATURITY ASSESSMENT: A CASE OF SRI LANKAN CONTEXT

Abstract

Efficient business processes are essential for an organization to achieve its objectives. The practice of monitoring, reviewing, and improving business processes is known as Business Process Management (BPM). Digitization has caused many opportunities and challenges, changing how BPM initiatives manage and creating new organizational capabilities required for BPM success. Assessing an organization's BPM capabilities is crucial for any BPM initiative's success. The BPM maturity model is a tool that enables assessing organizational BPM capabilities, and literature reveals several such maturity models. However, current BPM maturity models need to be re-conceptualized encompassing digital innovations in current BPM practices to enable effective and efficient work in the digital age. This research study introduces a new BPM maturity model designed and validated for current Sri Lankan BPM contexts. This model extends and updates the existing maturity models by addressing the requirements and complexities identified with the new trends in the BPM domain. Five BPM capability factors that are commonly discussed in research studies were initially identified from an extensive literature review. Their applicability to the Sri Lankan context was evaluated using a qualitative analysis conducted with BPM experts in Sri Lanka. This analysis derived twenty sub-capability factors. The capability factors’ significance in measuring the BPM maturity was assessed using quantitative analysis. All five capability factors and eighteen sub-capability factors were found significant, and they were mapped with selected five maturity levels to make the new maturity model. This content is further elaborated and combined with a specific calculation mechanism to create a maturity assessment matrix that helps practitioners apply the maturity model in real-world circumstances. vi This study has various implications for both the research and practice. They provide a reference point for further empirical research studies. For instance, researchers can focus on validating the BPM maturity model according to the different phases of the BPM life cycle and assessing the maturity model's applicability and validity in different BPM initiatives in different domains. Furthermore, the study's findings are applicable to improving existing BPM maturity models. These updated BPM maturity measurement models would help industry practitioners enhance their BPM activities' efficiency and effectiveness.